Miloš Forman: from Czech New Wave comedy to Amadeus and Cuckoo's Nest
He left Prague after the tanks arrived, won two Best Director Oscars and came home to shoot Mozart in its streets. The Forman story, and where to start.
The short version
- Forman rose with the Czech New Wave in the 1960s with comedies such as Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball.
- After the 1968 invasion he worked in the United States, winning Best Director Oscars for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.
- Amadeus was shot largely in Czechoslovakia, with Prague standing in for Mozart's Vienna.
On this page 7 sections
What links Mozart, a psychiatric ward and a village firemen's ball? A Czech director. Miloš Forman won two Academy Awards for Best Director and made some of the most-watched films of the late twentieth century. He also made a few of the funniest films Czechoslovakia ever produced, and they are less famous than they deserve to be.
From Čáslav to film school
Forman was born in 1932 in Čáslav, east of Prague. His parents died in Nazi camps and relatives raised him. He studied at FAMU, the Prague film school that produced the generation we now call the Czech New Wave.
Those directors used non-professional actors, real locations and a wry eye on ordinary life under communism. Forman's early features, Black Peter (1964), Loves of a Blonde (1965) and The Firemen's Ball (1967), show the recipe: small stories, awkward humour and an eye for how institutions treat people.
The Firemen's Ball was the one the authorities disliked. A village committee organises a ball and a raffle, and everything goes wrong. Officials read it as a parody of the party. It's still very funny. For the wider movement, see Czech cinema history from the New Wave to now.
Leaving after 1968
Forman was in Paris when Warsaw Pact forces invaded in August 1968, and he did not go home to live. In the United States he made Taking Off (1971) and then One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), from Ken Kesey's novel. It won the five major Oscars: picture, director, actor, actress and adapted screenplay. Then came Hair (1979), Ragtime (1981) and, in 1984, Amadeus.
Amadeus and Prague
Peter Shaffer's play about Mozart and Salieri needed an eighteenth-century city, and Prague's old streets are unusually well preserved. The film was shot in and around Prague and at other Czech locations, and Prague stands in for Vienna. Amadeus won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
The Prague connection runs deeper: Don Giovanni premiered in 1787 at what is now the Estates Theatre. Our article on the Estates Theatre tells that story and how to see a performance.
Academy Awards won
Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as of 2026
Walking Forman's Prague
There's no neat trail, because designers dressed locations as Vienna, but you can combine the right places.
- The Old Town and Malá Strana give you the baroque and rococo texture. Our short history of Prague helps you read it.
- The Estates Theatre is the real house of the Don Giovanni premiere.
- Barrandov Studios puts Czech film-making in context. Another maker of handmade film worlds, Karel Zeman, has a museum in Malá Strana.
Coming home
After 1989 Forman could return to Prague, and he did, visiting and working. His later films include The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999) and Goya's Ghosts (2006). He died in 2018 in the United States.
Where to start
The Firemen's Ball is a short, bitter comedy. Loves of a Blonde is gentler, a story about a factory girl and a pianist, funny and sad in equal parts. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the intense Hollywood drama, and Amadeus is the lavish costume film. If you'd like to catch Czech films on a big screen, see our guide to film festivals in Prague. FAMU, the school he attended, still trains many of the directors you'll meet there.
Why he lasts
Forman gave film a humane kind of comedy, with characters who are ridiculous and deeply sympathetic. The method of working with non-professional faces and half-improvised moments travelled with him from Prague to Hollywood. He also left Czechoslovakia in 1968 and spent decades abroad, never quite losing the outsider's eye, which is why his films, whether in a village hall or a ward, feel so sharp.
Frequently asked questions
Where was Miloš Forman born?
In Čáslav, east of Prague, in 1932.
Was Amadeus filmed in Prague?
Largely, yes. Prague's old streets and theatres stood in for Mozart's Vienna.
Which Forman film should I watch first?
For the Czech side, The Firemen's Ball or Loves of a Blonde. For the Hollywood side, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Amadeus.
How many Oscars did his films win?
Cuckoo's Nest won five and Amadeus eight, including Best Director for Forman both times.
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