The Loaf of Bread
The World War Two is about to end. A train with concentration camp prisoners is standing in a station. Three exhausted men scheme how to get to a nearby carriage loaded with bread. If the calculations are right, they have 57 seconds to get it. Running and not being noticed while doing so is an impossible task for a malnutrished person, yet it may be the only way to survival. A studen film of Jan Němec based on a short story by Arnošt Lustig.
- Czechoslovakia
- 1960, 12 min
- Director: Jan Němec
- Director of photography: Jiří Šámal
- Screenplay: Jan Němec
- Cast: Ivan Renč, Jan Bartůšek, Oldřich Bláha
Jan Němec
Jan Němec (1936, Prague) debuted with Diamonds of the Night (Démanty noci, 1964, Grand Prix at the International Film Festival in Mannheim), a film which belongs to the best of the Czech New Wave cinema. His further films include a short story Podvodnici, included in Pearls of the Deep (Perličky na dně, 1965), Martyrs of Love (Mučedníci lásky, 1966) and A Report on the Party and the Guests (O slavnosti a hostech, 1966, Gran Premio at IFF in Bergamo). His short film Mutter und Sohn (Grand Prix in Oberhausen) and a documentary about the 1968 invasion Oratorio for Prague (Oratorium pro Prahu, FIPRESCI Award in v Mannheim) followed and got him on the black list in 1970, meaning no work for Jan Němec. When forced to exile between 1974 and 1989, he made a kafkian adaptation Metamorphosis (1975). Since his return to homeland he directed In the Light of the King’s Love (V žáru královské lásky), Jméno kódu Rubín, and Late Night Talks with Mother (Noční hovory s matkou, Golden Leopard in Locarno), Landscape of My Heart and Toyen. In 2006 he was awarded the Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema. Jan Němec is a professor at the Department of Directing at the Film and TV School of Performing Arts in Prague.