Youth Forward or Backward? The Department of Directing at FAMU during the Normalization and the Possibilities of Employment of its Graduates

This article deals with the education, teaching and the careers of students of the Institute of Directors at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), who studied their course from the academic year 1972/73 during the normalization era.
The first part of the work concentrates on the process of education of graduates of the Institute of Directors at FAMU during the normalization era. This article argues that for these students it was easier to get a job in the film industry than for the previous generation. One of the reasons why it was so is that the new generation was studying at the "normalizied" FAMU. The artistic and ideological education of the students of the Directing department was already fully in the hands of pro-regime teachers and that is why the managers of the Czechoslovakian Film could reassure themselves that there was no danger of another "new wave" and political controversy from their side.
It wasn't the only factor, though. The second part of the article, devoted to the options of a professional career for graduates of FAMU, shows another point of view, which is the fact that FAMU itself worked hard to support its graduates in getting their future employment. Thanks to these steps, the graduates were able to find full-time jobs in the companies of the Czechoslovakian Film and the Czechoslovakian Television. Also, some new ideas gradually appeared to help graduates to make a film debut, by the end of the 1970s. Still, not all graduates could see their debut.

Keywords: FAMU, Czechoslovakian cinema, normalization, film debut, Barrandov Studio