Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

The desire to achieve the greatest physical strength and moments of complete lack of mental strength define the life of film critic Kamil Fila during the filming of this atypical time-lapse documentary. The necessary moment of observation is broken in a longer period of time by the protagonist’s attempts to bring his life into harmony with the people closest to him, which, nevertheless, regularly lead to failure. The result is a portrait of an intellectual at his wits’ end, a man who struggles with the limits of rationalisation. It is precisely the openness with which Fila lets us peer into the depths of his private life that has a therapeutic effect not only for him but also for the viewer.

Daniel KOMÁNEK, a freestyle footballer and two times vice-champion of the Czech Republic, has newly settled in a big city for his studies. He spends a weekend away from home as he trains for an upcoming competition. His only respite from trying hard to find his community in Prague is to stay in touch with his loved ones from a distance, finding comfort in routine and dedication.

She believes that this secret has something to do with their family friend Niky who joins them for a family dinner. Kristina is being mistaken, it is not Niky who is in a relationship with her father, but somebody much closer to her.

President Wanted (Czech: Hledá se prezident) is a 2013 Czech documentary film about the first direct presidential election in the Czech Republic. It was directed by Tomáš Kudrna. President wanted follows candidates from the summer 2012 to January 2013. The film shows candidates behind scenes. The film also shows the most important moments in the campaign. It also follows candidates that didn't qualify for the election.

Kamila, a general practitioner on the verge of retirement, takes care of her parents - her 90-year-old dad and Alzheimer's-stricken mum. She accompanies them in the final stages of their lives. In doing so, she is aware of her own mortality and the fact that there is no one who will support her in the future to the same extent.

The average European has never been as responsible for the devastation of tropical rainforests as he is today. What causes it and can we prevent it? Michal Gálik's documentary Green Desert, which takes us to the tropical island of Borneo, will not only provide us with the answer to these questions, but will also tell us the startling secret that the palm oil industry hides. The film Green Desert gives a real-life account of the problems caused by oil palm cultivation in Borneo. The documentary is not just a story about palm oil, it is also a story about global responsibility and how we, as consumers, have enormous power in our hands when our purchasing decisions can affect what happens on the other side of the planet. The viewer gets the opportunity to delve deeper into the issue through real stories and interviews with local people and experts.

Documentary about the floods in the Šumperk area in July 1997.

There is a classy speedwalker, there is a disabled beggar, there are saintly singers, there are free guns for everyone, there is an extremly heavy suitcase, there are cozy toilet stalls, there is an uncertain forecast, and it all has to make sense eventually, hasn’t it?

When director and ethnologist Hana Nováková encountered an elk, it changed her life. And she wasn't the first. For centuries, people across continents and cultures have been fascinated by this ancient totem animal, one of the largest mammals in the northern hemisphere. Whereas in the past they wanted to conquer it, today they tend to listen to it. The director's cinematic odyssey is the result of several years of searching for the secrets of the moose. It leads from Czech forests through a Russian domestication station to the territory of the indigenous peoples of Canada. A collage of stories told from personal, spiritual, and scientific perspectives shows the moose as a guide between worlds, a symbol of balance and renewal, and a possible answer to the question of how we can heal our relationship with nature.

Through unique artistic approach, the director reveals the world of autism - bringing the audience closer to the main characters - talented and creative children with a fascinating way of thinking.

In the so-called global age, a man is caught in the trap of time that he has set for himself and got stuck in it together with his freedom. Film about the nature of time that explores its physical quantity as well as its crucial impact on our actions, behaviour, perception, social rituals and our outlook on the world.

A documentary about the Czech national team's victory at the 2001 Ice Hockey World Championships.

The witch is a bit of a wildflower, a bit of a witch - and she loves the prince! Silver Hata, who rules the land below Radobel, no longer believes in human kindness, or even love. She does not want to let her favourite magical forest creature, the young and beautiful Vohnice with the red shining hair, among the people. That they would not disappoint and betray her. But Vohnice looks out at the human world day after day from the tallest tree in the forest. Until one day her curiosity gets the better of her and she secretly goes straight to the castle where Prince Kilian lives. The love between the two of them ignites like a wild fire. But Kilian is the heir to the throne and Vohnice is a bit of a wildflower, a bit of a fairy and a bit of a witch...

The Menominee tribe is connected to nature through their shared wisdom of caring for trees and forests. The revival of traditional logging methods and efforts to preserve permaculture freedom clash with the prevailing approaches of extensive logging for human needs.

The Building Bridges project brings together perpetrators of crime with the victims of crime. Behind the walls of the prison in Jiřice near Nymburk, one such group tells stories that have fatally affected their lives in a conference room over the course of eight weeks. So-called restorative justice sees crime primarily as harm and the disruption of interpersonal relationships. It is in partnership with victims that offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions. Not only is the will to listen to the other person necessary, but also the ability to consciously reflect on the causes and consequences of one's actions in a complex web of social contexts.

We all perceive poetry differently. For some, a poem is a rhyming text, for others a metaphysical experience. For director Kateřina Dudová, it is an experiment with three people who are close to her, whom she places in one room for three days, leaving them to their fate with the task of writing a poem. Sometimes the recording of real events is more poetic than the poem itself.

Stories from a long-ago garden that we find difficult, hard, and almost impossible to remember.

One of the most striking contemporary Czech film-makers and literary figures, twice over winner of the Magnesia Litera Award, Martin Rysavý, is himself the central character of his new, philosophically tinged travelogue. He takes part in the Ukrainian Maidan, takes the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, sails down the Kolyma river, comes across nomadic reindeer herdsmen, soldiers, mystics, artists and scholars. He tries to comprehend the present situation of two feuding countries of the former Soviet empire. The film's framework forms the director's conversation with a Prague optician, Jakub Thuri, shot during the director's check-up. Using travel materials on top, it allows a peep inside a traveller's consciousness wandering in recollections and trails of sensory perceptions from expeditions to far-away lands and finding a way how to grasp them, put them in order and pass them on.

This film came into being on a farm in the village of Hakushu, Min Tanaka's home. Min Tanaka is a very distinctive personality of Japanese alternative theatre in which the mind questions the tongue and so the body becomes the tongue. Min Tanaka's dance is able to speak even to those who know nothing about Japan and Japanese art. Perhaps it is because, on their road to discovery, Min and his dancers probe deep down to the roots of the culture of all peoples, to the time when we were not yet Europeans and they were not Japanese.

They say that women are great multitaskers and Sylvie definitely is. How does she do it? And does she really manage to do it?

A series of five animated films by Břetislav Pojar: Dog History, Hiroshi, About a Princess Who Never Smiled, Christmas Ballad, and Narcoblues.

In the hot summer, a young man, Tomáš Sinek, is about to go "strawberry picking" in England. It seems that the family - father, mother and grandmother have no other worries than to send their offspring on the trip, although - as it seems - not everyone agrees with his decision. However, the situation is not so simple. It is Czechoslovakia in 1968. Tomáš spends a night with his friends and his girlfriend Tanya before their departure. In the morning, however, his father's suspicious phone calls with his colleague Vrana begin, full of secret information, his mother is making supplies and his grandmother is crying. Tomáš rushes to the station, but Prague is deserted and no trains are running. He doesn't consider the situation to be serious, so he is not too worried about the delay for a day. But on that August morning, the fate of thousands of people changed radically. It was August 21, 1968, and in a few moments the life of Tomáš, his family and his friends would turn around.

The world I believed in is slowly disappearing. It started with crucifixion and the end of matriarchy. Since then, the powerful have been murdering in the name of good. The end of matriarchy and crucifixion. Symbols of ruin. I am an old, tired, white, heterosexual macho man. I received a photo from my deceased friend, a gay man. A photo of a beautiful naked girl. I took advantage of it, undressed eleven beautiful girls, and made a film.

Lucie is a conversational movie, sometimes also called "bytový film" which in translation means "residential movie". The story takes place in one location which is the flat of one of the character's whose name is Lucie. Lucie invites a group of people to have a few drinks and to have some interesting conversations.

A Prague resident wanders through his city, questioning the freedom it provides. This documentary essay depicts the polyphony of urban life, exploring its contrasts through a poetic narration.

Valeriya tells Yann a story of her childhood in Balkhash, Kazakhstan, while Yann directs her from behind the camera. What we hear is her story; what we see is her silence.

Dangerous gambling trends are thriving on social media and online today. Lootboxes, magic chests with randomly generated game equipment, are considered outright gambling. The whole system is deliberately targeting the younger generation and minors who, because of their addiction, acquire money in all sorts of ways.

A small superficial report from the big superficial world of the Czech porn business.

The documentary portrait of the world-famous traveler, the most translated Czech writer and the only Czech chief of an Indian tribe, Miloslav Stingl, is an adventurous journey presenting the life of an extraordinary personality. It is also a journey of Stingl’s biographer and monograph author Adam Chroust into the unexplored corners of Stingl’s extraordinary, obsessive and lonely life. 286 unpacked suitcases, archival films and photographs are a monument to his romantic exploration of unknown cultures and corners in an age of global oversaturation with images.

In 2019, the rock band Kabát celebrated an impressive 30 years on the music scene. With its original lineup intact, the band treated itself to only five concerts for its anniversary, but they were "damn big" ones. The performance at Prague's Eden Arena on June 22, 2019, offered a cross-section of hits from the successful career of the five musicians from Teplice, who once again confirmed that their spontaneous energy can create a thrilling live show.

A district hospital doctor has passed the age of 40 and feels she has one last chance to move on in life. But her ambition to succeed in neighbouring Germany is clashing with the mindset of her colleagues at the small hospital and especially her family.

While directing a Caravaggio film, a filmmaker is drawn to his lead actor as a romance unfolds among the cast. Heartbroken, he escapes into fantasy, seeing himself as the painter's beloved model as the line between cinema and desire fades.

Through five portraits of relatives and mentors, five expressions of resistance, Pegah Ahangarani sketches her life story. Drawing from personal archives, home videos, street protests footage, newspapers, and recorded voices, she retraces more than 40 years of Iran’s history. From the early days of 1979, until the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories, forming the portrait of a country shaped by political repression and in constant hope for a revolution.

A joint edit of the first three silent films about Švejk: The Good Soldier Švejk (1926, directed by Karel Lamač), Švejk at the Front (1926, directed by Karel Lamač) and Švejk in Russian Captivity (1926, directed by Svatopluk Innemann, based on the work by Karel Vaněk). The main role was played by the then very popular Karel Noll. The last silent sequel Švejk in Civilian (1927) exists separately, but the copy of the film is considerably damaged.

Three days with Aèle.

Adam Plachetka, a native of Prague, is one of the most successful bass-baritones in the world today. It is incredible what artistic achievements he has already accomplished at the age of 33. As a boy, he dreamed of a career as a hockey player, and at the conservatory he initially considered the world of musicals, but eventually he devoted himself fully to opera singing and prepared himself for a journey into the world of opera. The documentary follows him not only during his artistic career, but also in his private life, in rare moments with his family.