The Ear / Ucho has been restored by the Czech National Film Archive (Národní Filmový Archiv).

Speaking to FNE the director of the NFA Michal Bregant said the Venice Classics was a special place for the CZ NFA. He said “It was at this festival that we presented our first digital restoration ten years ago. Since then we have presented at least one classic Czech film in at least one of the big three European festivals - Berlin, Cannes, Venice. This year it is at all of them plus Karlov Vary like every year, Lumiere festival in Lyon etc.”

“The Ear has a privileged place in the 1960´s Czechoslovak cinema: it was shot after the Soviet invasion and the makers were aware that they had to do it quickly. As a matter of fact, this film was finished in December 1969 but not released until 1990. However, the original negative and prints of The Ear were carefully preserved in Národní filmový archiv during those very long twenty years during which archiving too often meant hiding from the political censorship.”

“The restoration itself was not a very complicated process in this case, however now we have a beautiful 4k version which still looks like a 1969 movie. The Národní filmový archiv is able to offer the license for all screens, platforms and other distribution channels worldwide.”  

Click HERE to see the full selection of Venice Classics.