Background Films

In 1983, communist Poland is shaken by the case of high school student Grzegorz Przemyk, who is beaten to death by police. The only witness of the beating becomes the number one enemy of the state.

A desperate hunger strike meant to capture global media attention slowly unravels into a hilariously bleak showdown between ambition, reality, and an empty stomach.

Andrew is a tough businessman and an arrogant workaholic. He runs a large, successful company in Prague. The meaning of his life is money. Ondřej has just negotiated the deal of a lifetime in Nebraska with a wealthy investor who will finance the construction of luxury residences on the outskirts of Prague. On his way back from America, the plane flies over a reservation where an Indian chief is being buried. The spirit of the Indian rising to the sky crashes into the plane and inadvertently becomes incarnate in Ondrej. And this spirit has decidedly different ideas about Andrew's life and values.

During a random check, the commander of the Czech Customs Unit notices that there are immigrants in the back of a van. In the turmoil that followed, a minor is injured while trying to escape into the forest. The officers scatter the woods to look for the boy who managed to escape. Their aim is to find him and cover up the event. When the child's father refuses to cooperate, the incident becomes insurmountable and the officers start to mistreat the refugees. It is a fairly harsh short film about human emotions and views against immigrants.

The day’s work never ends for a guard worth his salt, even when the gallery closes at seven. And Vašek is a perfect example, at least until he meets Ginger – a femme fatale who has her own plans where he’s concerned. Love turns this nice lad into a thief: armed with a false moustache, sunglasses and a stolen painting, he gets on a train and it remains to be seen whether or not his journey to Rome is paved with good intentions. The train compartment is full of passengers keen to impart their life stories – to him or to anyone who’ll listen. The withdrawn young man pays close attention to it all, even though he has plenty to worry about as it is. The police and a bunch of crooks are hot on his heels and it’s difficult trying to give them the slip with a hefty painting in tow.

Based on a true story. 1996, open sea. During his shift on a transatlantic ship’s deck, Joel, a religious Filipino sailor, discovers Dumitru, a Romanian stowaway hidden between some containers. If he is spotted by the Taiwanese officers running the vessel, Dumitru is at risk to be thrown overboard. Joel decides to hide him, as a sign of his gratitude towards God. Soon, a dangerous cat and mouse game begins. When his crew, his own friends, even God itself start to turn their backs on him, Joel learns that he has to face his cruel destiny alone.

Thirteen-year-old Czech boy and a Belgian girl of the same age who meet at a roadhouse facility want to meet and talk to each other in a short time between lunch and their departure. With the help of an Arab truck driver and an African football player, they overcome the language barrier and manage to spend a few minutes without their families. Both share a modern European experience in this modest location. "Divine Sparks" offers a pleasant story about the power of communication and prejudices.

Prague, night station in winter. Radka with a small daughter, a suitcase on wheels and a sports bag get off the bus. Luděk slowly walks back home through the streets of the same city, knowing that no one is waiting for him. A few hours before dawn, the initially purposeful intersection of lonely destinies can resemble a family. A Night with Agama is about the meeting of people who are dependent on the help of others, yet have to help themselves first and foremost.

The six-hour essay in four parts examines the history of regimes and revolutions, leaders and martyrs, from a philosophical perspective. The collage of personal memories, staged scenes and archives of collective memory compares the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution and shows the exposure, conflict, crisis, and catharsis of the post-communist society.

A film about the mysterious lady of the castle, Countess Mitsuko Maria Thekla Coudenhove-Kalergi, who was the first Japanese woman to come to Europe at the turn of the 19th century. She lived mainly in the border region near the Bavarian border and managed the castle in Poběžovice, the property of her late husband, Count Heinrich Coudenhove-Kalergi. She was a strong and educated woman, but she never lost her longing for her native country.

One of the most striking contemporary Czech film-makers and literary figures, twice over winner of the Magnesia Litera Award, Martin Rysavý, is himself the central character of his new, philosophically tinged travelogue. He takes part in the Ukrainian Maidan, takes the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, sails down the Kolyma river, comes across nomadic reindeer herdsmen, soldiers, mystics, artists and scholars. He tries to comprehend the present situation of two feuding countries of the former Soviet empire. The film's framework forms the director's conversation with a Prague optician, Jakub Thuri, shot during the director's check-up. Using travel materials on top, it allows a peep inside a traveller's consciousness wandering in recollections and trails of sensory perceptions from expeditions to far-away lands and finding a way how to grasp them, put them in order and pass them on.

This architecturally unique resort on the shores of Lake Orlík was a secret retreat for the communist establishment in the 1960s, but later, rampant capitalism handed it over to now infamous businessmen. Imbued with a mysterious atmosphere, this portrait captures the genius loci and turbulent history of a hidden summer paradise that was never marked on any map.

In her latest film, young actress and documentary filmmaker Petra Nesvačilová decided to capture police officer Helena Káhnová, who, together with her colleague, managed to send dozens of people to prison in the Berdych gang case in the 1990s - including Berdych himself. The cumulative punishment was hundreds of years in prison - the policewoman received a reward of CZK 10,000 and a promotion, which was subsequently withdrawn. The director also managed to establish a film relationship with Berdych himself and former members of his gang. What motivates a policewoman to stand up to the mafia and what motivates a young documentary filmmaker to contact the mafia and make a film about it?

At the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders invited several of his esteemed colleagues to a hotel room, where he filmed their reflections on the future of film. This exclusive documentary survey, Room 666, inspired two Czech producers to engage in a similar undertaking in collaboration with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. During last year’s festival, they thus invited around thirty Czech or Czech-based filmmakers from all generations and asked them “what makes Czech film Czech?” The result is an exciting mosaic not just of views and opinions, but also of mannerisms and personalities.