An assured mix of New Wave energy and vérité straightforwardness, Věra Chytilová’s graduation project, Ceiling, involves a young woman who quits medical school to become a model. Drawing on her own experiences as a “walking mannequin,” Chytilová explores a world of repetitive rituals and one woman’s courage to escape it. “The themes of anarchy and individualism that run through Chytilová’s work begin [in A Bagful of Fleas,] an almost docu-realist look at women finding freedom and joy amid the rigid conformity of life in a communal factory dormitory” (BAMcinématek). Automat Svět, Chytilová’s contribution to the essential Czechoslovak New Wave omnibus Pearls of the Deep, makes a nocturnal visit to an overrun bar where two female workers try to keep the beer-hungry hordes out and a strange and handsome man meets a soon-to-be runaway bride.