Discoveries from Czechoslovakia World Cinema

At the end of the occupation, Vojta, a young worker, marries the daughter of a rich builder to protect her from being deployed to the German Reich. Vojta agrees because he secretly loves Alena. But when the newlywed's family learns that Vojta is suspected of anti-German actions in the foundry, the marriage is over...

In a South Bohemian village in 1951, the local rich organize acts of sabotage and try to stop the establishment of an agricultural cooperative with threatening letters and arson. A kulak's son even secretly returns from the West to terrorize the village with his brother. However, the ordinary villagers stand up to them.

A TV adaptation of Zuzka Zguriška's novel of the same name. The story takes place in a characterful Slovak village. It shows a picture of the inhabitants of Myjava in the 1920s, where there is no lack of freshness, brightness, liveliness and cheerfulness. The main character, a wealthy patriarchal ruler, orders her three adult sons around. She refuses to acknowledge her son's love; she does not want a poor bride. She enjoys the rich Susanna, whom the second son marries. After many convoluted and humorous transformations, the poor girl nevertheless wins the seemingly stony heart of the Scourge.

A dramatic story from the setting of a youth de tention center. Youngster Jakub, out of delusory solidarity, gets convicted of theft and goes to prison in place ofthe "sheriff" of his gang. He naively hopes that the sheriff will appreciate his gesture and leaves the stolen goods in a safe hideaway to later divide them fairly among the gang members. This conviction gives Jakub the strength to endure the unbearable conditions in the center. But reality is often much harsher than naive ideals and hollow relations in the gang.

Tóna Bohácek has been a great worry to his mother, Mrs Bohácková. All his friends equal in age are already married and some of them even have children - only Tóna still has nothing. Mother Bohácková thus publishes an ad in the Lonely Hearts column on behalf of her son. From among the girls who responded, she picks out Janicka, a girl from the neighboring village, and then forces Tóna to go to have a look at her and bring her home. The date of the two young people, however, does not turn out well due to the embarrassment on both sides, and Tóna returns home drowning in the feeling of ridiculousness. On the way, he picks up hitchhiker Kveta from Prague. Only then, he realizes that the mother with her festive dinner is waiting for him and Janicka at home and thus asks Kveta to substitute for the girl from the ad.

At the beginning of normalization, stories emphasizing civic awareness once again prevailed. The hero here is a teacher from a small village in the foothills, whose inhabitants help the partisans in their fight against fascism. The hero, the only intellectual among them, agrees with them and educates not only his students in this spirit, but is also prepared to lay down his life for his ideals. When German soldiers occupy the village and force the teacher to cooperate, the model situation escalates.

While hunting, Prince Radúz of Maguria wanders into the rival kingdom of the Tatra King, Stojmír. He discovers that their nations' long-standing feud stems from the bitter jealousy of Queen Runa, who was once rejected by Radúz’s father. Radúz is soon captured by Runa’s forces after crossing the border. His fate becomes entwined with the royal family when it is revealed that the white deer he killed belonged to Mahulena, the King’s youngest and most delicate daughter.

Film shows the struggle of the Czechoslovak armed forces against groups of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) under command Burlak, who tried to pass through the territory of Slovakia.

It's very human and nice story about lofty princess (her father is amiable but incapable - unforgettable performance of S. Neumann) and good, nice, kind and well-principled young king (prince) who tries to make tender her calm heart to get married with her. After being refused (she's very capricious), he conclude to make her better. He start to work as a gardener at her castle (in secret) and successively bring she to her senses...The story continues when already reformed princess and the young king (she learn about his real identity later) have to take refuge from troops, that princess father (old king) has sent (of course he took a bad and mean counsellors advice). They have to take shelter by several ordinary and poor families, which are always very friendly and give them a help... Of course the tale has happy end.

Zdena, a woman in her mid-fifties, lives in a small Czech village near the Slovakian border. Her quiet life is disrupted when her son, Lukáš, returns home from abroad, claiming to have found success on the Canary Islands. Lukáš’s return is prompted by a peculiar request from Zdena’s elderly mother, Věra, who, nearing the end of her life, asks for a visit from Czech pop singer Helena Vondráčková. This request triggers events that expose Lukáš’s secret life as a drag queen, testing family bonds and challenging the social norms of their rural environment.

A historical drama set in the revolutionary times of 1848.

The drama of a young Slovak army officer who gradually realises the horrors of fascism during the fighting in Ukraine. On his return to Slovakia, he joins the SNP. However, he cannot overcome his loner attitude or his doubts about the meaning of partisan activity.

A young Czech couple are terrorized by their funny family.

In Slovakia, they also created a pair of investigators who have appeared in several films. Volanie démonov is the third of them. The police officers, one Maigret-like, thoughtful, the other humorously hasty, this time solve a fire in a furniture factory and the deaths of two employees - one burned himself, the other fell into a dry well. The investigation of the complicated case takes a long time, but in the end it turns out that revenge can be extraordinarily strong and persistent.

Thirty-year-old worker Oldřich Olejník is a pub and wine bar worker, because he is celebrating the birth of his son. It is no wonder that he ends up in the detention center. This is how he meets seventeen-year-old Jirka Kouba. The troubled young man, who was nicknamed Žluťásek because of the color of his favorite T-shirt, left his job after numerous conflicts. His father disappeared for no apparent reason and his mother could not cope with it. Therefore, Žluťásek spends most of his time in a gang led by the bankrupt actor Ancek. Oldřich, in whom paternal qualities have awakened for understandable reasons, begins to take an interest in and care for Žluťásek. In addition to breaking through Žluťásek's initial distrust, this will also mean getting to know Ancek and his dubious gang...

War takes its cruel toll, which everyone must pay. It hits a small Slovak village especially hard, where the struggle for a bare life becomes a test of human character. For two impoverished friends, Jakub and Maja, struggling through poverty is more than difficult. Jakub delivers sour milk from somewhere on his cart to the entire village and lives in a dilapidated house with his sister Tereza, whose caregiver and guide through life is the experienced woman Mara, who provides herself with money from seduced soldiers. Maja, on the other hand, is a foundling and homeless man who does whatever he can to survive the next day. The only consolation for the two inseparable friends are the circulating tales of a kind of promised land, where there is no poverty or hunger, and where they could both go. Only this vision, this idea alone keeps the two of them and the rest of the village on their feet, and gives them hope for a better tomorrow.

Even in the 1970s, films were made in this country that emphasized not only the necessity to defend the impermeability of the Western borders by all means, but mainly rehabilitated the Stalinist era. Told with ridiculous patheticness, the story is set in 1951 and takes place in army circles, depicting the disputes over the most effective air defence of the border... It chooses to depict the working disputes between an experienced, but already mentally stagnant general and a young politruk who advocates a modern conceptual solution to the common task.

A gifted poet checks into a Gothic hotel in hopes of meeting the woman with whom he has long been enamored. He is surrounded by a variety of offbeat characters like the hefty homosexual cook, shadowy clerks, snooty waiters, and valets prone to violence. He finally meets the woman of his dreams only to lose her and ultimately meet with tragedy.

The film is inspired by the life of the Goral population in the Orava region, a life connected with the beautiful but harsh nature, rich in emotional expressions of folk culture. Against this backdrop unfolds the story of a young musician's unfulfilled love for an enchantingly beautiful girl.

A communist journalist from Prague is sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp.

The parents decided to send two twins, Honza, and Martin, on vacation to their grandfather.

Theater props maker Karel Vajgant has a young wife, Magda, and two children, seven-year-old Pavlík and eleven-year-old Pepička. Magda is a caring mother, but she feels that her husband prioritizes work and his comfort. In a weak moment, Magda becomes unfaithful. Vajgant receives an anonymous letter that warns him of his wife's infidelity. His friend, the opportunist Tonda, advises him to throw away the letter and instead devote more time to Magda...

A TV comedy about an aunt who would like to get married.

The story of two communist friends, one of whom leaves as secretary to the district committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the other remains in the village as a party agitator.

Athletic Variations (Atletické variace, 28 min) is a sophisticated essay on winning and losing during the 1982 European Athletics Championships held in Athens.

Simon, called the Righteous, once saw a beautiful but sad girl behind a frosty window, whom he suddenly fell in love with and set out to search for her to the ends of the earth, where two noble sisters - Truth and Lie - ruled indistinguishable. But how do you find a girl whose name you don't even know where she lives? And can the Truth and the Lie help him if Simon doesn't recognize them? The beautiful queens pose obstacles to Simon, he can ask them three questions and he must find out which of them is telling the truth. However, before he succeeds in freeing the beautiful girl from the curse, he faces a series of trials...

A group of children is trying to solve a mystery related to the diamonds smuggling.

A marquee stands on a sprawling Prague housing estate and is home to two young bricklayers, who have all sorts of life experiences waiting for them in the city. Around the two rural bricklayers absorbed by the big city, the entertainment is more than a little embarrassing, toothless, revealing that at the height of normalisation, even the jolly genre of drama fared poorly, and any satirical allusions were especially undesirable. With no sense of humorous exaggeration and no wittily punctuated plots, the story unfolds, showing how the characters, living in a marquee standing on a sprawling estate, face all the pitfalls of the "big world"...

A film about a young sanitation worker who tries to prevent the pollution of a river, but pays the price...

Cashier Ferdyš Pištora goes to rob the villa of banker Rosenštok. At that moment, a fire breaks out and Ferdyš saves the banker's two young children. He is hailed as a hero by everyone and Rosenštok makes him a messenger in the bank. This changes Ferdyš's entire life. He becomes a moralist and bullies the whole neighborhood with his sermons. He falls in love with Terezka, a member of the Salvation Army. Ferdyš's former lover Irma is jealous of Terezka. The two women argue and Terezka, in anger, claims that she killed her child and buried it in the cellar. Ferdyš believes this fabrication. In order to save her, he wants to give her the money that he was supposed to hand over to the bank. Out of jealousy, Irma tells the police that Ferdyš wanted to rob the banker's villa, and Ferdyš is arrested. However, Rosenštok intercedes for him and Ferdyš is acquitted. Terezka confesses that she made up the child's murder and celebrates her wedding with Ferdyš.

The story of a man who bought a cannon during the anti-German mobilisation and then hid with it in a wine cellar for the whole war.

A lonely woman gets more than she bargained for when she begins wooing Mr Devil, an insatiable glutton who turns out to be the boyfriend from Hell.

Wenceslas II, who already has adult children Eliška and Václav, refuses to marry the young Alžběta Rejčka. In the end, he succumbs to the insistence of Abbot Konrád. The queen brings him Poland as a dowry, and Wenceslas II thus expands his empire. He still lives in the shadow of his great father, Přemysl Otakar II, and his lords reproach him for his weakness and inability to fight. Wenceslas is truly afraid of the moment when he will have to lead an army into the field and prefers to settle disputes diplomatically. His fencing teacher Hynek of Dubá and his mistress Anežka know about the king's weakness, and Václav seeks their company rather than his young wife. However, Rejčka admires the king and trusts him with the charm of a young girl. The enemy invades the country and advances quickly. It is necessary to confront him in the field, but the king hesitates and postpones the decision.

A comedy set in a circus setting. Artist Ivan Brabec visits the variety artist Bellinzon to ask for the hand of his daughter Dana. However, the old man throws him out because he promised his daughter's hand to the son of his old friend, a Hungarian magician. Moreover, he flaunts circus tradition and his family. But Brabec complains to the stagehand Šíša, who reveals a secret to him. Bellinzon does not actually come from a respected family of circus performers and his name is not even Bellinzon, but Kudláček...

Young engineer Petr Pavelec works on a dam plan on the Loučnica River. He meets Irena, the daughter of an unscrupulous construction entrepreneur Berka, and falls in love with her. When Petr's project wins the tender, Berka and Irena take him on as a partner, and the company is awarded the contract to build the dam. Petr, in love, does not see how sloppy the construction is being carried out. He only sees it when a worker is killed on the construction site...

In this six-minute short, a man’s attempt to burgle a home is interrupted by a child.

The psychological story of a young top athlete - hockey player, showing the downside of the all-round care that top athletes enjoy. On the one hand, there are the exceptionally favourable living conditions, but on the other, human envy, the fickleness of the public's favour, gossip, bribery and other vices that can negatively affect a less solid character...

1. A taxi driver barely finishes his coffee before a young woman asks for a ride to impress her boyfriend, only to reveal her beau’s ramshackle “plan” beside his sleek car. He then smooths over a quarreling couple, helps a frustrated engineer solve his machine’s fault in a dream, and delivers a masked father’s gifts for his estranged daughter. 2. Mr. Kalina, an airport employee, fulfills a flight attendant’s plea by taking in an orphaned African girl for the night. He ensures her safe transfer to a children’s home the next day. 3. Zaza, a coquettish milliner’s assistant, juggles the attentions of a shy tailor and her stern salon manager. After a humiliating fall on the runway, the tailor comforts her and stages a private reprise, revealing where her heart truly belongs.

The drama of the last days of the second world war through the eyes of children in rural areas.