Czech Republic

Cesta Ven tells a story of a young Romani couple, Zaneta and David, the parents of little Janicka. Their efforts to live a decent and dignified life run up against the “Romani social trap,” which is racism, the society’s prejudices.Read More »

SYNOPSIS
Another beguiling portmanteau of animated shorts from the work of late Czech storyteller Jan Werich via the hands of returning helmers Aurel Klimt and Vlasta Pospisilova, “Fimfarum 2” will join its 2003 predecessor “Jan Werich’s Fimfarum”– a nonsense phrase– as de rigeur programming for toonfests, mature kiddie confabs and appropriate ancillary.Read More »

Jaroslav K. seems to be a good son, father, and a decent husband. In reality, he is pathologically jealous of his beautiful wife Blanka, and his biggest nightmare is that she and their three kids might leave him one day. Jaroslav K. and his family do not shy away from violence and cheating, which eventually results in a tragedy. This drama about one strange family, scheming, and Jaroslav’s efforts to have his way utilizes computer games aesthetics.Read More »

Quote:
The heroine of the film is a proletarian wife and mother. Her husband, a coalminer, seeks solace in alcohol and neglects his work. After he is sacked, he spends most of his time in the pub with his friends and his lover, a waitress. He wastes the money his wife earns as a washerwoman. The woman, with her work and her worries, doesn’t even remember it is her birthday but her neighbours come to visit her to wish her happy birthday. Even this happy day ends in sadness: her husband comes home drunk. When he starts destroying their meagre furniture in a fit of rage, she throws him out. The man moves in with his lover. One day the wife badly scalds herself while washing some linen and after a few days she dies. The man comes home and prepares her a simple funeral which is attended by all the neighbours. After the funeral the husband holds a wake in the local inn. Then they all return to their homes as if nothing had happened. Such is life.Read More »

The breathtaking story of a man gifted with exceptional abilities set against the background of the events of the totalitarian fifties.Read More »

Quote:
A biting comedy concerning the lives of two young people who meet one day in a house in Brno in order to put their ideals of love into practice. A story about a couple not yet prepared for sexual life and a renowned actor no longer in his sexual prime.Read More »

51-year-old Herbert Strehlow, a furniture restorer, falls in love with 21-year-old Lea, who has not spoken a word since childhood when her father killed her mother. She bears a striking resemblance to Herbert’s dead wife. They get married, but their relationship seems doomed, until gradually each one manages to penetrate the mysterious world of the other, and they begin to realize that they are bound by a kind of spiritual relationship. For Lea it is the death of her mother, for Herbert it is the death of his first wife. His hard exterior slowly beings to thaw, and he starts to show feelings and responses that soften Lea’s initial hatred and fear of him, and which put their relationship in a more positive light.Read More »

When a childless couple learn that they cannot have children, it causes great distress. To ease his wife’s pain, the man finds a piece of root in the backyard and chops it and varnishes it into the shape of a child. However the woman takes the root as her baby and starts to pretend that it is real. When the root takes life they seem to have gained a child; but its appetite is much greater than a normal child.Read More »

Eugene, an aging man, leads a double life: one real – the waking life he spends in the company of his wife of many years, Milana – and the other in his dreams, his sleeping hours being devoted to a recurring evolving dream of a beautiful young woman, Evgenia. Seeking to perpetuate his dream life, he goes to see a psychoanalyst, who attempts to provide an ongoing interpretation of his experiences. On the wall there are portraits of Freud and Jung, which become animated, alternately applauding, disapproving or fighting over her interpretations. The latest film from practising surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer is a mix of cut-out animation from photographs and live action segments, combining real actors with their animated photographs, against black and white backdrops of photographed Czech buildings. Read More »