Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

A fairy tale for hearing-impaired children and their parents, performed by deaf actors in sign language. The deaf community has enjoyed significant support from Czech Television for many years thanks to interpreted programs and closed captioning. This year, the magazine Televizní klub neslyšících (Deaf Television Club) is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The creators of this club program have therefore decided to dedicate this year's final episode to deaf children and their parents. The result is the fairy tale Vánoční království (The Christmas Kingdom), performed by deaf actors in sign language, a fairy tale that is understandable not only to the hearing impaired, but thanks to dubbing, will appeal to all children. Above all, it shows that even hearing-impaired people have a sense of humor, are great actors, and can delight anyone who loves cheerful stories and a fairy-tale atmosphere. It shows that the worlds of the deaf and the hearing are closer than many of us think.

Mosquitos, freezing cold, mysterious taiga. Inhospitable places where thousands of prisoners have suffered. To document abandoned Gulags in Siberia, you have to walk miles in their shoes. This film follows the Gulag.cz team and their third expedition to the remains of an abandoned railway and Gulags in Northern Siberia, where data for virtual museum were gathered.

A series of short films created by FAMU students that have been screened at international festivals: Dear Dad, Sisters, Project Adam Basma, Con Spiro, and Vinland.

Documentary about crisis in Czech TV during 2000/2001.

A documentary film following several years in the life of Jan Potměšil who has become a very popular actor at an early age, representing the type of a young sporty intellectual. After a serious car crash in 1989, he ended up on a wheelchair. He was 23 years old at the time. After a year of rehabilitation, he returned to the stage. Excelling in “Flowers for Algernon”, he continuously acts in the production in front of sell-out crowds across the country. He also lives his personal life, experiencing new loves and breakups, is engaged in civic affairs and returns to the hospital now and then. The film aims to give a non-pathetic image of a life lived to the full despite adversity.

A live recording of a jazz concert dedicated to the memory of Karel Růžička, who was the teacher of pianist and composer Tomáš Sýkora. Together with his trio and the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sýkora will perform Růžička's famous composition "Lovebird," which was originally written for a chamber ensemble and jazz quartet. Sýkora has also enriched it with a new arrangement. The concert will also feature Sýkora's five-movement suite "Hidden Songs" and the extensive suite "Grace and Gratitude," which was based on compositions by Růžička's son, saxophonist and composer K. Růžička Jr. The compositional inventiveness of both Růžičkas and T. Sýkora complements Sýkora's art of sensitive and effective orchestration perfectly in both compositions.

The cast of a popular kid's show based on offering answers must figure out why young viewers mysteriously no longer have anything to ask them.

Czech TV adaptation of the french novel "La Soupe aux choux", previously adapted for the cinema in France, with De Funès ("Cabbage Soup", 1981).

Monika has the life she always dreamed of: she’s a successful doctor and expecting a child in a happy relationship with Lukáš. But is she truly happy? When she unexpectedly reunites with her ex-husband Petr after years, her doubts deepen. A brief meeting turns into a long walk through a summer city, during which unanswered questions begin to surface: "Why did we actually break up back then?" and "What if we had made a different choice?" Through dialogue and gentle humor, we observe how a subtle closeness re-emerges between them in quiet moments - whether in the rain, on a tram, or in the park. Director Bohdan Karásek crafts a sensitive, intimate drama about the roads not taken.

This movie was made by antifascists who have already chosen their attitude to the topic. We wont persuade you that the movie is objective in the usual sense. But we see its value in something else - the fact that we have been an active part of the events and that we were effectively shaping them. The movie of the Antifascist Action (AFA) monitors more than twenty years of the struggle against neo-Nazis, fascists and racists. The historic cross-section shows the multiple rises and falls of neo-Nazis and racists. You will witness the power as well as limited potential of the antifascist movement that doesnt deal just with neo-Nazis, but also with the repression of the state and the public opinion.

A concert by an exceptional Czech singer-songwriter with unique accompaniment by a symphony orchestra in the KC Peklo hall in Pilsen. Singer-songwriter Radůza has long been one of the most distinctive figures on the domestic music scene. It is fitting that she was discovered years ago by Zuzana Navarová, herself an iconic figure in Czech songwriting. Radůza seems, in a sense, to be following in her footsteps, or at least drawing inspiration from her discoverer. Her distinctive work, delivered in a evocative, raw interpretation, quickly found a large following...

Sons of two different natures come to live alone with their stroke-paralyzed father and their seriously ill mother. Libor, a religious teacher, with his wife Jana, and Jirka, an atheistic, indecisive and melancholic photographer, with his young son Dominik and his young lover Nikol. Both brothers have to cope with partner problems in addition to their parents' illnesses. Libor and Jana's relationship is marked by futile attempts to conceive. The divorced Jirka, who is thinking of going abroad, does not know how to treat Nikol, who is also ignored by the family. After three days, the father dies, which brings some reconciliation, but the problems of their relationship remain open.

Set history free. A modern history, enclosed for more than a quarter of a century in an abandoned prison in Uherské Hradiště with unique rooms preserved from the 1950s. The authors fill the emptiness of the premises with situational encounters with the building, nature and people who are united by their experience of the place and who are often divided by their life experience. A shared past as a starting point to a shared future.

The original (Aramaic) version of the biblical Lord's Prayer performed by the Alikvótní 4 ensemble. The Alikvótní 4 ensemble, led by Igor Angelov (choirmaster of the well-known choir Chorus Angelus), has been dedicating ten years to the reconstruction of the original (Aramaic) form of the biblical Lord's Prayer. Cooperation with Professor Bič, an expert in the field of Aramaic culture, inspired attempts to approach the authentic vocal form of the Lord's Prayer through the original language of Jesus Christ. Aliquotní 4 works, as the name of the ensemble already suggests, with the aliquot notes of the sonorous Aramaic voices of the Lord's Prayer, which gradually turn into ecstatic singing. We do not know exactly how the prayers of the first Christians took place, they were probably sung and experienced with the whole body, or even danced. You will have the opportunity to experience this prayer accompanied by ancient musical instruments.

Atlas and friend on a fateful journey.

This documentary by director Štěpán Kačírek offers a glimpse into the life of poet, playwright, illustrator, photographer, and, paradoxically, communist and jazz musician Josef Kainar. Despite his artistic versatility, poetry remains the focus of his life's work. Among his best-known collections are Stories and Minor Poems, New Myths, Fates, and Rhymes. Vladimír Mišík, Michal Prokop, Petr Skoumal, Jiří Brabec, Gábina Osvaldová, and others recall the poet, who constantly suffered from a lack of money, love, and happiness.

The collector has devoted thousands of hours to gathering thousands of objects. His mansion is inhabited by all the things he has ever tried to repair and save, and his collection offers a glimpse into his mind. This object animation tells a story of passion, time, and the thin line between what we own and what owns us.

Karel Vachek’s latest documentary essay deals with the fine line between an internal belief in God and institutionalized religion. At the same time it brings up the need for a healthy sense of skepticism and the benefit of not believing in anything that advertises itself as certain. The filmmaker sets out for the USA, Japan, Great Britain, Poland, and the Balkans in his sometimes amusing investigation of spiritual substitutes, such as esoteric "teachings” or various fraudulent and magical practices, to which we sometimes fall prey due to our natural religious cravings. In addition to a Czech "prefab” family, who describe the carryings-on of their poltergeist, well-known mystery buffs appear in the film: Erich von Däniken, Raymond Moody Jr., and Ivan Mackerl.

Jana must confront a bureaucratic space machine and her relationship with her boyfriend while attempting to go to space.

Two clerks in a night club, milk, stuffed head of an antelope, voices from afar, homo-erotic tension and the question, if it is possible to extricate from routine and emptiness with the help of a crime. A black and white nightmare in psycho bits.

The documentary film explores a top-secret Russian government experiment involving the recruitment and deployment of prisoners to the war in Ukraine. This investigation vividly exposes the brutal cruelty of the Russian military machine and the Kremlin’s disregard for legality and human rights. The film reveals previously unknown details of one of the most ruthless and cynical military projects of the 21st century, based on the analysis of several hundred Ministry of Defense documents, as well as testimonies from the soldiers themselves, their relatives, and publicly available data.

A story about a girl, a foreign worker employed at a printing house. A boy and several men long for the girl, but they do not meet even the girl’s low demands. Her current boyfriend (and superior) is cheating on her, her new admirer at work is currently homeless, and the third man is probably a liar.

A documentary film following several years in the life of Jan Potměšil who has become a very popular actor at an early age, representing the type of a young sporty intellectual. After a serious car crash in 1989, he ended up on a wheelchair. He was 23 years old at the time. After a year of rehabilitation, he returned to the stage. Excelling in “Flowers for Algernon”, he continuously acts in the production in front of sell-out crowds across the country. He also lives his personal life, experiencing new loves and breakups, is engaged in civic affairs and returns to the hospital now and then. The film aims to give a non-pathetic image of a life lived to the full despite adversity.

The focus of director Martin Řezníček's meditative narrative is the almost forgotten Czech-French sculptor, painter, designer and beekeeper Jan Křížek. The unique artist, a representative of the art brut movement, left Czechoslovakia in 1947 with his wife Jiřina and worked and lived mainly in France.

After a heartbreaking split with his girlfriend, acting student Angantýr goes through various stages of grief while preparing for his final stage performance of the semester.

Short animation by Diana Cam Van Nguyen

The first feature-length documentary on Mexican graffiti, street art and hip hop presents urban arts as a path of freedom and independence of an individual, who is confronting the global power of the capitalist system.

An animation film about a clarinet and a trumpet that meet, clash, compete, compromise and harmonize.

Student couple Vin and Viki cannot take care of their daughter because they have nowhere to live. Vin brings an iPhone from somewhere so they can send their daughter Ema a few messages. Professor Ema reports the theft of her cell phone, and new videos begin to appear on her computer...

The medical profession requires not only detailed knowledge of diagnostic and treatment procedures, but also personal qualities or communication skills. Can these be taught? Jindřich Andrš' observational film shows new ways of teaching at the Second Faculty of Medicine of Charles University. We follow medics who find themselves in challenging simulated and real situations - for the first time in the role of a doctor.