Discoveries from Czechoslovakia World Cinema

The fairy from the Beautiful Rose gave Zachýsek an unusual gift. Who knows why he was gifted with the talent to appropriate the abilities and merits of other people and thus gain undeserved honors and general sympathy. Was it possible to recognize what Zachýsek really is? This fairy tale will answer that.

In Slovakia’s Tatra mountains, ironsmith Pavel lives with his son Janko and orphan Anuška, who are close. Janko spends summer pasturing sheep, while Anuška deals with Jura’s advances. Janko meets Soňa Varenová, a city woman seeking peace, and becomes her guide, causing village gossip. At a festival, Janko ignores Anuška for Soňa, angering Pavel. Pavel asks Soňa to leave Janko for Anuška, and she agrees despite her feelings. Janko seeks Anuška’s forgiveness, but she’s in the mountains. He follows her, and they reconcile by lighting a large fire.

The husband and wife Ludva and Hedus Homolkas with their twins Péta and Máta and Ludva's parents - the granny and grandpa - arrive in the snowy Spindleruv Mlýn for a holiday. They promise to each other that they will not spoil the quite expensive holiday by quarrels. If somebody hurts the other one he/she will kneel as a punishment.

A film about a young schoolgirl and her two loves: figure skating and music. Because she can't properly divide her energy and time between studying, sports and piano, she has setbacks. She is about to give up on one of her loves, but her teacher gives her courage and shows her by her example how to manage her energy and time properly.

Sometimes a person faces a difficult decision. Morality is on one scale, money is on the other. A theoretically easy equation for an honest man. But being poor as a church mouse and breaking your allegiance to help your loved ones is a dilemma. If I sell my morality, can it bring family happiness?

A divorced single mother romances a young slaughterhouse worker, must to the chagrin of her ex-husband.

"Dear sister, strawberries don't grow in winter!" Marushka begs, but her crying is in vain, neither her stepmother nor Holena shrinks from her and the girl is driven away to the snow-covered mountains where freezing January reigns. Who doesn't know the fairy tale by Božena Němcová about the good Maruška and the twelve magical brothers who knew well who deserved their help! There is no doubt that Marushka and her Hansel and Gretel will find their happiness in the end.

A funny outlaw tale inspired by traditional folk humour. Pacho is no ordinary outlaw. He detests injustice and feudal oppression and he copes with each troublesome situation with the help of his cleverness and wit.

The apartment in the old house is occupied by a large family: a couple with three daughters, one of whom lives here with her husband and child. The young people want their own apartment, while the mother, who is indiscriminately directing the whole family, wants to exchange the current apartment for a larger one. At the moment when the son-in-law wants to show the housing committee of the cooperative the apartment in the worst possible condition, the mother frantically cleans up the artificial mess, because at the same time more people are coming in to exchange it. The confusion reaches its peak...

A section of the life of George of Poděbrady from his coronation to his death (1458–1471), creating a portrait of a remarkable monarch whose name shone as a symbol of Czech statehood, as a symbol of a victorious military leader and a prudent statesman; a powerful, complex and contradictory personality in the midst of a very dramatic fifteenth century. During thirteen years of independent rule, he wanted to defend with all his might what had been won by the Hussites; he wanted to defend it even in a time and environment that, on the contrary, wanted to settle accounts with the Hussites. It was during this tense time that Poděbrady's idea of ​​creating an association of monarchs who would resolve conflicts through agreements and treaties, and not through war, arose. Even as a father, he made a sacrifice for his beloved country when he did not hand over the crown of the Czech king to his son, but to the Polish king Vladislav, the "Prince of Peace".

The water fairy Rusalka falls in love with an earthly prince. In vain, Father Aquarius warns her. Her sincere feelings are met with human treachery...

A chronicle of dramatic events capturing the fates of people living in a Slovak village just after World War II. Thirty years later, the main character Anna recalls a decision that fundamentally changed her life. During the period of incipient collectivization, she chose happiness and a difficult life with a poor man founding a cooperative in the village, although this significantly weakened her relationship with her own mother and at the same time interrupted a long-standing tradition in relation to the preservation of family property.

Explores young adults' fears of being conscripted by the communist government into working outside of Prague, a relative oasis of creativity and freedom of thought. From an early script by Milos Forman.

When little Jirka Novák and his classmate Zdeněk's family take part in a merry Santa Claus journey through the city, he has no idea how important a change in his life this evening will bring. The story of a ten-year-old boy who unexpectedly discovers his grandfather, with whom his parents had separated forever years ago, sensitively tells of the loneliness from which little Jirka finds a way out and manages to bring his grandfather back to the family.

The peculiar Fanoš Mikulecký is the originator of many well-known songs from Podluží, generally considered folk songs. Next to him, the other main protagonist of the story is Honza, a musician and an uneducated journalism student. On one of his journeys he meets his former professor. He suggests that together they visit one of those who compose folk songs but do not claim authorship, Fanoš Mikulecký. With him, Honza understands the meaning of artistic creation and the fulfilment of human life...

In the forest near the village of Drahovice, a nurse from the local health center is found murdered. Three months ago, another young woman died nearby and a sexual motive was proved in the case of her murder. In the case of the nurse, the motives are not so clear. Two criminologists from Prague - Major Kalas (Rudolf Hrusínský) and Lieutenant Varga (Radoslav Brzobohatý) - patiently collect all available leads and question the villagers.

In the young man's imagination, the image of a mysterious house - a mystical building that symbolizes the spiritual world of an unknown faith - persistently returns.

A story about how family means a lot even in Italy.

In 1976, the Czech New Wave philosopher and director Evald Schorm came to the Na zábradlí Theatre. He stayed there for twelve years, until his death. He raised a generation of actors who were aware of their own personalities. In The Brothers Karamazov, the then compact acting ensemble performed in full force on stage. Schorm created from ban to ban (Hamlet, Macbeth, The Brothers Karamazov, Marathon) and in front of Zábradlí, there were queues for tickets in double rows all the way to the Vltava embankment: when the subscription began, people slept outside from midnight until ten in the morning, when the box office opened, in sleeping bags, they brought fishing chairs to the theater. A ticket to Zábradlí was more valuable than Tuzex vouchers...

A television production of the novel by French writer Victor Hugo. The story of the Pope's daughter Lucrezia Borgia, who was known for her cruelty and intrigue, but also for her immoral lifestyle. In Hugo's adaptation, Lucrezia, after committing many crimes, tries to save the young captain Gennaro.

The orphan Eliška Irovská, nicknamed Líza, arrives in her native village of Ptačice. As an orphan she is housed in the local poorhouse and has to go out begging. Her guardian Petr Tumlíř, however, sees that she is competent enough to go to school.

The young worker Helena Pokorná and her widowed father are employed in the same factory. The father is spending his holidays at home in Prague and is looking forward to work. Helena is to go to the seaside for a rewarding holiday. On a hot July day, the girl rides to work in a crowded tram. On the embankment, the crowd pushes her out and Helena fails to get into several other cars. Tempted by the river, the girl calls in sick to work. She takes a steamer to Modřany. There she meets a young man who wants to sleep by the river after his night shift. Helena is drawn into the strange pastimes by a group of notorious loafers and water girls.

A model Communist village is visited by a flying saucer.

Puppet adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.

Television production, dramatisation of the science fiction short story by George Langelaan. The story of atomic scientist Bernard Marsden, who sees mysterious figures on the television screen one day. After the figures repeatedly appear, he learns that they are people who were directly at the epicentre of the atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki and whose chain reaction transported them to the antiworld. Among them is Mary Seymour, with whom he falls in love. He decides to transport himself to the antiworld using the explosion of a small atomic bomb. However, his attempt might end tragically.

An animated short film that explains in a pedagogical way how the radio transmission works. Created by Czech filmmakers it was commissioned by Argentina Schools. The film tells the story of Curious, an extraterrestrial child that reaches the planet earth attracted by the sound waves. There he meets the Queen of Waves, an ethereal figure who teaches her step by step the process by which sound is captured, amplified, modulated and transformed into electromagnetic vibrations to be transmitted by a radial antenna.

Postwoman Mrs Skorepa, her husband the ambulance driver Mr Skorepa and their eleven-year-old twins Petr and Pavel live in Prague in Malá Strana (Lesser Town), one of the Prague's historical and oldest quarters. The boys are crazy about cars and everything linked to them. They don't share their father's love of classical music. On the other hand, they are crazy about the newly announced scrap yard competition for paper collection. The lottery tickets awarded for every ten kilograms of old paper collected could win them a go-kart.

After the death of a forest engineer who was deeply connected to nature, his younger brother naturally takes care of his widow and daughter. Their quiet understanding and shared knowledge of the one who is no longer with them gradually grows into something more.

An intimate family story full of dramatic relationships and the desire for eternal values ​​such as love and understanding. A confrontation of two worlds, two lives and a solution to the problem of how mature we are in our interpersonal relationships. The fates of Silvia Brežná and her mother, the late Marková, reveal to us the world and problems of the family, the position of women in the household and in society.

A balladic story situated in a Slovak mountain region before the 2nd World War. A young man returns to his native village after many years. There he meets Zuna, a mysterious girl of the forest, who opens his eyes to the charming nature to perceive hidden corners of the world and of his own soul.