Foals in the River

The successful collaboration between director Hynek Bočan and Moravian writer Jan Kostrhun took off with the drama Plavení hříbat (Foals in the River, 1975). The film, inspired by the writer’s novella Prázdniny (Holidays), was then followed by Tvář za sklem (The Face behind the Glass, 1979), Pytláci (Poachers, 1981) and Vinobraní (The Grape Harvest, 1982). The protagonist of Plavení hříbat, set in an idyllic South Moravian village over the summer holidays, is agricultural college student Vinca Adámek. Though he is offered a post as an assistant lecturer at his alma mater, his summer stay in his native village leads him to consider opting for a “real” job instead. While the role of Vinca was given to Bočan’s preferred actor Ivan Vyskočil, the director cast an older generation of members of the acting elite as the villagers (Jiří Sovák, Vlastimil Brodský and Vladimír Menšík, among others). Vladimír Dlouhý took on the part of the protagonist’s unfortunate friend Olin.