Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

The Servant of Two Masters is a mature example of commedia dell'arte, featuring traditional characters and situations. It takes place within a close-knit family, where the main event is an engagement complicated by the servant Truffaldino, who is both cunning and foolish. He sets in motion a comedy of mistaken identities and misunderstandings, driven by his eternal hunger, through unexpected twists and turns to a happy ending. He is surrounded by traditional characters – commedia dell'arte masks – the worried father Pantalone, the wise doctor, and their children in love, an adventurous couple of lovers, the innkeeper Brighella, and the maid Smeraldina. Truffaldina is played by Miroslav Donutil, who continues the tradition of improvisation to the great delight of many audience members.

On a cloudy hillside, filled with canvases and sculpting tools, Micah, a blind sculptor, sits working on a bench as he calls upon Aelius, a spirit that is neither good nor bad. Micah opens up to him about his wish to see. Aelius listens as humanely as he can as they converse about loss, grief, and life.

The heroes of the film came together in a theater troupe—Passengers—and together they prepared a play about how they imagine their lives after leaving the children's home where they grew up. However, reality is much more dramatic than theater.

The film is based on real events – in 2005 Viktor Kalivoda murdered 3 random strollers he chanced upon in the forests in Czechia. The case received much attention for its lack of motive. After his arrest, Kalivoda confessed, but did not reveal his motive. The film will closely observe one year in his life leading up to the murders and his arrest.

The story of a prisoner who wanted to become a film director.

Tomáš Etzler worked for seven years as a foreign correspondent in China. He came to know a country that was developing at an admirably fast pace, was swayed by its energy, and for a moment believed that modernity could bring about political change as well. Before long, it dawned on him that many people would continue to be severely punished, and the regime would still keep most of the nation in a state of indecision and ignorance. Without neglecting that face of China today, Etzler chose to tell a story of hope in his personal documentary. Using the example of an orphanage for disabled children, he shows that the answer to collectivist brutality and ruthlessness can be mutual assistance, tolerance and empathy.

This almost detective-like fairy tale tells the story of an overly anxious nanny who, fearing the wrath of the lady of the castle, searches so relentlessly for a missing trinket that she finds herself in real danger. Armed with advice from the sorceress Faustina, she plucks up her courage and sets off in search of the lost golden toy. This leads her to the lair of the terrifying Grey Mžour. The grumpy Mžour loves gold so much that he is willing to do anything for its glitter. But we wouldn't be in a fairy tale if there weren't a brave savior...

Aged around 20, Simon has a brain tumour that is gradually destroying his memory and has condemned him to live in the immediate present. From this painful experience, his sister, Nora Štrbová, a filmmaker, has made an organic short animated documentary, which succeeds with a rare formal relevance to represent the inexorable loss of the being.

František Černý and Karel Holas take a trip through the colorful history of a band that keeps breathing, rehearsing, searching, and discovering. The documentary was made in 2018, when Čechomor celebrated its 30th anniversary. In the band's home recording studio on Barrandov Hill above Prague, the filmmakers did not find any fame-weary "distinguished artists" resting on the laurels of past successes, but instead met energetic and enthusiastic young men, František Černý and Karel Holas, who are currently working on something new...

A serial killer murders wealthy businessmen. He lures them to his sprawling estate under the pretext of selling it. However, one of the murders does not fit into this series, even though it is similar to the others to a certain extent. The widow of businessman Sojková is also a suspect, but she is also acting as an amateur detective. She searches for her husband's killer on her own, as she believes the incompetent police are unable to catch him.

Jane is about to have a beautiful weekend in the mountains with her boyfriend – at least, that’s what she thinks. But instead of her boyfriend, three uninvited guests show up at her doorstep, and they’re not going away. It’s getting dark, a contest begins, and Jane happens to be the grand prize. There’s only one person who can help her.

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 Horváth family is a Romani family with seven children, and the story begins with the tragic death of the father. His wife, Vera, is suddenly in a fight with the authorities, determined to keep her large family together at all costs, but she is hopelessly ill-prepared for the task. They are evicted from their home and her case-Vera versus the city-finds its way to a young, ambitious lawyer. She doesn't know the world of the Romani, nor is she particularly interested in it. Initially she takes the case as a springboard for her career. Despite her prejudices, incomprehension and sometimes Vera herself, she doesn't abandon the case. Luckily she is not the only one who sides with the family. There is a social worker whose attempts to help the Horváths are also motivated by his entirely private interest in the attractive lawyer.

In 1951, the well-known Czech actress Jiřina Štěpničková receives a letter from Austria from director František Čáp, who has recently emigrated. He invites her to the West and promises her roles in theater and film. She decides to seize the opportunity and flee. Together with a small group of people and her young son Jirka, she entrusts herself to a smuggler and embarks on a risky journey across the border. But something goes wrong. They are caught. Everything had been planned in advance. The smuggler himself is a member of the StB. But that's only the beginning.

The life of Marcela, an ordinary Czech woman is explored throughout several decades of her life. We are engaged to struggle and fight back with Marcela as her tragic life unfolds before our eyes especially when dealing with her daughter’s unexpected death, which almost drives her to suicide. The film was initially part of a series about the fate of six married couples, but the events that happened throughout Marcela’s life were the reason why the director decided to focus solely on a documentary about her.

Lucie, a contemporary music composer and performer, creates bizarre pieces using knitting patterns or water turbine schemes, which the public struggles to accept. She prioritises authenticity over popularity, avoiding emotional storytelling in her music. Despite facing resistance from performers and listeners, Lucie remains dedicated, sacrificing much for her art. Her composition “Accept” succeeds, leading her to study in the Netherlands and USA, where she gains acclaim but finds personal life unfulfilled. After losing someone close, Lucie is left adrift in sound, questioning her ability to compose without emotion. Director Jan Hubacek explores these themes in his debut documentary.

A Czech director wrestles with problems personal and political during the Prague spring of 1968.

The film contains three Jan Werich's fairy tales, each directed by one artist. The first story sets out to the Sumava mountains in Southern Bohemia to find out whether Ogres ever lived there. The middle tale The Hat and the Little Jay Feather concerns a king who sends his three sons to bring back a hat he left at a tavern when he was young. The third and longest fairy tale Reason and Luck is about the two virtues of the title try to prove their importance by changing the life of a pig herder named Louis. Written by

35-year-old Eliska has a wedding and is waiting for her big moment. Instead of his "yes", the groom says "no" and runs away from the altar. Fortunately, overwhelmed Eliska has a great friend with a clear recipe for what needs to be done. She herself alternates boys as socks and therefore immediately bases her profile on a dating site. She doesn't like it very much, but she is middle-aged, she's single and she's afraid the train won't miss her. And she wants to take life more firmly in her hands. She therefore throws herself into a blind date and tries to find new love between a series of catastrophic meetings. At the same time, she has to move quickly and the only option is to live with her half-brother, a weirdo who grows bees on the roof and who does not want her at home.

A comedy from the hotel where it all began and ended.

The making of the Tarsem Singh's fantasy-film 'The Fall'. Behind the scenes: Part I.

Stolen Kosovo is a Czech language documentary by director Václav Dvořák (b. 1948), about the Serbian–Albanian conflict in Kosovo. The documentary describes the situation, first in a short overview of the history of the area, followed by the 1990s conflicts and bombing of Serbia by NATO forces in 1999 and ending with the situation after the Kosovo War. The documentary focuses on the 1990s in the time of Slobodan Milošević's rule as well as on numerous interviews of Serbian civilians and, less, of Albanian insurgents against the Milošević regime.

A loose continuation of the cases of our murder squad in the films Škodná and Hrobník. The new film not only deals with the murder of a psychologist, reminiscent in some respects of a deviant crime with bizarre ritual elements. We also follow the fate of Drobný, a recently released prisoner who is convinced that he has a profound reason to hate the psychologist and take revenge on her. Gradually, he finds himself in the position of a cornered animal, which only intensifies his desire for harsh retribution. The first storyline of the film is purely detective-like, while Drobný's story is more in the style of a gritty crime thriller.

A serial killer masked as a chicken hunts the streets of Prague. A police investigator will follow his tracks in search of his identity, trying to catch up to him before he can kill his next victim.

Petr and Simona have been living together for twenty-five years. They have nine children, with whom they live in caravans on a meadow in Šumava – without television, computers, or running water. The authoritarian Petr calls himself a "professional father." He guides his offspring toward freedom and harmony with nature, while trying to protect them from the harmful influence of consumer society. The children only go to school for exams—their college-educated parents teach them at home. At first glance, the family cohesion, which is practically unparalleled in today's Western world, seems idyllic. Upon closer inspection, however, doubts begin to arise. The film Still Together explores the price of a free life outside of society and asks: is there a recipe for the ideal family?

This fairy tale, full of humor and suspense, begins in a small town where preparations are underway for a theatrical performance. The play tells a local legend about enormous riches hidden deep underground. Many long to find them, but those who set out in search of them never return. The play features two sisters, Kačenka and Barborka, as well as Jakub, a musician and Barborka's jealous boyfriend. The theme of the play also attracts the miserly lord of the castle, Bořivoj Hájek z Hájku, who arrives with his brother Ignác, an eccentric inventor and researcher. And somewhere underground, near the real treasure, sit his three ghostly guards, passing the time by inventing all sorts of pastimes, which the Lord of the Underground does not enjoy at all. His patience will run out the moment the bored guards interfere with human destinies, because of a bet on how the love between Jakub and Barbora will turn out.

Scenes from the life of composer Zdeněk Fibich accompanied by excerpts from his work in a poetic documentary... The story of the Czech artist is embodied in a single day in the life of his collaborator and lover Anežka Schulzová (Iveta Rálková). Between waking up in the morning and falling asleep at night, she brings fragments of her beloved man's life experiences to life in her memories. It is a drama of emotions that draws her into its trap. Fibich left the safe haven of his family for her love, seeking inspiration in passion and eroticism. This clearly tense human situation is complicated by Anežka's rival and Fibich's wife Betty.

A successful chemist is forced to return his honeymoon vouchers to Greece. His fiancée has bought a dog for her hyperactive daughter against his wishes. Thanks to a conspiracy between the girl and the dog, the whole family ends up on vacation in the middle of the Šumava "wilderness." At first, the alternative vacation seems idyllic. All the plans of the ambitious father and caring mother gradually fall apart when the daughter and the dog meet someone who understands them. And that person has friends at the guesthouse where the family is staying. Of course, the mother and her fiancé find these people a little crazy. But the girl and the dog are perfectly happy with them. The life full of restrictions and obligations that the girl has led so far is becoming a thing of the past. None of the adults who find themselves in their vicinity can be sure that their lives will not change, whether they want it or not.

Delve deeper into the fairy-tale world of Princess Enchanted in Time! New stories featuring beloved characters from the film reveal, for example, how Prince Jan obtained the Sun Thorn sword, why Amélie began studying magical alchemy, and who the witch Murien really is and how she came to wield her powers.

Krystof, an architect whose main priority is his job, has been living for several years with Tereza, who has a somewhat different outlook on life. Their love story reveals the distinctness and contradictory nature of each person's subjective worlds and shows how the line between dream and reality differs in each and every one of us.

The hero of the popular Czech animated series Pat and Mat, have come to us with their more or less successful, always comedy house repairs. In memory of the times of true cartoons, which marked the youth of many generations, the legendary home-based master comes to large screens with brand new adventures. Czechoslovakia's cartoon A je to (also known as Pat & Mat) is the work of Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek, first reproduced in 1976. This year Pat and Mat celebrate their 40th birthday. However, this is nothing like that for such a large caliber. In the attic store boxes of full movies (and a projector under the stairs) and share stories with their fans. However, as often happens, they face many traps. This time you will meet a sneaky cactus and a dry tree. Meanwhile, they will naturally "improve" their home with some creative ideas. Just how?

After many years, Anka Lomnická, a former countess and emigrant, arrives in Prague. By chance, she finds herself seated next to two characters from a crime story that gradually unfolds around Bubeník, a former guard of political prisoners. With her spontaneity, Anka meets old and new faces, one of whom is Věra, the granddaughter of the former administrator of the Lomnický castle, and her boyfriend, a young detective named Přemek. When Bubeník is found shot dead with a gun in his hand, Přemek is not convinced it was suicide and begins to uncover the past not only of the dead man, but also of his potential father-in-law and his friends, former political prisoners. Gradually, a whole series of people appear whom the ruthless Bubeník hurt in his lifetime...

A person just tells a joke and immediately ends up unemployed. That's roughly how urologist Miloš feels. He made an inappropriate joke about a high-ranking official and now he's trying to destroy him. And if only... The whole house smells strange and everyone around him acts suspiciously. Luboš Kučera's stylized feature debut shows the contemporary world as a bizarre panopticon.

In Kamenákov, the arrival of a Romany family becomes a problem for police chief Pepa and ignites an intense soccer rivalry.

Jana decides to make an ambitious film about the life of Bedřich Smetana, but unfortunately, right at the start, the main partner withdraws from the project and producer Richard decides to stop filming. However, Jana is not willing to give up on her dream and, thanks to a coincidence, she gains new helpers—two YouTubers! A joint creative phase begins, full of humorous situations based on the contrast between generations "X" and "Z."

Řehoř lives a contented life. His wife Evženie does not. After sixty years of marriage, eighty-year-old Evženie comes to her granddaughter, lawyer Katka, to ask for her help in divorcing her eighty-five-year-old husband Řehoř. Katka is shocked by her grandmother's decision and her harshness and intransigence. What must have happened in her grandparents' relationship that even decades have not been able to erase? Katka does not want to break up her beloved family and tries to figure out her grandmother's reasons. She uncovers her own family's dramatic past, but her grandparents' secret remains hidden from her. Her grandmother risks losing her granddaughter and hides the truth from her, not wanting to pass on the burden of her past guilt to the next generation. She tries to come to terms with the past and find peace. And Řehoř? Will Katka protect him?

A comedy about a charming con artist who decisively intervenes in the life of a wealthy industrialist and his entire family. Influential businessman Compass announces at home that it is high time for his nineteen-year-old daughter to get married. He leaves the choice of a suitable partner up to her...

1950. While some people enthusiastically build a totalitarian state, others flee from it in terror. And some disappear. Just like Jarmila, the sister of doctor Marie, disappeared. Although a letter arrived from her in West Germany, it was addressed to Maruška, a name Jarmila never called her sister. At first, there is only an almost impossible-to-prove suspicion, then the intuition of a loving sister, and so Marie sets out to follow in her footsteps.

Daniel (Martin Pechlát) is a successful architect who has just completed the design of a skyscraper that will soon become a landmark of the city. When he is about to tell his wife Kateřina (Anna Polívková) the joyful news, he learns unexpected news in return. Kateřina went to the doctor, who found out that her kidneys were failing and the only long-term solution was a transplant. So to give or not to give? This is the question Daniel must solve. Will he offer his wife a kidney, which may cost him his life, or will he not offer, which may cost him marriage? And how will their friends Erik (Mira Nosek) and Diana (Barbora Seidlová), who hoped to enjoy a carefree weekend and celebrate Kateřina's birthday together, step in?

The creators of the Vyšehrad project appreciate all fans of the original online series, so they decided to shorten their wait for the film sequel. That's why they came up with a unique project in which they combined all episodes of the original internet series and added new scenes from the upcoming film as a small preview. The project offers a completely new sound mix, improved image quality, and many other pleasant surprises for those who are already familiar with the series.

Bohumil Modrý, the best hockey goalie in the world, who significantly contributed to the first international successes of Czechoslovak hockey after World War II. In 1948, he was offered a job in the NHL, but his stellar sports career and happy family life were destroyed by a trumped-up political trial in 1950. He died prematurely in 1963 at the age of 46 from the effects of imprisonment and radiation.

In the diary of a six-year-old girl, Marie, we learn what important things happened during one holiday month before she started first grade and how she perceived the changes in her family.

Two beautiful sisters have to face fear and uncertainty at the hands of unscrupulous women, will their future be betrayed? Where will their destiny take them? They must learn to practice complete submission at the hands of a dominant lesbian mistress and her controlling maid. Better to instead satisfy their erotic desires, pleasure them in every way required and save themselves from harsh spankings, whipping and punishments.

Vlasta and Tonda don't have much longer to live but they do have one more important task ahead of them - to find and kill the communist prosecutor who sent them to prison in the 1950s. An unusual road movie about two former political prisoners who fight for justice despite every obstacle.

A story about a man overly influenced by the women in his life, which is unique in many ways, including the fact that he somehow turned out to be "straight" in spite of his ordeals with women, which started at birth.

On a quiet evening, the spectral White Lady Slavěna and her ghostly painter beloved Tomáš shelter the orphaned cook Fanynka from pursuing robbers, despite the enchanted knight Slavoj’s powerless protests. When robber chief Borek infiltrates the castle in disguise and uncovers the truth, he vows to destroy the ghosts and claim the fortress for himself.

Markéta and Honza are a loving and beloved royal couple. The cunning princess Eufrozína beguiles Lucifer with her charm and, with the help of seven-league boots, flees from hell with her father to reunite with King Brambas and deprive Honza of his throne. Honza's evil sister Dora also takes advantage of his absence on a campaign against the enemy and sneaks into the castle, where she almost kills Markýta and her newborn son, just so she can win Honza for herself. This time, however, the lovers are supported by Kujbaba, Hnipírka, Valihrach, the wise godmother, a pair of devils, Lucifer himself, a three-headed dragon with a little dragon, and other characters.

The five-year relationship between older Michal and Veronika has reached a crossroads. While he is already planning children and a family, she feels that she has not experienced anything yet and wants to have fun. They live side by side without really being together. Under pressure from arguments and fear of breaking up, Michal comes up with a mysterious vacation for Veronika. From the beginning, however, everything is different from what the meticulous Michal had planned, and Veronika shows her disappointment. The trip through Scandinavia and the situations it puts them in hold up a mirror to themselves and their relationship. Everything seems to confirm that they should no longer be together. An encounter with Šimon, an adventurer and petty thief who is always on the road, gives their lives and their relationship an unexpected reflection and moves them forward.

The young couple Uli and Vanilla want to split up, but lust and money get in their way.

This documentary study of the mechanisms that turn the gears of the tabloids is conducted by the unique figure Pavel Novotný. This editor-in-chief of one of the most widely read Czech media outlets of the time, providing news from the world of show business and human misfortune, gets straight to the point. Readership is a fetish, an absolute alibi for all invasions of privacy and every transgression of good ethics. Seen up close, the whole cluster of disreputable reports looks like a staged tableau. Before the eager eyes of an anxious public, celebrities willingly or unwillingly perform acts that the scrutiny of the all-powerful tabloid workers attributes racy significance to.

Connects seven stories of children facing different forms of violence, exploring how unresolved childhood trauma can lead to struggles in adulthood, perpetuating a cycle of hurt and harmful behavior.

Three "retired" punks with wilted mohawks and their corpulent female companion spend their time drinking beer and chatting, uncompromisingly condemning Western civilization. Since they claim that freedom is their highest imperative, they decide to kidnap Kisoro, a teenage gorilla from the zoo, "so she can menstruate freely." However, after the "rescue mission," they begin to prostitute her in zoophilic porn on the internet...