Clouds of Glass

„Clouds of Glass“ is the last and most important film that František Vláčil made during his time at the army film studio. After making instructional and documentary films and artistic collaboration on the feature film „Tank Brigade“ (1955), he got the opportunity to make his own short feature film. „Clouds of Glass“ tells an almost without words symbolic story about the eternal human desire to fly. In a short space of about twenty minutes, Vláčil was able to use the example of three generations of men to portray man's relationship to flying, oscillating between fascination, desire and pride on the one hand and fear, disappointment and pain on the other. The grandfather flew the oldest machines, achieved success but was injured and suffers lifelong consequences, the son tragically dies as a MiG-15 jet pilot and the grandson František, so far, is only fascinated by the idea of flying. Vláčil has achieved an extraordinary effect with visually demanding imagery concentrated in compositionally precise shots. The film was awarded at the IX International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Venice.