Discoveries from Czech Republic World Cinema

A rhythmic essay about the nature of the industry. Shot on 35mm in a steel mill and rearranged into an audiovisual experience using original sounds.

voices coming from neigbouring flats take shape of their creators and break into the flat of a young lady, who is driven mad by the horroful orchestra and so she has to learn how to live with her problem.

After being separated for many years, childhood friends Lenny and Charlotte reunite for a holiday in a peculiar destination: the legendary haunted house of their early summers. Originally driven by nostalgia, we shall come to know her and Lenny’s true story.

The musical talent of the brothers manifested itself in Russia in an unusual way. Fedor serves in the army and plays in a military band, and Alexander also became a "musician" and serves in Prigozhin's PMC. And although the father of the brothers insists on the bombing of London, real rock music separates the brothers in different directions.

The attack of the Colorado potato beetle on crops in the GDR, Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1950 was interpreted by the authorities as a planned American action against the Eastern Bloc. The Americans were to drop the Colorado beetle from planes which provided aid for the people of West Germany. Propaganda was spread everywhere – posters, radio, and cinema. In the film "Stonka", apart from propaganda and instructions, we could see some high-quality shots showing the beetle's life cycle. The voiceover’s commentary and the Colorado beetle close-ups make the production more dramatic. It is typical of nature films, in which the state television specialized later. Apart from the history of the pest, the potato is another protagonist of the film - its position in the Polish diet, agriculture, and customs. "

Once in India, Zakhara from St. Petersburg could not forget about the war in Ukraine. Her desire to go to the front, even as a volunteer, does not meet with understanding either from her girlfriend, or from relatives, or from friends.

Reconstruction of an urban legend about the nurse who used her own body as a weapon against the Nazis during World War II in Czechoslovakia.

It used to be dark at night and light during the day, which is far from the case now. Light pollution and excessive use of light, especially in cities, negatively affects the health of not only humans, but also insects, animals and plants... The main topic of the documentary film Sleep Thieves is the issue of light pollution and the effect of light on sleep. We are accompanied through the film by two main experts, a chronobiologist, who mainly contributes knowledge about sleep and the effect of light on sleep, and a lighting engineer, who introduces us to wrong and right lighting. The next part is dedicated to e.g. the explanation of circadian rhythms, hormones associated with sleep, the importance of alternating light and dark, the effect of light on sleep, the issue of light pollution and correct and incorrect lighting both outdoors and indoors.

A woman and her teen daughter live in a small dead end city where both women are trying to break out of their miserable circumstances.

Edward Elgar – Oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra, Op. 38, The Dream of Gerontius. Recording of the Janáček May 2013 concert from the Gong Multifunctional Hall in the Lower Vítkovice District. Performed by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava, soloists M. Lichtenberg, T. Černý, and R. Novák, D. Kreuzchor, and Vocal Concert Dresden, conducted by R. Kreile. The oratorio was composed based on a poem by Cardinal Newman and consists of a series of lyrical and dramatic episodes that very evocatively depict an old man's departure from the world. The concert at the Gong Multifunctional Hall in Dolní oblast Vítkovice was conducted by Roderich Kreile, choirmaster of the Dresden Kreuzchor.

This anidoc depicts the story and feelings of a woman who became a victim of rape and attempted murder. Her severe trauma is symbolised by a broken mirror and her futile effort to put the pieces back together. A deep probe into her mind maps the way to come to terms with this experience – at least partially.

2006 live album by No Name

In the heart of the Sudetes forest in the Czech Republic, the vestiges of a troubled past are still visible. Walking through these ruins, a young woman wonders about this past and our duty to remember.

Documentary by Zdenka Šíp Staňková and director Jan Minařík telling the stories of families and schools that decided to embark on the path to freedom in education.

For her thesis project, Eva Jiřička decided to plant flowers in the abandoned flowerbed on the sidewalk in front of the Academy of Fine Arts. She later invited the evaluation committee outside and asked them to board a rented bus. The bus then made a full three-hundred-sixty-degree turn on top of the flower bed, involving all of the participants in its destruction. The graduating artist thus confronted herself, the thesis committee, and the head of the studio, Michael Bielický, with the question of the relationship between the students and the institution.

20 years ago, a car ran over a man at a pedestrian crossing in Prague's Čimická street. It was my dad. I couldn't walk across that crosswalk for years. A short poetic film from a place that has a special meaning for me and a glimpse into the relationship with my father.

The first vernissage of Disgusting Pictures by the author Nosičhoven (Shitcarrier) captured in similarly disgusting and sometimes a bit funny way.

Even though it may not seem like it, a farm is a place rich in friendships of all kinds. A story about Femke gives us a closer look at what a social life in a herd looks like. How does a mare rescued from poor conditions adapt to a new environment and build her trust in people?

The protagonist of the film is Pavel, a pensioner who keeps hoarding things in his apartment. Pavel is convinced of the value of his collection although he doesn’t actually know it. The film is a meditation on the issue of hoarding and the need to own things in general. The filmmaker enhances the image with the help of rotoscoping, intensifying the emptiness of the captured space.

We are constantly trying to please everyone, to be the best version of ourselves for others, but in the end, we are still just ourselves. A metaphorical record of how the environment influences us and we gradually become its projection. An object for everyone and for no one.

The film searches for a long-forgotten family member who lost contact with his family after emigrating to Australia in 1948. All that was left of him were letters and my grandmother, his sister, who could tell me his story. But whose story is it? And how do the found letters interfere with it?

Public space is a battleground for attention. More colorful facades, larger signs, and more aggressive advertising messages win. Alongside these exists the language of graffiti, which forms an integral part of the identity of almost all contemporary cities. It appears and disappears again.

A reflection on feelings of compression, body constriction, and its subsequent release. The parallel between human skeletons and tree spines. Us and nature, hell and freedom.

How aware are we that despite the constant flow of information, we only perceive our own clutter of information through which we form our worldview? And why are we so sure of it? Through all this awareness, how much do we really perceive that the news from our media space is just an approximation of real events? And isn't the real news just over the hill? … A report about a shepherd, sheep, and a radio in the high mountains.

A film about plants and cleaning. The two protagonists are separated not only by distance and age, but also by how they relate to their work, cleaning offices and public toilets. They conquer these spaces and create their own worlds of objects and ideas.

An idiot for some, a genius for others. Zoran is an urban legend of a Serbian block of flats who allegedly travelled the whole world without a single ID on him. After that, he went nuts due to politics, war and MDMA. “I saw it with my own naked eye,” nodded a half-blind old man. Though a clear answer to the question who Zoran really was is not to be expected at the end of this semi-serious manhunt, it is more than sure that even if he did not exist, the locals must have had to think him up.

What does it take to turn the downward spiral of substance abuse upside down? A simple animated documentary based on authentic recordings.

In the middle of the Prague housing estate is one small studio. This studio will not be noticed by any of the people, but there are very interesting things happening here. There is an art workshop for visually handicapped children. They meet a pedagogue and try to get to know the world through their artistic activities other than with their eyes - they special toys to know what time is, to draw tactile colors what they know from other senses, and to use abstract natural materials that we usually don't think about and how difficult it is to pass it on to a blind person. It is this activity, taking place in the middle of many anonymous houses, that I would like to record and bring closer to a world that we do not really know much about, along with the obstacles these people have to quietly overcome.

An animated series of Christmas fairy tales that brings together the best of Czech animation and traditional stories and traditions. The main part of the series is the fairy tale O čertovi (About the Devil), based on the book of the same name by artist Pavel Čech. Santa Claus may be a nice old man who can do many things, but Czech winter belongs to St. Nicholas, Baby Jesus, carols, Christmas decorations, and, of course, devils and chimney sweeps! The guide through the fairy tales is the devil Florimón, whose story is the biggest and most important of all and concludes the entire series.

An exclusive musical project by a stalwart of the Czech music scene, who invited the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by M. Kumžák, to join his home band.

A critical animated essay on the current global state of society. Among other things, it deals with neoliberalism and the need for endless growth.

On his perilous journey from Troy back to Ithaca, Odysseus faced many dangers. The monstrous Scylla and deep-dwelling Charybdis were among them. Or was there a different ending?