Before starting his career as a screenwriter-director, Jiří Madl was in journalism school when he first discovered the story of a group of courageous Czech journalists that would later become the subject of his third feature film Flows.

“As punishment for not attending the seminars, I was given the assignment to read a historical book about Czechoslovak radio,” Mádl said while talking about his film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International showcase. “I knew I really wanted to turn it into a screenplay and it’s been stuck in my head since 2009.”

Flowswhich marks the official entry of the Czech Republic into the International race for the Oscars This year’s film is set during the Prague Spring of 1968 and explores the dramatic events of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia from the perspective of journalists working at the International News Bureau of Czechoslovak Radio.

Set during a time when rock and roll student rebellions were changing the world, the story follows radio station employee Tomáš (played by Vojtech Vodochodský), who finds himself trapped between the secret services and his revolutionary brother while the channel broadcasts a confidential recording, forcing him to face History head on.

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While researching the film, Mádl said he had the chance to meet four of the journalists, including Vera Štovíčková (played by Tana Pauhofova), the only female journalist in the group – who was able to provide him with details of the event. They were, he said, “the primary source” for research on the film. “I would say that 80% of the information came from Vera, the only woman in the editorial office.”

Vodochodský said his character, Tomáš, is someone who “represents someone we can all see ourselves in – someone who is ordinary and finds themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances. He is not a traditional hero, especially at the beginning of the story… but he becomes one thanks to his courage and his moral decisions.

Although the history of Flows takes place during a monumental period in modern Czech history, Mádl emphasized that “the historical event is only the background.”

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“At the center of the story is the dilemma that people face…whether you choose to go for something that benefits you or whether you go for something that brings you an objective disadvantage but you see as a good step to take and that’s something that really appealed to me,” he said. “I think that’s something that translates even into today’s world, because once again we’re faced with these decisions.”

Mádl added: “It is not the story that is important, but it is the intimate story of the two brothers and the individual decisions.”

Check back Monday for the panel video.