Václav Matějka

People in Czechoslovakia perceive the events of February 1948 differently. This movie tells how they behave depending on their views, beliefs and character.

Why? (Czech: Proč?) is a 1987 Czechoslovak drama film directed by Karel Smyczek. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. The film deals with the hooliganism in Czechoslovakia, particularly with the fans of football club Sparta from Prague, whose supporters were the pioneers of the football fan riots in Czechoslovakia, starting with hooligan actions already in the 1960s, like breaking the trains in which they travelled when they went on Sparta's away games. The film deals with one of such episodes

Three short story omnibus. The main hero and connecting link is Lieutenant Boruvka, created by Lubomír Lipsky. He deals with the murder case between climbers, the death of the dancer in the music theater and the strange disappearance of the mathematics professor.

This downbeat, grim drama about three brothers who are reunited at their mother's funeral is actually visually as dark as its story, making it difficult at times to clearly distinguish a scene. These brothers are not particularly exceptional as people go, but at least they have branched out into separate vocations in their lives. One brother is a doctor, another is a criminal, and the third is a bus driver. Like others in Europe, they suffered through World War II, yet no matter what their backgrounds and experiences, their interpersonal relationships are not exactly gripping drama.

In a chateau near Prague there is a chantry and brothel Riviera, designed for the clientele from the higher circles. Mrs. Gábi Stolařová, called Madame, keeps a close eye on order, but otherwise she runs the place in a family spirit and makes sure that the customers are satisfied. A new employee, the beautiful Renata, disrupts the order of things and immediately draws the attention of all the guests to herself. But beneath her angelically innocent exterior, she hides a fierce ambition and a coldly calculating brain, which, to her own detriment...

A directors autobiography about his debut during the rise of socialism.

The Czech film Svítalo All Night was made to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army and is dedicated to all those who fought and gave their lives in Prague in the May Uprising of 1945. Behind the historical events, the creators see mainly their simple, unassuming participants. Thus, we are presented with a number of apt portraits, whether it is the central hero Dr. Soukup and nurse Daniela on the side of the fighting Czechs, or a captain and a simple private in a Red Army unit coming to the aid of the fighting Prague, or an old, war-weary German major, who only realises the senselessness of the war at the sight of a fanatical, cynical lieutenant for whom Nazi ideology represents the meaning of life.

Young prisoner Jan, nicknamed Roughboy (Petr Cepek), tries to commit suicide. He was imprisoned for a fight in which he injured a functionary of the National Committee and for stealing material but actually by the blame for this crime was pinned on him by the road-builders in whose group he worked. The prison doctor knows that Jan is an emotionally deprived person who never knew his parents and spent all his childhood - except one year with foster-parents - in orphanages, homes for youth and reform schools. He arranges a five-day holiday for Jan, who wants to find his mother's grave.

At the funeral of his schoolmate, the nearly-fifty-year old architect Jirí Mánek (Václav Voska) meets his former close acquaintance - physician Jarmila (Blanka Bohdanová). They both are still single. Jarmila has recently returned to Prague after years of work on the frontier. Jirí leaves for a business trip. As a conservationist, he is to grant permission for an adaptation of a Baroque château to office spaces. On the road, a pretty young hitchhiker named Eva (Ida Rapaicová) stops him. Eva is Slovak and her spontaneous behavior enchants Jirí. He thus does not mind making a short detour and takes Eva all the way to the luxurious cottage of her parents. A romance develops between the two people, so different in age and temperament.

Once again, you can take a look behind the scenes of the Riviera Chateau on the Prague periphery, where a brothel for the socialites is hidden under the guise of an exclusive nightclub. The story takes place in 1930 and although several years have passed since the events of the first volume, the passions unleashed by the intrigues of the time have not cooled down. Once again you meet Renata, called Angel, formerly a prostitute, now the wife of the banker Justice and owner of the Riviera. The elegant Madame, who owned the business before and now works there as a mere manager, is plotting new schemes to get back everything she has...

Radio announcer Petrícek reads the evening news in a studio. Viki, the female editor of a woman's program, is annoyed by the stereotypical information he provides as well as by the speaker's melodious voice and his heart-felt performance. Then she gets an idea for a prank. She calls the speaker from the neighboring room on the phone and pretends to be an unhappily married woman who draws all her strength to live from Petrícek's voice.

A psychological film about the sense of self-fulfillment of a divorced couple over 30 who feel that life is slipping through their fingers. While she, a nurse by profession, is adapting better, he, unreliable and always improvising, is searching in vain for his clue and even tries to get back to his ex-wife.

Jarmila Slezáková, a young woman convalesces badly at home after the results of a heart attack which she suffered some time ago. After the doctors have results of the examinations they consider to hospitalize her again. They would like to settle it with her husband, their colleague. But the attractive doctor Slezák made up a story about his participation in a scientific seminar and he left with his lover, a nurse Petra to a summer house.

It is 1883 and Josef Hibes, a social democrat, is organising a strike of textile workers. The main demand is a reduction in working hours...

Autumn 1944, the Slovak National Uprising is suppressed and the fighters must withdraw to the mountains. Commander Repta’s unit takes along the thirteen-year old Zuzka, who lost her home and all her relatives in the rebellion. But the enemy brutally pursues them and Repta therefore must divide his unit. The withdrawal is covered by the group commanded by Peter, whose members almost all die in an exchange of fire with the German soldiers. The only one to survive is the severely wounded Peter. Zuzka, of whom everybody forgot in the zeal of the fight, hides him from the Germans. As soon as Peter is able to walk, he and Zuzka set off to meet their co-fighters.

Lieutenant VB, disguised as a laborer, is looking for a young woman killer among the staff of a wheel loader. But which of the possible motives found is the right one?

A budding teacher comes from Prague to the South Bohemian district town where her fiancé Jakub, a young promising engineer at the local paper mill, lives. Petra is getting to know her new colleagues at school and the children in her new class, and is practicing hard with the Komenium music group, whose members she has known since her studies. She also gets to know Jakub's colleagues and the director of the paper mill, to whose position Jakub would like to be appointed after his retirement. It is this desire for a high position that leads Jakub to behave and act in a way that Petra cannot approve of.

Thirty-year-old worker Oldřich Olejník is a pub and wine bar worker, because he is celebrating the birth of his son. It is no wonder that he ends up in the detention center. This is how he meets seventeen-year-old Jirka Kouba. The troubled young man, who was nicknamed Žluťásek because of the color of his favorite T-shirt, left his job after numerous conflicts. His father disappeared for no apparent reason and his mother could not cope with it. Therefore, Žluťásek spends most of his time in a gang led by the bankrupt actor Ancek. Oldřich, in whom paternal qualities have awakened for understandable reasons, begins to take an interest in and care for Žluťásek. In addition to breaking through Žluťásek's initial distrust, this will also mean getting to know Ancek and his dubious gang...

A quarrel between divorced waitress Mája and her fifteen-year-old son Petr ends with the boy physically attacking his mother, and he is sent to an institution for juvenile delinquents.

A dramatic story about the devastation of the environment and human character.