Discoveries from Czechoslovakia World Cinema

In 1967, Jan Švankmajer participated in the Terre des Hommes competition of the Montreal International Film Festival by submitting "L'Homme et la technique".

“And what did you do at school today?” In Pavel Hobl’s Czech fairytale, when Pepik and Honzik learn that school has been canceled they embark on an amazing odyssey around Prague that has them directing traffic, following the lead of a talking dog, breaking the spell an evil sorcerer has placed on a group of local musicians, rollerskating through a museum, and winning a magical car race. (University of Chicago Doc Films)

The story of a juvenile delinquent who, despite society's efforts to reform him, irrevocably ruined his life.

Documentary film about the Czechoslovak natural science group's expedition to Iceland in June 1948.

A picture based on an old folk song tells us a horrifying story about a soldier returning home after twenty years. His parents do not recognize him, they rob and kill him.

Lieutenant Vasátko is spending Christmas vacation in a mountain cabin where a diverse group of people have gathered. The painter Horác and two married couples, the director Skorkovský and his wife and his new discovery, the not very clever Jájinka and her husband. There is a murder and an unusual denouement.

A picture promoting collective farming and the use of tractors in agriculture. It introduces the work of the state tractor station in Chlumec - from the development of a uniform deployment plan to the departure of tractor drivers for specified tasks.

Different animals play with a marble in this whimsical story from Hermína Týrlová, ‘the mother of Czech animation’

A young man named Milan arrives at the zoo, having decided to study veterinary medicine. He meets his older colleague Kalman, a tough and cruel zookeeper who despotically controls not only the animals but also the people around him. From that moment on, their paths in life constantly cross, and the tension between them grows, also due to their shared interest in the same woman.

A young man steals a doctor’s car and has to pretend to be a doctor himself.

A document on the importance of forests to the national economy. It represents forests not only as a rich storehouse of wood, but also as an important factor for continuous water supply, as they regulate the water cycle and prevent both droughts and floods.

Animated fairy tale about the mountain ghost Rübezahl and his dealing with a thieving shoemaker.

In the hall of the Central Station, by a coincidence of unpleasant circumstances, the couple meet. They were both supposed to be somewhere else at the time. She at training, he at home. But they both have somewhat illegitimate interests. She's waiting for an admirer, he's accompanying his girlfriend to a cottage. A diplomatic duel ensues, so as not to reveal more than necessary...

The story of love, between a sturdy village boy and a gentle country girl, filmed with a movingly genuine charm.

A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.

Country girl Helena falls in love with an artist painting the local village scenery and one evening she lets herself be seduced by him. The artists leaves but soon invites Helena to Prague where they make love again. Helena then returns home to her sick father and refuses the constant attentions of the gamekeeper Rýza. After some time she realizes that she is pregnant. Since she knows that the artist will not marry her, she goes to visit her aunt who takes her to an abortionist. When the girl returns home after the abortion she discovers her father has died. The opportunist aunt sees her chance and moves in with Helena and persuades her to marry Rýza.

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.

Father Vojtech (Czech: Páter Vojtěch) is a 1929 silent Czech romance film directed by Martin Frič.

A dramatic story of the emotional, moral and political maturation of two young people during the Slovak National Uprising.