Discoveries from Czechoslovakia World Cinema

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...

In a certain village, a pretty girl marries an older, not very attractive shoemaker. He is sensible, prudent, and enjoys a quiet family life, while she has a good heart but is short-tempered. That is why they quarrel all day long. The master, dissatisfied with married life, longs for something better. When the cobbler has had enough of everything, he decides to go out into the world. This changes the master completely. In his absence, she beautifies him in her imagination until she creates an image of a perfect, model husband. She rejects all suitors and bravely earns her living as an innkeeper. The shoemaker returns in disguise after some time. When he is convinced that his wife has been faithful to him, he makes himself known to her and hopes that she will welcome him with open arms. But he is bitterly disappointed; the dream has vanished, the mistress has realised the difference between her fantasies and reality, so that their life once again returns to its old ways.

Documentary about the making of the 1967 Czech film "Marketa Lazarova".

Jakub presents an extensive ethnographical-sociological study of the life of the Ruthenians, filmed in the Maramuresh mountains in the north of Romania and in the former Sudetenland in Western Bohemia. The film was made over a period of five years during the time of both totalitarian regimes and was completed in 1992 after the revolution.

Sometimes it's hard to understand what's important in life... The main character of the story, young Magda, works in a small textile factory in North Bohemia. She has no big goals in life, only girly ones. He wants to have fun and, most importantly, make some money fast and get married. In his new environment he has eternal conflicts with an old worker who hates sloppy work. Magda falls in love with a young railwayman, but love doesn't turn out as she hopes...

The nine-year-old Mahmud writes a letter to his 'friends in distant countries' and reports on life in Kabul during the years of the Afghan revolution and counter-revolution.

A fairy tale about the foolish dream of one dissatisfied snowman.

A romantic story between two wool skeins.

A picture about the fine art of prehistoric times, the remains of which have been found in various places on the European continent.

When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village.

Documentary film about the situation of nuns of several orders of the Catholic Church in Slovakia.

A television adaptation of one of the charming fairy tales by poet František Hrubín. Princess Rose falls in love with a peacock so much that her parents fear for her health and chase the bird out of the royal garden. No one suspects that he is an enchanted young man. When he appears to the princess in a dream as the Peacock King and tells her that they can meet if he crosses the sea and endures the mountains, Rose does not hesitate for a moment. Difficult trials await her, but in the end she stands up to them well and becomes the Peacock King's wife.

A short film by the Czech animator Vaclav Mergl.

Documentary film about the Slovak Youth Line - a railway line built by the Czechoslovak youth from Hronská Dúbrava to Báňská Štiavnica and Letovice.

Ivan Renč's poetically themed animated story, narrated by Gustáv Valach, tells the tale of a little cuckoo named Adelka searching for her mother, who is trying to hatch an egg in a foreign nest. The forest realm of animals and birds has its own strict laws. Among the most basic is the upbringing and care of young animals. Only the cuckoo breaks this old practice. She calmly lays her egg in a foreign nest and no longer cares about it.

A picture of the new step-by-step process of building construction called "flow 640", which ensures optimal continuity of the individual professional parts of building construction.

The romantic fairy tale tells the story of a royal family haunted by the curse of the cruel Arx, the lord of ruin. According to this curse, the royal siblings, Prince Bernard and little Noemi, are bound together by magical power. On the day of one of them's wedding, the other dies. However, the prince's love for the mysterious girl Berenice, whose life is supposed to last only three days, gives Bernard and Noemi hope...

A picture based on the story written by Karel Jaromír Erben. It is about an enchanted apple maiden who is set free from the spell of a bad witch by big and true love. The picture is particular for following the medieval style in its design.

A Czechoslovak TV film based on Swedish crime novel.

A puppet fairy tale about a monster who signs himself to the devil in order to live in idleness and pleasure.

Woman concert star seeks to connect with her adult daughter, by her former marriage to a staid industrialist who has kept the two apart since the girl was very small, and receives inadvertent help from the industrialist's just-fired employee who has fallen in love with the girl.

A television production of a Renaissance comedy by N. Machiavelli. A sharp criticism of society, a sharp satire on the wickedness of the clergy and human stupidity that causes the breakdown of marriage. The old lawyer Calfacci, husband of the young and beautiful Lucrezia, is unable to father a child. Callimaco, in love with Lucrezia, convinces him to give his wife a decoction of mandrake. At the same time, he warns him that anyone who comes into physical contact with Lucrezia for the first time will die from the effects of the poison. Therefore, the first villain (whom Callimaco himself is) must be caught and sacrificed for a good cause. However, he must convince Lucrezia's mother and the virtuous Lucrezia, and thus bribe the confessor Timoteo. The monk approves this intention with his casuistic interpretation and blesses him.

An artistic documentary based on a report of the same name from Ladislav Mňaček's book Where Dirt Roads End. A psychological reflection on the feelings of an individual who operates like a modern, fully automated control room of a large hydroelectric power plant. His subjective ideas intertwine with the environment of the workplace, accompanied by the music of J. S. Bach.