Elmar Klos

An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaimed exponents - Closely Observed Trains director Jiří Menzel.

Open details →

Television series Golden Sixties examines new insights into Czech and Slovak cinema of the 1960s and the role of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Each episode focuses on a different filmmaker.

Open details →

The fate of an unlucky director of a dismantled cultural house who temporarily believes in the meaningfulness of his actions, exposed to the pressure of many different difficulties.

Open details →

Open details →

Documentary about the film academy in Prague and the Czech Film in 1965.

Open details →

Managers at the construction of a big hydro plant are accused of having embezzled money.

Open details →

The story of high school students, talented Jan and Karel, who has a problem with math. Their life affects pedantic professor of mathematics Klec, that goes with them on a school trip, which escalates the conflict between them. Jan wants to escape, but Professor Donat will discourage him. Karel fails the exam of mathematics and decides to commit suicide.

Open details →

In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.

Open details →

Managers at the construction of a big hydro plant are accused of having embezzled money.

Open details →

The sad hero of the story, Petr, an ordinary lawyer in a construction company, is crowded into a small apartment in Žižkov with his wife and grandparents, desperately struggling with the lack of money. One day he offers an old man a seat on a crowded trolley bus and is generously rewarded for his good deed, for the unknown old man is a fabulous grandfather. He gives Peter a magic bell and the opportunity to make three wishes, but the first two slip through his fingers. For the third, the astonished man must take time to think...

Open details →

Pavel is a Czech partisan fighter in the waning days of the war. Just as peace is declared, Pavel is shot in the spine and sent to the hospital emergency ward. As he fades in and out of consciousness, he recalls the events that led to his participation in the underground. Holding German occupation commander Engelchen responsible for all the horrors and deprivations heaped upon his comrades, Pavel is kept alive by the possibility of recovering and exacting vengeance upon the Nazi officer - no matter how long it takes.

Open details →

As a young actor František Lukávec and his teacher Vladimir Tuma became enemies. František insisted that Tuma was dismissed from the school as a reactionary and hostile to the new government. Many years passed, and here they met again on the stage of a theater. František is assigned the role of Julius Fucik, Tuma plays the role of a Gestapo man in the same play. In the course of the action, the Gestapo man beats Fucik. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tuma beats up his old enemy during the dress rehearsal. Frantisek's face is bleeding, but he will still play. The rehearsal continues...

Open details →

A film of the Czech multimedia theatre production, Magician's Lantern. Eight Czechoslovak directors filmed a choreographic performance conceived and directed by director Alfred Radok and artist Josef Svoboda. This performance consists of twelve scenes: "Introduction", "Airport", "Rhythms", "Cymbal Concert", "Inspiration", "Hoop Dancer", "Spartakiade", "Dvořák's Slavonic Dance", "Prague Spring", "Love is a Fatal Game", "SL'UK", and "Finale".

Open details →

The employees of the furniture company MARS welcome a rare visitor with hired music. Their boast that they would put together an orchestra is taken seriously, so they receive a small gift - musical instruments for thirty musicians.

Open details →

American agents hijack a plane on the Ostrava-Prague route to launch a campaign against the People's Democratic Czechoslovakia. The plane lands in West Germany, but the Americans have an unexpected problem convincing the hijackers to stay in the West. Based on a true story.

Open details →

In WWII Czechoslovakia, an old toymaker incorporates secret messages in his models to fool the Germans. They find him out and he flees. As the Gestapo officer hunts around he is attacked by the toys, who send him packing. Live action and stop motion short by Hermína Týrlová.

Open details →

Human bravery can take many forms, just as ideas about it can. Small-town public opinion begins to despise a postal clerk because he gave cash to robbers who didn't hesitate to shoot. The result is a successful study of a man whose previous certainties begin to crumble due to a fateful event.

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Ferda Mravenec (Ferda The Ant, 1944 ) runs over ten minutes, telling the tale of an ant colony versus a spider. This one is teeming with characters, with impressive animation, fun gags, and a good story.

Open details →

The River of Life and Death captures the slow time in the well-known Indian pilgrimage place of Benares, the act of purification by water, the burning funeral pyres, and the dandling snakeheads under the temple stairs.

Open details →

Open details →

Instead of working, young typists are busy showing off their purchases to each other. When they don't respond to the clerk's bell, a superior comes into their office. The girls scatter to their typewriters. Only the boldest of them explains that they are getting ready for a ball and have therefore bought new shoes. The clerk remembers that he used to dance when he was young, and the girl asks him to dance. However, the man soon runs out of breath. The film ends with a display of dance shoes by the Baťa company.

Open details →

Open details →

Open details →

Tommy Fikejs and Ferda Říha, two perpetual students, are completely broke. They are up to their necks in debt, their landlady is kicking them out, and there is no hope of securing another loan. Tommy does have a wealthy uncle—an automotive tycoon—but the man refuses to be "touched" for money, whether by persuasion or coercion, despite Tommy bombarding him with pleading letters.

Open details →

Open details →

Factory owner Pardon, meets Olga, daughter of clairvoyant Stefanie Lesczynska at a ball. Their brief acquaintance is interrupted when Olga and her mother have to leave. Fifi Hrazánková has her sights set on the elligible Pardon. Pardon asks his Uncle Cyril Ponděliček if the girl could take over his position at work so that she may be dissuaded of her amorous intentions. Fifi seduces Pondělíček. In the meantime, Pardon meets Olga and Stefanie again by chance and offers them a place to stay at Ponděliček’s while Pondělíček passes himself off as Pardon.

Open details →

The film depicts the adventures of Kacenka (Zdena Kavková) and Vincek (Vlasta Burian), two innocent country bumpkins who live in a Czech small town, and the various jobs that Kacenka has once she moves to Prague, that beautiful capital city. Our heroine will have to bear difficult working conditions and to make things worse, she falls in love with a fake aristocrat. Fortunately her companion, Vincek who is also in Prague, has an unrequited love for her. Though he is the cause of many Kacenka's problems, Vincek finally will help and resolve her loves troubles. And of course there is a happy ending that brings the Czech couple together.

Open details →

The film depicts the troubles of Herr Verner (Karel Hasler), a middle-aged bachelor dentist who wants to marry.

Open details →