Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

The surreal state of childhood perception is evoked in this 35mm portrait of a mischievous duo running amok in the Czech countryside.

The unfavorable situation of the labor market during the pandemic pushes Kateryna to work in a fraudulent call center that sells vitamins that promise “magical” success to its consumers. While this helped to survive financially, months of isolation, irritated customers and a common frustration took her into a vitamin deficiency, so-called avitaminosis. The film is a journey into fragility and the search for healing and love in an increasingly suffocating world for young generations.

Trapped in a nomadic world that makes less and less sense, Eliška yearns for a safer and more stable life for herself and her little brother Aleš. As illegitimate repo men begin frequenting their home, Eliška’s uncertainty about her and her brother’s future reaches a crescendo and she is forced to take action to protect Aleš from this shady and dangerous life.

King Jakub and Queen Anička’s family grows with their curious daughter, Princess Johanka, who loves spending time with her kindly grandfather Karaba the potter. Meanwhile, exiled advisors Lorenc and Ferenc manipulate the inexperienced Queen Julia from a neighboring realm to enact revenge, luring Karaba into a cunning trap. Now the royal family and their allies must join forces, perhaps even dusting off Karaba’s hidden skills, to outwit the schemers.

On 26 September 1928, Karel Capek and President T.G. Masaryk meet in the gardens of Topolcianky castle to decide about the fate of their joint literary work. Their fiction film dialogue is based on quotes from a future book and their mutual correspondence, considerably freeing the original format of literary conversation from binding conventions. Capek and Masaryk reproach and offend each other, but they also ask key personal questions and questions about the social functions of a writer and politician respectively. "It's a film about two extraordinary men; it's about the fact that emotions can be sometimes more powerful than ideas even in such exceptional people.

When Standa is released from jail, he feels a brighter future is about to take hold. Instead, his bad luck grows, thanks to a new acquaintance.

In an unnamed small town, a local baseball team prepares for the decisive game of the season. Among the players is Valentine — shy, quiet, and struggling to fit in among his loud teammates, in a world ruled by strength, competition, and unspoken rules. His attention is drawn to David, a carefree rebel who mocks everything and lives by his own code. What begins as an ordinary day on the field slowly transforms into an unexpected journey beyond the limits of expectation and self-control. After a crushing defeat comes a drunken night of confusion, excess, and one reckless idea that takes a dangerous turn. Everything culminates in a chaotic brawl over a trophy that has long ceased to be just a sports prize.

Lupyn returns from prison during the pandemic and plans another job. A local mob boss and a corrupt police lieutenant try to uncover who is disrupting their territory and profit from the situation.

Two different productions of Václav Havel's Beggar's Opera reveal the political dynamics of Czechoslovakia before and after the velvet revolution.

Lucie is raising a transgender daughter and runs a support group for other families with transgender teenagers. What do children need in this situation, what do their parents need, and what should schools do? This new documentary film follows up on the drama series *Ratolesti*. Against a backdrop of political rhetoric and the dismissal of transgender issues as a trend, experts objectively point out that since 2010, the number of children and adolescents worldwide seeking professional care due to a mismatch between their perceived gender and their biological sex has been rising. How can we deal with this situation within the family and at school, and how is Czech society evolving in this regard?

A cheerful fairy tale with songs about magic and a tangled search for a missing baron. All it took was one petty argument, a little absent-mindedness, and Lady Valentina of the princely Rybenský family accidentally turned her fiancé, Baron Lumír Mokřenský, into a donkey. Such a mishap must be kept secret, especially since Valentýna has no idea how to reverse the spell. She prefers to let everyone think that Lumír ran away before the wedding and that she keeps the donkey as a pet...

Furry lives in a clearing surrounded by dark woods with a pack of animal friends. Their only food is rare orange seeds that transform into large glowing fruit as soon as they touch the ground. Furry’s friends are afraid to venture into the scary woods, but he’s bored doing nothing but waiting.

An overburdened working mother temporarily leaves her family and rents a spare room from a taxi driver she just met to sort out her chaotic life.

A dark comedy about humankind’s desire to love and to be loved. Centred around neediness, intimacy and romance. Told through a series of loosely connected, tender and absurd scenes, the film follows people who are searching for closeness and acceptance. In a world that preaches self-control, the film explores the sides we try to hide, such as feeling needy and pathetic. The stories overlap and reappear, gradually forming a portrait of collective longing.

The first Czech feature-length brickfilm - that is, a film made using stop-motion animation with Lego bricks. It is a non-commercial film based on Agatha Christie’s most popular novel. Creator Lukáš Tuzar worked on the film for seven years. Ten people who seem different at first glance are invited to Black Island, but they do have something in common. When they arrive on the island, the mysterious host is nowhere to be found. On the first evening, the guests learn the real reason for the invitation. Remember, sins always come to light.

Four people who have nothing in common. The wife of a successful man who lacks only one thing to be happy – a child. She is willing to do almost anything to have one. A sports coach who has devoted his life to athletics is now past his prime and has time to realize everything he has missed. An old woman lives alone in a large empty house, without human contact, which she seeks in higher spheres. And finally, a young mother with two children. Her small salary and harsh life do not play into her favor. She struggles and fights, but perhaps the moment will come when she gives up everything. The visually captivating film Proměny follows four different characters whose lives intertwine only slowly and randomly. The individual fates and the plot culminate, and the film's bold concept inevitably leads to a final clash. What must happen for life to be different than before?

A young couple who goes on a trip to bring their relationship the new energy because it seems to have been exhausted and ruined.

The central character of the romantic comedy Casting for Love is Stela Nebeská, an unsuccessful actress who, approaching forty, realizes that she is unlikely to make it big. She loses her job at the theater, where she only played minor roles anyway. Her career failure is followed by personal failure - her husband starts cheating on her and doesn't even try to hide it. But Stela is not willing to accept defeat and is determined not to give up without a fight. She vows that, come what may, she will find someone who will make her husband green with envy. So she launches a grand audition for a new love. She starts dating, but every date is with an eccentric and unsuitable suitor, and every date ends in disaster. Will Stela finally find the right one? Or have all the decent men died out?

Eleven years old Jacob does not know his Father. His picture is portrayed and idealized by his Mother and his own phantasy. Jacob is an uncontrollable and slightly asocial guy, who is lacking a male role model. He grows up among females- Mother, stepsister Pauline and Grandmother. Grandmother arrives to their small panel block building apartment at beginning of the Story. Jacob's resentment (a runaway escape through foggy neighborhood of concrete block buildings) is his way to finding out what' going on. It is his first disappointment, but also a first step of growing up. tease him. Mother has her hands full with the household and barely makes it. She does not have time to care about her children 's feelings. Money is tight. Among his schoolmates Jacob is considered poor and that bothers him as well.

The story begins at the airport in Bandung, an abstract, attractive city somewhere in Southeast Asia, where Czech tour guide Tomáš Egermaier witnesses the arrest of 21-year-old Patrik Lovický. It is only back in the Czech Republic that he learns that the man arrested had attempted to smuggle four kilograms of heroin out of Bandung. Egermaier's surprise is all the greater when he discovers a plastic bag with five videotapes for a camera on the conveyor belt at Ruzyně Airport. Together with Egermaier, we then watch the story of Patrik Lovický, his girlfriend Elena, and her mother Michaela on the videotapes.

The film is a Slovak version of The Thin Blue Line, recounting the unsolved disappearance and murder of a young woman that happened thirty years ago. It was a case that was paraded in the communist media at the end of which seven individuals were found guilty of this heinous crime. They are the same individuals who at present proclaim their innocence.

The lavish musical brings to life the legendary Egyptian queen through an original score by Michal David and evocative book and lyrics by Zdeněk Borovec, Lucie Stropnická, and Lou Fanánek Hagen.

Ruth and Magda have been inseparable friends since childhood. They both went to college and both fell in love with the same guy. Ruth has won the fight for love, and has put Magda before the tough decision: to give up Adam and maintain friendship with Ruth, or give preference to his heart? When Adam gets a dream internship abroad and leaves for Austria, Ruth takes his fresh pregnancies and refuses to go with him. But in time, Ruth convinces Magda to start behind Adam and try to get him back. However, Magda exploits the situation, acquires Adam for herself and marries him abroad. After years, Magda returns home and the old injustices come to life.

Anny follows the life of the titular, intriguing character for 16 years, from 1996 up until 2012. Living in the Czech Republic, Anny is a 46-year-old woman whose day-to-day life has consisted of several different occupations, from a bathroom attendant and a doorman, to occasional sex work. Her outlook on her jobs is fairly simple, you have to do the work if you want to eat, spoil your grandkids, or buy yourself new clothes.

Bára Basiková is an icon of Czech rock and other music genres. To what extent can her public, media-distorted image differ from the person she really is? The answer comes in the form of the latest long-term documentary study from Helena Třeštíková, whose empathy, coupled with admirable self-reflection and openness on the part of the protagonist, gives rise to a fascinating film portrait: over the course of fifty years we follow a woman who demonstrates remarkable strength as she faces the challenges of both her professional and private lives.​

The story of three Czechs who doubted the reality of the war in Ukraine. Together with the film crew, they went from Prague to Kharkiv, and then to the Donbas. The Czechs were under fire, saw the wounded, mass graves and underground schools.

In July 2007, a three-member expedition set off in a Trabant along the Silk Road to the deserts of Central Asia. The odometer of the small yellow Trabant has clocked up 15,000 kilometers. Half of Europe and most of Central Asia have disappeared beneath its wheels. After six weeks spent in its cramped interior, Dan Přibáň, Vladislav Růžička, and Jan Martin Kozel traveled through Central Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, and Turkmenistan, before turning west again in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and returning home via Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. 15,000 kilometers is a very long journey, during which many details can be lost.

When you say Mikuláš, everyone imagines a mysterious man with a white beard, a tall hat, and a staff in his hand, accompanied by an angel and a devil. Good children are given gifts, while naughty ones receive a stocking full of coal. Hurvínek and Mánička also waited impatiently for Mikuláš to arrive. However, the absent-minded Mr. Spejbl forgot about the gifts, so Hurvínek and Mánička decide to remedy this "outrage" by dressing up as the devil and St. Nicholas themselves and surprising their father and grandmother. But Grandma reminds Mr. Spejbl of the forgotten event, so Mr. Spejbl has to get a devil costume too... And what happens when there are more devils than there should be? A fairy tale full of suspense, but also songs and winter fun. And have you seen Mánička ice skating?

Thirtysomethings Linda, Radim, Tonda, Otakar, Dagmara and Silvie have been friends since they met as teenagers. All of them arrived in the big city, Prague, from their small home town. The euphoric dreams each had for themselves have not materialized and they are all starting to feel trapped in different ways. They all seem to know one thing: what they don't want in life. At a party back in their home town they reminisce over one of their early dreams: to buy a farm, live together and, most importantly, have fun with their lives. In the weeks that follow, each of them is faced with a crisis that brings this old dream into sharper, more sober focus. Can they make it a working reality? Do they really want to?

Nothing seems to disturb Uncle Egon's peace, who lives in his castle under the watchful eye of the strict but fair housekeeper Mrs. Bischlock. The idyll is destroyed by the housekeeper herself, who abruptly resigns because she refuses to live under the same roof as a ghost. And poor Mrs. Bischlock has no idea that the ghost Vasil, who suddenly jumped out of an old Russian domino, now owns almost the entire castle, having won it from Uncle Egon. The already tense situation is exacerbated by the unexpected arrival of Egon's sister Stela with her two daughters – the beautiful Valeria, who is of marriageable age, and the little detective in skirts, Sisinka.

The fourteenth Cimrman play takes us to the heart of a continent almost untouched by civilization. Czech travelers encounter a strange tribe of cannibals and almost end up on their menu. The members of this tribe are unusual in two ways: their appearance and their extraordinary docility. These characteristics enabled Cimrman to solve linguistic and staging problems with an elegance that other world playwrights can only envy. If, say, G. B. Shaw had tackled such a theme, the audience would have spent 5 to 7 hours in the auditorium. Cimrman managed to do it in just one hour (not counting the introductory scientific seminar). For the first time in the history of the Jára Cimrman Theater, a live animal appears on stage.

Predestination is a cage. The wife of an NHL hockey star and former Miss North Bohemia knows this all too well. She didn't even finish high school, which bothers her. But she is slowly coming to terms with the fact that no one expects her to be particularly intelligent. But does she really belong nowhere else but in the sector of hockey players' wives? After meeting a university professor specializing in adult education, she realizes that everything could be different.

After his wife’s death, 80‑year‑old Vavřinec Novotný feels alone and estranged from his sprawling family. He sells the family estate (Slánská hora) and announces a wild contest: whichever of his children becomes a parent first will inherit one million euros. His children and grandchildren — including a debt‑ridden restaurateur/MMA hopeful, a career‑focused singer granddaughter, and a gay grandson who longs for a family — launch into a frantic, absurd competition full of secrets, desperation and ambition. As the race unfolds, long‑buried tensions are exposed and the family learns what really matters: money or love and connection.

A theatre production of Gogol's play The Inspector General.

The knight Johannes rides to his new lands, which the king has given him for his bravery in battle. On the way to his castle, he learns that the castle is enchanted. A ghost is said to be haunting it. No one dared to enter the castle. Even the cruel steward Rudolf, who considers himself the lord of the lands, avoids the castle. The farmers from the village help the friendly Johannes in his fight against the evil steward. And his love for the beautiful Anna gives him the strength to break the spell that lies upon the castle.

The unfavorable situation of the labor market during the pandemic pushes Kateryna to work in a fraudulent call center that sells vitamins that promise “magical” success to its consumers. While this helped to survive financially, months of isolation, irritated customers and a common frustration took her into a vitamin deficiency, so-called avitaminosis. The film is a journey into fragility and the search for healing and love in an increasingly suffocating world for young generations.

Trapped in a nomadic world that makes less and less sense, Eliška yearns for a safer and more stable life for herself and her little brother Aleš. As illegitimate repo men begin frequenting their home, Eliška’s uncertainty about her and her brother’s future reaches a crescendo and she is forced to take action to protect Aleš from this shady and dangerous life.

King Jakub and Queen Anička’s family grows with their curious daughter, Princess Johanka, who loves spending time with her kindly grandfather Karaba the potter. Meanwhile, exiled advisors Lorenc and Ferenc manipulate the inexperienced Queen Julia from a neighboring realm to enact revenge, luring Karaba into a cunning trap. Now the royal family and their allies must join forces, perhaps even dusting off Karaba’s hidden skills, to outwit the schemers.

It’s the year 1403, and the Bohemian Kingdom is in chaos. While roaming marauders sow fear and terror through a kingdom without a clear ruler, Henry of Skalitz seeks to avenge his murdered parents. As an ally of the rightful king, he is sent to accompany Sir Hans Capon on a diplomatic mission. After they are brutally attacked, however, Henry and Hans undergo a series of dangerous adventures that subject them and their friendship to the ultimate test.

Bára Basiková is an icon of Czech rock and other music genres. To what extent can her public, media-distorted image differ from the person she really is? The answer comes in the form of the latest long-term documentary study from Helena Třeštíková, whose empathy, coupled with admirable self-reflection and openness on the part of the protagonist, gives rise to a fascinating film portrait: over the course of fifty years we follow a woman who demonstrates remarkable strength as she faces the challenges of both her professional and private lives.​

When Standa is released from jail, he feels a brighter future is about to take hold. Instead, his bad luck grows, thanks to a new acquaintance.

In an unnamed small town, a local baseball team prepares for the decisive game of the season. Among the players is Valentine — shy, quiet, and struggling to fit in among his loud teammates, in a world ruled by strength, competition, and unspoken rules. His attention is drawn to David, a carefree rebel who mocks everything and lives by his own code. What begins as an ordinary day on the field slowly transforms into an unexpected journey beyond the limits of expectation and self-control. After a crushing defeat comes a drunken night of confusion, excess, and one reckless idea that takes a dangerous turn. Everything culminates in a chaotic brawl over a trophy that has long ceased to be just a sports prize.

The story takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. Little Lojzík, whose mother was killed by lightning, lives on a farm with his father and an old farmhand. The harsh world has taught him to perceive images that remind him of his lost mother's embrace. He searches in vain among people for someone to whom he can once again become emotionally attached. He finds no support or security in his father, his mother's sister, or his stepmother Róza, even though she was the only one who showed compassion for the boy at the beginning of their life together. The only one who truly shares Lojzík's fate as an abandoned child is an ordinary chicken...

The vast Amazon hides many secrets. And Amazonian shamans surprise us with their abilities and knowledge. They can cure even so-called incurable diseases because they communicate directly with plants, which tell them how to heal. Local shamans can leave their bodies, travel across the Earth and the universe, download any information, and learn anything that interests them. The key to this is ayahuasca, a mysterious vine whose decoction not only heals and cleanses a person on all levels, but also gives them knowledge of anything in this world and in worlds yet unknown, opening the door to other dimensions...

Lupyn returns from prison during the pandemic and plans another job. A local mob boss and a corrupt police lieutenant try to uncover who is disrupting their territory and profit from the situation.

Two different productions of Václav Havel's Beggar's Opera reveal the political dynamics of Czechoslovakia before and after the velvet revolution.

A cheerful fairy tale with songs about magic and a tangled search for a missing baron. All it took was one petty argument, a little absent-mindedness, and Lady Valentina of the princely Rybenský family accidentally turned her fiancé, Baron Lumír Mokřenský, into a donkey. Such a mishap must be kept secret, especially since Valentýna has no idea how to reverse the spell. She prefers to let everyone think that Lumír ran away before the wedding and that she keeps the donkey as a pet...

An overburdened working mother temporarily leaves her family and rents a spare room from a taxi driver she just met to sort out her chaotic life.