Discoveries from Slovakia World Cinema

Music and entertainment programme with members of the Radošino Naive Theatre.

Concert version of Igor Stravinsky's ballet music for two pianos performed by internationally renowned pianists - Miki Skuta and Nora Skuta. Igor Stravinsky - Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring): 1.L´Adoration de la Terre (The Invocation of the Earth); 2.Le Sacrifice (The Sacrifice).

Žofa's seemingly perfect life shatters in an instant—one secret changes everything. Rumors spread, loyalties break, and feelings she never expected begin to surface. The line between truth and lies blurs in a story of desire, betrayal, and the search for one's true self.

It’s a beautiful sunny autumn morning in a cosy house near a quiet lake. Kálmán doesn't know what love means anymore. His asexual wife Olga suggests redecorating in another attempt to save the relationship. Olga’s sister Zita comes to celebrate Kalman's name day with her husband Levente, who has a terrible pain in his stomach. Then, sensitive widower Erno knocks on the door. Olga has a strange dream where she sees misfortune for Zita and Levente. Trouble never comes alone.

Today‘s eastern Slovakia. The historian Rimko returns here after many years with his young lover to search for answers to the difficult questions of his own life attitudes, mistakes and moral debts in the land of his childhood. His life seems to be balanced even in the hectic times of political changes of recent years. Having worked for twenty years as an expert on the Middle Ages, he feels himself to be a decent man, moderately successful in his profession, and ultimately attractive in his maturity and discretion to his much younger partner. And yet he is eager to prove to himself and his former friends that it is possible to catch up and pay off old debts. Even the seemingly idyllic setting for a beautiful holiday is marred by the brutality of the times - a military defector with stolen ammunition desperately seeks refuge.

A boy goes missing in a bigoted town and a mysterious local family becomes a target of suspicion. With their lives threatened, it's revealed that they are actually an ancient supernatural commune, stationed there to guard humanity from evil.

A washed-up, controversial podcast host is pushed to the limit when a mysterious caller threatens to kidnap his girlfriend live on air. As the stream unfolds, old grudges resurface, forcing him to confront the dark past he thought he'd left behind.

Marta and Jozef have four children. Jozef commutes to Prague for work. Marta works in a bakery, devotes all her energy to children. The eldest daughter Lenka is currently experiencing her first real love for the student Karol and wants to go to America with him. Her brother Milan spends a difficult period of puberty with a group of boys who amuse themselves by spying on couples making love. The nine-year-old accordionist Katka is jealous of her five-year-old sister Milka, because she thinks that her mother pays more attention to her. The story begins at the moment when Marta announces to Jozef that they are expecting their fifth child. The events that follow are a difficult but at the same time necessary test for all family members...

The hamsters live and work in Hamsterland, a perfect state with a perfect economy. The GDP grows steadily, there is no unemployment, and 100% of the population declare themselves to be happy.

The two farces Korhel and The Adulterer are a continuation of the television adaptation of two farces by Jonáš Záborský from 1978. Through the kindly character of Jonah Záborský, with the help of an angelic school, we embark on a journey with the devil to reform drunks and adulterers.

In the books of collectors of Slovak folk tales we can find a considerable number of stories about human stupidity, greed, punished pride or avarice. Today's humorous story about a foolish woman will show us what can befall a man who marries not for the love of his wife, but for money. You probably won't feel sorry for him when he loses what he has earned by his own work, in addition to his easily gained dowry. But as it happens in a fairy tale, everything turns out for the best...

The young violinist is about to play his big solo with the Philharmonic of Fongopolis city. The path to success, however, is unexpectedly stopped on a train station. In the chaos of signs, advertisements, lights and crowds in a rush, he can not find the way to the right platform. To catch his train he must stop

An unusual film about the environment in families with autistic children, which reveals the day-to-day challenge of life with them.

Like on Noah’s Ark voyaging through the time, the chamois and other arctic like inhabitants have lived in the Tatras for more than ten thousand years. Man is here, in this alpine environment, of rare sight and snow has the mountains in grip for six-month time. As a result, the Tatras are a unique island of wilderness. “Life in Clouds” is full of contradictions, and fragile baby chamoises look lost in this harsh environment.

The story of the film is a mapping of the path from zero to the top - losses, wins and facts. The background film also reveals the history of rap and hip-hop in Slovakia. Three decades of the Slovak hip-hop scene are retold by Rytmus himself, where he reveals various behind-the-scenes incidents or unexpected pitfalls and disappointments that he experienced in his musical career. All of this taught him something, changed him, but most of all hardened him. In addition to him, the documentary will feature a number of those who "crossed" his path or directly or indirectly influenced his work during his thirty-year journey through hip-hop.

Folk theatre by Jan Lazorík.

In the magical world of dancing fireflies, we follow the story of the main character - naughty Svätojanek, which takes place against the backdrop of the changing seasons. Little episodes from the life of the industrious little bugs, set in the endless cycle of nature, are arranged in dancing images that carry a strong ethical message.

Kežmarok is another of the towns we will visit in the free cycle of stories Behind the City Walls, so that we can get to know the beauty and part of the history of this town through a heartfelt love story. The story is set during the time of the Rakoczi Uprising. While the city struggles for its existence, Jacob, the son of a senator, fights for his love and his friend, the student Gregor, is haunted by the apparition of the Black Lady. And since Gregor is indifferent to neither the fate of the town nor the fate of his friend, it is Gregor to whom the Black Lady entrusts her treasure.

In the royal castle, Prince Matthias feels like a prisoner. His father forces him to get engaged to Princess Beatrix, whom he does not love. Matthias takes advantage of a chance encounter with the rogue Tomas, who is his identical double. The boys swap clothes and agree to try on each other's lives for a day. In the morning, Matej is wrongly accused of theft and imprisoned. Tomas has to stay in the castle and although he tries to convince the king that he is not the true prince, no one believes him. The two boys must face a world they have never known before, grow up and learn to take responsibility for their decisions. Their reward will be that they both find true love.

Amidst a large family who doesn’t understand him, Martin yearns to find someone who does. His shelter from familial storms is Theodora, an amateur photographer who helps Martin find someone in the responses to his personal ads.

A tribute to Bizet and his immortal Carmen in a virtuoso arrangement by Ernest Šarközi and in an unmistakable and captivating interpretation by the Gypsy Devils and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Co-performers include flamenco dancer Denisa Sofia DiGregorio and the dance group Čarovné ostrohy.

Everyone knows the story of The Beatles, few tell know the one of Dezo Hoffmann. However, fate arranged it so that their life paths crossed at the most fortunate time. They stood on the brink of worldwide fame, he was in his fifties, when many already think of leaving the scene. Their energy, freedom and joy of life enchanted him fully. They rejuvenated him, he was bursting with ideas and did what he knew best - he photographed. He took more pictures of the Beatles than anyone else, recording all the significant events of their dazzling career. And not only them. His photographs of the famous show business stars have become iconic images full of life, spontaneity and movement. And although he created one of the world's most fascinating archives of the pop scene, few knew that his unique photographic manuscript was backed by years of experience as a war cameraman, where slowness and hesitation had no place because every mistake was expensive.

Martin Kollár’s acclaimed cinematography reigns resplendent in the silent story of a man waiting for important surgery. Discovering he's facing the possibility of only having a few months left to live, Ján Kollár embarks on a journey with no destination and only a deadline.

A dramatic story based on the book of the same name by Peter Holka. The story of a teenager who falls in love with a drug-addicted friend. He tries to help her, but indirectly becomes addicted too, because he first starts stealing from home for her drugs, then starts dealing and loses his judgment, just to provide her with drugs. His love for a girl who can't stop being an addict ultimately costs him his own life.

An adult daughter must defy her mother in order to find a way out from binding stereotype and search for her own freedom.

I Talk Otherwise is a movie about a journey along the Danube seen from the viewpoint of the river itself. It has been shooted in 8 countries and 9 languages, from West to East, from Capitalism to Communism, from the Black Forest to the Black Sea, flowing between the mixtures, the rafts, and the cultural contradictions of the lands crossed by the great river. Conceived as a road movie, it trails the river from its source in Germany, across Austria and some former Communist countries - Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania - all the way to its mouth in the Black Sea, on a journey from the past to the future of the Europe.

Lumberjack Jerguš is stuck deep in the forest in a seemingly frozen conflict of blunt axes and sharp banners. The greater battle, however, takes place within himself. Struggling with a personal crisis, doubts about faith, and living as a cuckold, he slowly becomes entangled, within his small and insignificant existence, in matters that far exceed him.

Abel is a shy introverted man living on the outskirts of the village. To protect his privacy, he convinces the whole village that he has bought a big black dog. And to complete the illusion, Abel buys imaginary dog kibble and howls at night instead. One day, however, Abel's non-existent dog strangles the neighbor's geese. At some point, reality and illusion will become indistinguishable, and Abel will have to pay for his fabrications.

A Romani fairy tale about a young striga who uses magic to win her husband and eventually becomes an ordinary man out of love for him and her children. Once in a while, a little girl is born in a gypsy settlement, and fate gives her the strigoi's abilities. But because everyone is afraid of the strings, the heroine of our fairy tale keeps it a secret - even from the young man she has fallen in love with. When she becomes his wife, his mother discovers her and instigates her son to burn the woman. Only her witchcraft skills will save the beautiful striga's life. She leaves the county and becomes the wife of a wealthy landowner. But her love for the first man does not leave her, and so when they meet after a time, she not only forgives him, but also gives up her strigorous abilities for his sake.

The original TV detective game. An investigation into the murder of a woman, the head of a department, which uncovers many hidden relationships in one workplace, a game with truth and lies brings an unexpected denouement in the end.

The film tells about the value of human life. The story of a Slovak nurse who lived in Misurata for 20 years, converted to Islam and gave birth to 2 children there. Her hospital found itself in the middle of war conflict and civil war. The different values of the Arab and European worlds are revealed in border situations. While Ľuba wants to save her grandson and daughter and take them to Slovakia, her children - brought up in the Arab world - want to fight for their homeland, nation and faith.

TV movie about one day of dožinky (Slovak harvest festival) in the village.

Ingrid works as a gynecologist in a district hospital in Slovakia in the late 1980s. Her marriage is at a standstill, she has an affair with a younger colleague in the hospital, and after work, she sits on the abortion committee where they offer Roma women sterilization after the abortion is approved. Eighteen-year-old Agáta, who grew up in a children’s home, comes to work as a nurse at the hospital. Ingrid unexpectedly becomes close to her.

Jakubisko’s comedy about infidelity inside the community of lumberjacks in three chapters. First, a group of men gets to know that there comes a group of female brigadiers to a near village and tries to seduce them, which won’t come out as precisely as they wanted. In the next chapter, one girl got pregnant and lumberjacks tries to solve this by a wedding to a man called Domino. In the final phase, they’re struggling for the successful wedding and are afraid of possible punishment from their wives.

A place where a ladyboy costs less than a day shift at the factory. This time, the three Martin philanthropists took a lawyer with them just in case, and a Cuban refugee for good measure. The Philippines has prepared several treacherous tests for them. From long-fingered women with an adam's apple and the voice of Denzel Washington, who stole one of the heroes' passport and phone, to liter bottles of 8% beer, thanks to which they broke a new low again and tarnished the Slovak reputation so badly in these parts of the world that from next year you will need a visa to enter and a declaration from the minister that you have nothing to do with these guys.

Documentary encouraging the inter-generational dialogue about political event's impact on family lives in Czechoslovakia over the 20th century where the regime changed over four times in a hundred years. This film focuses on the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, which has many similarities with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Franta and Ondra, eternal children and inseparable twins, live in a quietly magical world with their beloved animals. They share every moment, every thought, every routine. Outwardly they appear identical, yet inside they are two entirely different souls. Over time, their closeness begins to suffocate. Franta yearns for freedom, for flight, for life beyond the walls they share. Ondra remains rooted, content in the familiar, closed to change. Their bond begins to fray. Can they ever truly separate? How do you escape a world that wears your face? In the end, will love endure or will only death set them apart?

An old gypsy prophecy predicts the arrival of a messiah from a Roma settlement who will change the world. Rytmaus is born and gradually becomes the most famous rapper in Europe. Rytmaus decides to run for president of the Slovak Republic. Pišta Lakatoš will stand against him in the elections. Thanks to the sale of clean drinking water, Slovakia is becoming a world power that co-decides on the future of humanity with the biggest powers such as the USA, Russia and the EU. Even the devil Moloch gets involved in the game for the planet...

The expansion of the Roman Empire will confront the Slavs with a difficult choice that will probably decide their fate. An epic story inspired by the legendary poem by Sam Chalupka.

Ela, 15, has a love affair, which results in her being sent to a re-education center.

Longtime friends and strangers mingle while spending the holiday on the snowy Slovakian mountains with an ample dose of ridiculousness and romance.