Miloš Forman began his career as a filmmaker at the Barrandov Studios in Prague with his first scripted film, Štěňata (Puppies, 1957), directed by Ivo Novák. Forman went on to direct his four most famous New Wave films at Barrandov: Konkurs (Audition, 1963), Černy Petr (Black Peter, 1963), Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde, 1965), and Hoři, má panenko (The Fireman's Ball, 1967), before emigrating to the USA. Forman returned to Prague and to Barrandov to film Amadeus in the early 1980s, and the contrast between the high-budget historical spectacle of Amadeus and the gently ironic realism of his 1960s films could not be more pronounced. Here I will consider each of Forman's Barrandov films in turn to tease out developments in his filmmaking style. Since the films of the 1960s were mainly shot outside of the studios themselves, relying on small crews and largely amateur casts, my emphasis will be on the style and meaning of the films themselves rather than on production detail and history, but incorporating this when necessary.

During the 1960s, aside from its relationship with the young filmmakers of the New Wave, Barrandov supported an extraordinary range of films from popular comedies like the pastiche Western Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera (Lemonade Joe, or The Horse Opera, 1964, dir. Oldřich Lipský) to historical epics such as Marketa Lazarová (1967, dir. František Vláčil).