Zdeněk Štěpánek
It is 5 May 1945 and the uprising against the hated German occupiers has broken out in Prague. The Czech guards open the gate of the Pankrác prison to allow the prisoners to escape en masse. Many of them are shot dead by the German guards but young Ruda (Jaromír Hanzlík) manages to run away. He is taken care of by one of the Prague fighters, concierge Kytka. Kytka hides him in the flat of the house's owner where only the young maid Karla (Jana Brejchová) is left, ordering her to take care of Ruda.
Mikolás and his brother Adam rob travelers for their tyrannical father Kozlík. During one of their "jobs" they end up with a young German hostage whose father escapes to return news of the kidnapping and robbery to the King. Kozlik prepares for the wrath of the King, and sends Mikolás to pressure his neighbor Lazar to join him in war. Persuasion fails, and in vengeance Mikolás abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa, just as she was about to join a convent. The King, meantime, dispatches an army and the religious Lazar will be called upon to join hands against Kozlik. Stripped-down, surreal, and relentlessly grimy account of the shift from Paganism to Christianity.
The Stolen Airship (Czech: Ukradená vzducholod) is a 1967 live-action/animated film by Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman. The story is based loosely on Jules Verne's novels Two Years' Vacation and The Mysterious Island. The film in Art Nouveau style consists of live-action scenes, generally shot in black and white, as well as hand-drawn, stop motion, and cutout animation. Various live-action and animated elements are often composited into the same scene.
The DEFA comedy tells the story of small town policeman Holms who suffers from a rather unusual problem: Because of the low crime rate, there is simply not enough to do for him. Deadly bored, he sinks into the depths of depression and requests the help of a psychiatrist. But his imagination is far more effective: In his dreams, he chases gangsters in London. Finally, some small-time crooks find a way to help "their" policeman out of his emotional misery: They steal a memorial from the market square and thus help Holms to a spectacular case.
At the end of May 1918, released prisoners return to the Rumburk garrison from Russian captivity, hoping that the war is over for them. The only thing they want is to get their withheld ...
A movie built up of three stories about life in a small Slovak town. The Prosecutor: the district attorney is a jazz orchestra soloist at the same time and that is much disliked by the local provincial society. The Defender: is about a young doctor's relation to his patient, who is open about his reactionary opinions. The Judge: it is only after long years that the old judge realizes that his own marriage is in jeopardy.
The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB 1 embarks on a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity.
Czechoslovakian Zbynek Brynych directs this psychological drama set in World War II Terezin ghetto. A dark, visual portrayal of the trials and tribulations the Theresienstadt people faced on a daily basis presented in a series of memorable stories. Their hopes and dreams unfold against the perpetual threat of deportation (or worse) by the Nazis. Based on the novel "Night and Hope" by Arnost Lustig.
Concert master Karel Mašek is a drunk, as well as engineer Danda and other regular guests of the pub U Kroců. Mašek returns from the pub in the morning and promises the woman that he will stop drinking. But he failed again, and the orchestra players refuse to play with him. Danda returns home without a bag and goes to Krocs again in the morning, even though he has an important job at work. He has been degraded to subordinate job position, but he refused to admit it at home.
A spring is hidden in the Iron Mountain but the people of Arzen cannot get to it and they are suffering from thirst.
After the battle of Sudoměř the Hussite teaching spreads through the whole country and people start leaving their homes to help build the fortification of Tábor. Prague citizens request help against the army of Zikmund. The Hussite army with Jan Žižka in the lead make their way towards Prague. They fortify themselves on the mountain Vítkov and engage in a bloody battle with Zikmund’s huge army.
Dog's Heads (Czech: Psohlavci) is a 1955 Czech drama film directed by Martin Frič, based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
A monumental piece of art bringing the heroes of the ancient Czech myths back to life. The picture consists of seven parts: Cech the Forefather, Bivoj, Libuse, Premysl, Girls War, Horymir, Lucka War.
The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.
Prague, the beginning of the 17th century. Rozina falls in love with Italian glass worker Nikolo, but after returning home, she gets a message that will never come to Prague. She falls for the promise of an older man to marry her, but when Nikolo does return, the tragic fate of Rozina is sealed.
Mist on the Moors examines fates of just about a few people. Their stories are outlined in a short space of time and are a symbolic representation of the drama of life, struggle for justice, human cognizance and the healing power of love. One of the most important components of the film is the nature, which ceases to be a mere stage for its plot—it serves almost as an autonomous plot agent. The movie landscape is a precisely defined and localized one. Only the South Bohemian ponds can serve as the right environment for development of such earthy and typically human stories as we encounter in the Mist on the Moors.
When Vilem appears in the road with an unconscious young woman, it disturbs the peaceful life of three generations of the Balvínova family.
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.
The doomed love of a city girl caught in the vise of poverty is detailed in Vavra’s fluid, romantic work, one of the most elegant creations of the Czech Modernist era... The film lingers over its characters’ habitats and haunts, finding psychological truths in what each owns or desires, and countering every Hollywood-ready scene of gleaming restaurants and dazzling penthouses with realist moments of employment lines and crammed flats. Vavra’s classical camerawork and aura of romantic defeatism give Virginity a force comparable to the master of this genre, Hollywood’s Frank Borzage. (BAM/PFA)
The White Plague, a leprosy-like disease, ravages the world during a war. Based on a play by Karel Čapek.
St. Wenceslas (Czech: Svatý Václav) is a 1930 Czechoslovak historical film about Saint Wenceslas.[2] It was the most expensive Czech film to date,[3] with the largest set constructed in Europe to accommodate an all-star cast of over a hundred, together with 1,000 extras for the lavish battle scenes.
A biographical story about significant Czech dramatist, writer and actor Josef Kajetán Tyl.
