Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

Honza owes money to a gangster. After being talked down to by the gangster Honza decides to kill him.

The revue about the life of Karel Hašler and his songs was written on commission by the Vinohrady Theater's most frequently performed original author, Pavel Kohout. It premiered in October 2014 and remains one of the most popular titles in the repertoire. That is why this revue was chosen as the gala performance for the theater's 110th anniversary.

A documentary by Jonáš Motyčka about people with Borderline personality disorder.

A forest can resemble the sea. It is vast and shapeless, with tree tops swaying in the wind like water. The landscape of our country, which is far from the sea, has always been naturally forested, and people had to take arable land and land for their dwellings from nature. They took it from the forest. People in earlier times were surrounded by forest to an extent that we no longer understand. They feared it, used it, and populated it with various creatures. That is why the forest has had its own artistic symbol since ancient times—on Gothic buildings, we find a stone sculpture symbolizing the forest: the demonic figure of the Green Man. From the forest, one can only see half of it, because the other half is underground. What is the history of the forest in the development of the landscape over time? The main guide of the program is Václav Cílek, followed by botanist Ivan Větvička and ecologist Jaromír Bláha.

This satirical comedy set in a toy factory is an attempt to take a humorous look at our manufacturing shortcomings. Supply manager Tesař performs his duties with extreme dedication. Unnecessarily, because the middle managers—chief coordinator Vaněk, who aspires to the position of deputy, and his assistant Pokora—have failed to create a management system and rely on Tesař, his abilities, and their own power.

Jaroslav is a handsome and seemingly good-natured son, father and decent husband. But in fact he is pathologically jealous of his wife Blanka and very much afraid that she will leave him one day with their three children. Jaroslav and his family do not hesitate to employ violence, deceit and terror against others, which ultimately leads to a family tragedy.

The story of this film that is made in one continuous shot takes place during a single evening in and around literary bar in the middle of a big city.

The world is suddenly more complicated because Vojta is different. Different from the others!

The staff at the White Cat Inn watch with concern and suspicion as Johan, the postman, pays frequent visits. This dapper, suave gentleman persistently courts Kristýna, the widowed innkeeper, even though he otherwise despises the locals. Kristýna's son Vítek dislikes him. And even more so when Johan tries to drive his pet and protector of the inn, the white cat, out of the house! Vítek, Kristýna's servants, and her friend, the poacher Prokop, are determined to get rid of Johan or at least make his life miserable. And things start to happen at the inn...

A sensitive portrait of grandfather Miroslav Benda, a tried and true Sokol member and an ordinary man with extraordinary vigor and ideals, revealing a story of human resilience and optimism through nostalgia and situational comedy. The film is a kind of observational documentary - it includes family videos and archival film material. We’re drawn into the microcosm of the village of Křenovice u Slavkova by two Japanese women who have decided to visit Benda, thanks to his long friendship with a university professor from Tokyo. Together with Benda, the audience travels to the only Japanese gas station in Europe, to Prague’s Strahov Stadium, and to New York to visit American Sokol members.

Mauro Bigonzetti's ballet based on Franz Kafka, performed by the National Theatre Ballet. Choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, fascinated by the irresistible language of Prague native Franz Kafka and the enduring relevance of his novel "The Trial," was drawn into the dark world of Josef K and created a modern dance production depicting the world of the protagonist and his hopeless struggle with a cold and heartless modern society. Bigonzatti used music by a number of composers from different historical periods, from D. Buxtehude to H. Górecki, C. Monteverdi, and M. P. Mussorgsky. This selection is remarkably balanced and surprisingly contemporary.

Czech Photographer Josef Koudelka grew up behind the Iron Curtain and always wanted to know "what was on the other side". Forty years after capturing the iconic images of the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968, the legendary Magnum photographer arrives in Israel and Palestine. On first seeing the nine-meter-high wall built by Israel in the West Bank, Koudelka is deeply shaken and embarks on a four-year project in the region which will confront him once again with the harsh reality of violence and conflict. Director Gilad Baram, Koudelka's assistant at the time, follows him on his journey through the Holy Land from one enigmatic and visually spectacular location to another.

Plot TBA. Release 2027.

Based on a best-selling novel by Michal Viewegh, Angels of everyday focuses on a few intimate family members: a recently widowed young doctor Ester; a school canteen cook and her son; a driving instructor, his wife, and their closest relatives.

Theatre personality, musician, poet, writer, graphic artist, collector, self-professed clown, eternally young in spirit – all this is Jiří Suchý, one of the key figures of the domestic cultural scene over the last six decades. He has put on 97 plays at the Semafor theatre and has written the lyrics for 1,400 songs and the music for 500. Today, in an era beset by an onslaught of images that are often of questionable worth, this legendary figure’s tireless efforts to enrich the Czech language and its poetic nuances have been of inestimable value. Olga Sommerová lays before us Suchý’s prolific creative and civic journey through life with the subtle distinctiveness we have come to expect; she also demonstrates her singular flair for capturing exceptional moments.

A dramatic love story, taking place in the final days of the Second World War when the American Army liberated the Pilsen region of West Bohemia. Anne lives with her mother, husband and stepchildren at a solitary country farm. But her life is not what she would wish it to be. She had previously lived with her aunt in London, and the only reason why she returned to Czechoslovakia was to look after the orphaned children of her sister. She married their father, but the rural environment is alien to her, and neither does she get on very well with her husband. A group of American soldiers arrives at the farm, having strayed away from their designated route of advance. To their great surprise, they are welcomed by a young woman who speaks fluent English, and invite her to go with them to Pilsen as an interpreter. Anne long hesitates, well aware that she attracts the affection of one of the soldiers, and herself becomes fond of him, too. She feels that the trip to Pilsen could mean an ....

Experimental documentary examining the interaction of hate, religion, and the apocalypse in the United States.

This intimate story takes place over 24 hours on the roads and dirt tracks of Moravia, where two outcasts, marked by the past they are fleeing from, wander in an old car. The girl, suffering from depression, no longer knows how to deal with her sexual exploitation, while the young man is being pursued by a gang demanding their money back...

Even after more than 25 years since the dreadful war crimes had been taking place in former Yugoslavia, this tragic history is far from over – be it for the victims’ families, conflicting nations or for a Czech investigator who comes back to the region to carry on in his work after so many years. The documentary return voyage follows not only the paths of fleeing war criminals, but is driven by an effort to capture a part of the ethic mission of the then newly formed International Criminal Court in The Hague along, in its double nature: based on an independent investigation of war crimes, to strive for reconciliation in cases of multifarious ethnic, national and other conflicts.

Teenager Kristina Kleinburger, daughter of the commander of a concentration camp, arrives from bombed-out Berlin to visit her parents, whose life represents a world of harmony and peace for her. Her parents try to reinforce her illusions with ballet lessons, which are to be given by a former Hungarian prima ballerina. In a single day, contrary to the intentions and plans of her father, a typical German officer, Kristina's ideas and illusions about her parents' society and the security of home collapse, and the whole perversity and monstrosity of the German war and totalitarian mechanism emerges before her with tragic inexorability and the echo of the approaching end of the war. The story, setting, and characters of the film are fictional, only the tragedy of their fates is real.

A drama set in a rural environment. In 1948, in the middle of a joyful wedding, the groom Tomáš Záruba stumbles among the wedding guests with a gun in his hand. He was shot by his own father, who disapproved of his choice of bride. The groom, Tomáš, is the son of the old kulak Záruba, who during the occupation denounced his neighbor Libor, who subsequently ended up in a concentration camp. However, Libor survived, and young Tomáš Záruba falls in love with his daughter Jana and marries her despite his father's protests.

A documentary by Jonáš Motyčka about people with Borderline personality disorder.

The father falls into a coma. The mother and son silently concentrate all their powers. They meekly accept the diagnosis but resist the verdict. Yet they reject an open conflict because the life thread is so taut that conflict could inadvertently break it.

The shadow of a great dragon circles above the royal castle, Princess Caroline tries on a black mourning dress while crying, and a few invited princes feast in the courtyard. Over a good meal, they discuss what should be done. The first prince suggests offering the dragon a few hundred subjects instead of the princess, the second believes that the kingdom has neglected prevention and that the dragon should be dissuaded, and the third prince has composed a song about it. But none of them wants to face the dragon...

A hapless Prague actor is drafted at the last minute to stand in for the star of Boskovice’s Wild West Show, just to discover that throwing tomahawks at full gallop, surviving saloon can-can dancers, and keeping up with town “cowboys” is far more perilous than it looks on TV. As he stumbles through shoot-outs and broken bones (both of his, no less), he finds himself equally disarmed by the town’s fierce Western spirit, and by the smile of its most captivating beauty.

Animated short film about sparkledogs, werewolverines and other things that are JUST drawings.

Pavel Medek is leaving a psychiatric hospital. His world consists of the musicians from the band he used to perform with, managers of recording studios and concert agencies, and the atmosphere of clubs and pubs. His marriage is falling apart, his colleagues and friends are disappearing. He decides to move to the countryside and start over. Will he manage to change his lifestyle, find new inspiration, restore confidence in himself and his family, and jump back on the pop culture bandwagon?

A cheerful fairy tale about how two young people who initially didn't even want to meet fall in love. The classic theme of searching not only for love but also for happiness in life is interesting for its modern approach and completely contemporary dialogue, which is very relatable to today's children. Princess Róza and Prince Philip II are to be married for the sake of their fathers' higher political interests, without ever having met before. Róza is a gentle girl who, despite her father forcing her to fence and shoot, prefers to play the transverse flute. Philip II, on the other hand, has no interest in ruling, but loves to go, secretly of course, to cook ordinary pub food at the local inn. And that is where they meet completely by chance...

A pair of rural detectives are searching for the murderers of old Vodička. He was an unpleasant old man who apparently witnessed a crime at some point in the past. The pair slowly unravels the threads of a case that reaches deep into the past. However, the old events have long been shrouded in the fog of oblivion and the village's unwillingness to reveal secrets that personally affect each of its inhabitants. In the end, as is often the case, chance comes to the rescue, and an ordinary shirt button becomes indirect evidence of the murder...

At least the second victim of a sexual deviant has been discovered in the game reserve of the Hvězda summer palace. The heroine of our story, Olina, a classmate of the murdered 13-year-old girl, has a secret: an unknown man calls her and discusses her adolescent problems with her in a hushed voice.

The drama of a young married couple unfolds during the socially and politically turbulent times of the young Czechoslovak Republic in 1919, when husband Michal decides to take advantage of the still unsettled post-war conditions to enrich himself, which, in his foolish imagination, will earn him the admiration and love of his adored wife.

Andjela decides to start an exciting and risky road trip adventure to Montenegro, in company of her best friend and two strangers, as part of a social experiment.

For those who love romantic fairy tales full of mysterious magic and spells, filming began in June on the story of Princess Mařinka and the young man Černoočko. The two meet secretly in the woods near the castle and dream of a future together. However, their love is a thorn in the side of Černoočko's grandmother, the witch Křivonožka, who would prefer her grandson to forget about Mařinka and devote himself to the craft of witchcraft. Therefore, she takes advantage of the opportunity when Prince Hubert arrives at the castle for a courtship, deliberately arousing Černoočko's jealousy and hoping that he will renounce Mařinka. However, Černoočko secretly transforms himself into a bird using a complex spell and flies to the castle to see for himself what is happening.

Children's games will affect the lives of two young women years later.

The coronavirus crisis in the Czech Republic from a completely different perspective than we know from the media. An unexpected, visually interesting, and original look at how the epidemic, quarantine, and state of emergency have changed us.

It is certainly no coincidence that Lady Chatterley's Lover was written after World War I, in 1928. What else but the incredible, hitherto unimaginable ravages of war could once again raise fundamental questions about human existence? Who are we, what are our true values and goals, what are our hopes? Lawrence answers with a love story of a socially unequal couple, harsh, wild, unabashed. He provokes with a passionate clash of liberating feelings and surviving conventions, with free expression contained in the text itself, its style and vocabulary.

A comedy about an ordinary small-town family, just like any other. Get to know them and see how dangerously similar they are to you and your friends and family.

Amidst French Revolution chaos, Princess Agnes seeks refuge in Bohemian castle. Doubt surrounds her royal identity until a pea beneath her mattress unveils the truth.

An ordinary man with an ordinary job, ordinary family and ordinary affair has an unordinary day after he signes the Charta 77.

A desperate masked robber holds a betting-shop clerk at gunpoint, and when a well-meaning young bystander intervenes, he’s tragically shot dead. Investigators race to connect three critical threads: the killer’s weapons expertise, the commonplace mask he uses, and his intimate knowledge of the crime scene to unmask him before he strikes again.

In a South Bohemian village in the middle of silver ponds and dark forests lives Jindřich (Radek Valenta), who one day goes out into the world with a firm decision to free the cursed princess. On the way, he reaches a haunted mill, where the beautiful Eliška (Andrea Černá) lives with her father. Eliška likes the young man, so she tells him that the cursed princess is in the pond and Jindřich remains in the mill as a helper. However, the devil and the waterman, who like Eliška, don't like that. With the help of various intrigues and incantations, they try to expel Jindřich from the mill, but soon a third groom appears there - an old rich man. However, since Eliška rejects all the suitors, the miller's father gets angry and gives her an ultimatum: either she chooses a suitor herself by the full moon, or the one who asks for her hand first gets her. So a fight ensues between the grooms...

Black comedy about three old friend, who rent a tomb.

Fourteen-year-old Pavel, alias Pako, falls into an underground tunnel during an expedition near Lukov Castle, injures his spine, and is confined to a wheelchair. After several months of rehabilitation, he and his mother Věra find it difficult to accept that he will never walk again. Local castle warden Jaromír also has his own problems to deal with in Lukov, as he struggles with grief over the death of his beloved wife. Lukov mayor Karel Zlejšek and his wife Naďa refuse to admit that their relationship is not developing as they had imagined and that this is affecting their son Petr's behavior. Adam and Eva's marriage is also going through a crisis, but so far they have managed to hide it from their children Aničkou and Tadeáš, or Nyny and Dydyn. Tokár arrives in the village with his daughters Dragica and Štěpánka – Šmudla – and tries to fit into everyday life in Lukov.

First documentary about the Czech hip hop scene shows how close the Czech rap can come to humour and irony. Three protagonists of the film, James Cole, Hugo Toxxx and Orion appear in situations where they are confronted with a professor of linguistics, children of a Romany quarter, a strict birth registry clerk, classical music trio, a statute of national revival hero Josef Jungmann, and the chanson singer Hana Hegerova, with whom they have a chance to sing the national anthem: "mimino mi mele nohu máma mele maso a máma mele sele kde domov můj?"

A splendid chain of unlikely encounters. Hunters, a tractor driver, a disco boy, and a corpse.

Today's story takes place in distant California, but it could just as easily happen here. It tells of dangerous intrigues, accusations, and slander that can have a devastating effect on anyone's life... Phillip Madison has a happy family and a thriving medical practice, with a reputation as one of the best surgeons around. However, an enemy suddenly appears in his almost idyllic life – the psychopathic Brittany Harding, who begins to blackmail Madison – accusing him of rape and threatening his marriage and professional reputation. When her blackmail fails, her aggression knows no bounds. One night, an accident occurs and the doctor is charged with causing bodily harm to two random pedestrians, resulting in their deaths. The investigation and subsequent trial aim to prove his guilt or find another culprit. Is the doctor innocent, and will he manage to clear himself of the false accusations and charges of manslaughter?

What was the iconic theater scene and its creators like? The final stage of the Prague Chamber Theater, which provoked, shocked, and fascinated audiences for ten seasons at the Komedie Theater.

The story of Eman Diblínek, who would like to have a romantic and, above all, extramarital affair with a typist named Heda, so he asks his friend, the writer Arnošt, to lend him his apartment. Arnošt is "coincidentally" leaving his apartment permanently, so he lets Eman use it, which sets off a series of humorous and romantic misunderstandings that Arnošt could not have imagined even in his novels.

Story of the car accident told from different perspectives. Everyone has his part of responsibility but some have taken a bigger piece.

Jara is one of thousands of Czechs who, after being released from institutional care, are suddenly forced to stand on their own two feet. He works hard, trying to give his little daughter and wife the life he could never have. After debt collector seizes the money meant to pay back his loan shark, Jara sets off on a mission to save his family.

Two little girls are playing with a ball. But after a petty quarrel, they get angry with each other and take offense. Their umbrage makes them inflate like balloons, they fly all the way up to the clouds. Girls get stuck up there, with no idea how to get down and save their kitten stuck in the tree.

Two passenger cars went to the team in Prague Cimrmanologists Liptáková in Jizera mountains to explore the rugged region Cimrman age. Already the journey itself was an adventure, but the result was worth it. The restaurant at the Orphans restored mural researchers Cimrman handwritten inscriptions in the old hoe handle up his anti-Habsburg discovered pamphlet "Its not hide the truth."