Kino-Automat – Man and His House

Kinoautomat was a unique film project presented to the world by Czechoslovakia during the EXPO ’67 world fair in Montreal, Canada. It was directed by Radúz Činčera, in close co-operation with co-directors Ján Roháč and Vladimír Svitáček, writer Pavel Juráček, and technical expert Jaroslav Frič. The main selling point of the Kinoautomat project is that it is purportedly the world’s first interactive film. The hour-long situation comedy follows the exploits of the hapless Mr. Novák, offering viewers the chance to vote to influence events at key points in the story. The choice between two pre-filmed options was moderated live in front of audiences by Mr. Novák actor Miroslav Horníček. In Czechoslovakia, the 1968 screening of this film necessitated the costly reconstruction of Prague’s Světozor cinema. However, in 1972, regime censors permanently banned this whimsical tale – which begins with the slamming of a door, and ends with a house fire – indefinitely for non-specified “ideological” reasons.