Discoveries from Czechoslovakia World Cinema

Animated drawings inspired by Leonardo da Vinci are intercut with seemingly unrelated (but in fact strangely similar) live-action scenes.

A fairy tale about the love of a mermaid and a young fisherman, which had to overcome many adversities before reaching its fulfillment.

Ryba, the owner of a boat rental shop and ferryman, has lived his entire life in a house by the river, which often becomes fatal for swimmers and suicides. However, because Ryba saves many drowning people, he becomes a very popular figure in the entire region.

Anyone who claims that you can't live with half a heart should be invited to a fairy tale about a king who once gained a crown in exchange for half his own heart. He gained a crown for part of his heart, but he lost much more – himself, his wife and his child. The prince must undergo difficult trials and fight a witch to save King Oskar and the kingdom...

Ten-year-old Martin attends religion at school and is always an altar boy at church. That's the wish of his mother Anci, a bigoted believer. However, Martin encounters hypocrisy at every turn and begins to doubt that God exists. His older brother Eda steals money from his father with impunity, his father steals materials from the cooperative building, and even Martin's best friend Kovajs "sins" without scruples. Pastor Hornof tries in various ways to maintain his influence over his sheep, but is hindered by people with a "progressive" socialist mindset. When Martin's beloved Angora rabbits, who have done nothing wrong to anyone, die, the boy's faith is clear. He decides to join a pioneer organisation. All that's left is to keep it a secret from his mother...

A fairy tale about a magic key that can be used to control time. How many times a day do we think about time and would like to do something with it - if only we had the power! Fortunately, we don't have it, because who knows what would happen if we could control time. However, in fairy tales, everything is possible and the magic key that a watchmaker's journeyman received from an inconspicuous grandfather will convince you of this.

At the beginning, the newly arrived soldiers form a musical theatre troupe to escape the humiliation of the older ones. They vow that they will be good to the next recruits. But it turns out that nothing can be done without strictness and that greed is not some kind of deviant perversion. In this comedy you will find not only great musical numbers, but also a lot of gags from the military environment. It is also the first film in which the famous semaphore duo Suchý and Šlitr appeared.

An overview of the evolution of Persian miniatures, on the pretext of an exhibition of Hossein Behzad's miniatures in Prague in 1956

The fate of the insignificant poet Leonard Undene is transposed into the media atmosphere of the late 1960s. An ironic image of the times, a black comedy about the ease of manipulating the crowd, about the deceitfulness of slogans, about the phenomenon called public opinion, about the power of media fame...

The story follows three middle‑aged gentlemen—Antonín, Canon Roch, and Major Hugo—who while away their rainy summer days at a neglected riverside spa. Their languid routine is briefly enlivened by a traveling magician and his assistant Anna, whom they vie to impress with whimsical flair.

A fairy tale about a little girl so tiny that she could almost be hidden in the palm of your hand. But you wouldn't believe what she could do! A little girl suddenly appeared in a cottage, bringing joy and happiness with her. The mother was sad when the prince appeared and took Forget-me-not to his castle...

Story about fate, and their fatal consequences.

Hospital orderly Rozruch, denied his therapeutic treatment, is mistaken for Dr. Marek at the insurance office and sent to a spa. Councilor Pěna, plotting to wed his mistress after his daughter Heda’s marriage, also arrives. At the spa, impostures collide, identities are exposed, and hidden motives and loyalties come to light.

On the state stud-farm, Tomás (Rudolf Jelínek) is preparing to become a jockey together with other boys. He loves to read cowboy stories and Western pulp magazines and his passion makes him...

A 16-year-old young man, a budding rock enthusiast, spots a beautiful guitar but soon finds he doesn't have enough money. In vain, he asks his parents to help him. Eventually he tries to raise the necessary funds on his own. This is a not very believable normalisation morality tale, which was supposed to guide teenagers towards desirable patterns of behaviour.

In the early 1970s, the class struggle flared up in full force on the big screen - the hero of this film, set in the interwar period, is a staunch communist journalist who arrives in the Ostrava region during the economic crisis to instigate a strike. The impoverishment and hopelessness of the miners had exceeded all limits...

The freshly graduated engineer gradually sobers up from his student ideals and encounters a different reality than he had expected. Few people understand his resistance to the established conditions in a prosperous company, and the hero's personal conflicts with his superiors deepen. He recognises hypocrisy: people say something different from what they really think. He encounters sycophancy and calculation whether he stays in the country or moves to the big city.

Reflecting on the memory and legacy of the Second World War.

Eight tunnellers, led by Mikulás Litvák, go down with the lift for a new shift in the underground, close to the Máj department store. Each day they build a new meter on the B1 line of the Metro. In 14 years of work they have made 7 km of corridors and tunnels. The work is hard and sometimes dangerous. But they are a tight group, which trust each other's skilfulness.

The second part of the free comedy cycle about the orphaned siblings Alice and Zbyněk Kučero further develops Zbyněk's relationship with Kateřina, the "lodger" from the previous comedy. After all is revealed and Alice has given her "blessing" to their relationship, she begins to consider the possibility that after Zbynek's wedding, Kate's parents will enter her life. What will they be like? A curious Alice goes "exploring" just as Zbynek starts to introduce his future mother-in-law and father-in-law...

A stop-motion animated fairy tale about good and evil using wooden folk toys.

This animated precursor to music videos was made on commission for the American company Rembrandt Films. It illustrates an American folk song of the Old West.

A morally questionable lord comes to the aid of a working class man who is to be executed for speaking out about thieving rich scoundrels sticking it to the poor.

It seems almost unbelievable, but it has been 30 years since István Örkény's Cat's Play premiered on the stage of the former Tyl Theatre, now the Stavovský Theatre, with Dana Medřická and Vlasta Fabiánová in the lead roles. It has been performed 403 times and has become a true cult production of the 1970s and early 1980s. The story of two sisters, whose lives are divided by the Iron Curtain, resonated with the audience with its truthfulness. In Dana Medřická's interpretation, the character of Erža Orbánová has also become a symbol of indomitable optimism despite the poverty of life. Not only this production, but also the acting performance of Dana Medřická and Vlasta Fabiánová have become legends during their lifetimes.

Study of the work of the conductor Václav Neumann and his creative process with the orchestra.