Jiří Kostka

Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is a Czechoslovak action-drama television show intended as a political propaganda to support the official attitude of the communist party. The series were filmed in the 1970s. Each episode encompasses one year, and investigations are stylized to that year. Most are inspired by real cases. The series follows the life of police investigator Jan Zeman during his career from 1945 to 1975.

Series about the life of Renaissance anatomist, scholar and politic Johannes Jessenius. Already legendary series today, was produced by Czechoslovak Television Bratislava, directed by Slovak director Miroslav Luther in the first half of 80's in Barrandov Studios in Prague. The story and screenplay of the series wrote Czech writer Vladimír Körner. Five-episodes epic historical narration is a biographical story of distinguished Renaissance scholar, anatomist and politic of Slovak origin, Johannes Jessenius (Ján Jesenský, 1566–1621). It displays his life from the first studies and successes. In 1594 he became professor of surgery and anatomy on Wittenberg University, which he had attended years before. From that moment, his life went through social and personal wins and losses, to the sad end on the Prague Old Town Square gallows, among 27 noblemen, knights and burgenses, after lose Bohemian Revolt in 1621. His destiny was coupled with key events of Czech history in the break of 16th and 17th century, when Renaissance and European humanism slowly fade out.

The drama from the time of the Nazi occupation begins at the train station, where a transport with German soldiers is passing. The train is stopped due to improvised sabotage by one of the railway workers. Resistance liaison Růžena Kubínová is arrested in a random raid. The cynical councilor Dönnert discovers her false documents and has her brutally interrogated. He suspects that she could contribute to exposing the entire group. He puts a informant, Herta, in her cell.

A construction comedy about the labor struggle of two groups of workers in a Prague factory. The old group is led by the grinder Karhan, while the young group is led by his son. The struggle between the two groups leads to the emergence of socialist competition and cooperation, in which the old share their experience with the young, and the young share their new ideas.

A Czech agricultural student, Šimon Plánička, arrives at the small South Bohemian town of Hoštice, and joins the local JZD (agricultural co-op) with the intention of trying out his experiment regarding the "Milk yield of cows in regards to a cultured environment". He runs into difficulty with the directorship of the JZD, but he finds them eager to help once they hear he's the son of the local agricultural commissioner, as his last name is also Plánička. Blažena Škopková is given the task of finding out how things are looking. However everything is complicated by the jealousy of Blažena's boyfriend Venca.

The opera lady singer Ema Destinnová is in all her splendor at the American stages. But in Europe there rages war and she decides to return home to Bohemia.

At the beginning was the Slovak television series Lekár umierajúceho czasu (Doctor of Dying Time), dedicated to the Rudolphine-era scientist Jan Jesenius. He ended up on the scaffold along with other gentlemen after losing the anti-Habsburg uprising. When director Miloslav Luther conceived the idea of making an abridged version of the footage for cinema, he had to not only rebuild the storyline but also dub it into Czech. However, the result was only an illustrative puzzle, describing the various stages of the hero's turbulent life.

The distressing fate of the Czech great Jan Amos Komenský, forced to leave his homeland after the White Mountain disaster. It depicts his encounters with various European personalities of the 17th century - the Queen of Sweden, artists and scientists. It emphasises the hero's nobility, but also his inner resilience, which allowed him to overcome many personal and professional tragedies. The parable of The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart becomes part of the story. However, Comenius's concept is sculpturally lifeless and, in particular, the religious dimension is "erased" from it. The simplistic biography therefore does not avoid schoolboyish dryness.

Screen adaptation of Julius Fucik's story about communist fighters.

The years 1851-1856: events from the life of the writer Božena Němcová, who, because of her free-thinking views and strong patriotic feelings, comes into conflict with the society, the church and the Austrian authorities... A cold, too readable version of the writer's biography. The playwright František Pavlíček dealt with the theme of "Němcová" also later - in the times of his dissidence.

A drama set in the Vítkovice Ironworks at the end of the occupation. It depicts the struggle of Ostrava steelworkers to save the blast furnaces, which the retreating Nazis want to blow up.

Saxony, devastated by the Thirty Years' War, is led by the comedy troupe of the principal Fortunato. The student Vavrinec has fled Bohemia and greatly values the text of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which he has acquired on his wanderings around the world.

A British citizen by the name of George Reiner (Jirí Sovák) arrives at Prague airport. He was once a Czech safe-breaker, and has now returned home after thirty years to steal twenty-dollar gold coins still kept in the safe at a private villa in Pilsen whose owner fled to the West.

Film shows the struggle of the Czechoslovak armed forces against groups of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) under command Burlak, who tried to pass through the territory of Slovakia.

The discovery of an unexploded aerial bomb on a construction site brings a shock to the peaceful existence of a small town: the sudden threat makes at least some people rethink their previous attitudes.

Jan Vacek, a revolutionary of Czech origin, organizes the retreat of communist troops in Baku after the Bolshevik Revolution, following the fall of the local commune...

The director of films for kids called Bonzurka together with her loyal assistants Drahuska and Honza are looking for the actors for a new movie "The Knee". Children for this movie should not be afraid and shy and they must have talent for acting. Thus the scouting is quite difficult. The most difficult is to find an actress for a main character who lost her hair after a serious illness and now has to spent the whole holiday in the countryside with a bald head resembling a knee. Although the makeup artist does his best an artificial baldness does not solve anything. From the selected little girls only the self-assertive Rosemary has the guts to let her long hair to be cut and shave off her head.

The construction of a gigantic facility such as the Dukovany nuclear power plant requires only the most capable experts. Such is the engineer Hlaváč, who has been involved in the project from the very beginning as a construction manager. He has to deal with many problems, especially the lack of manpower. He is unfairly demoted to a lower position due to the intrigues of his subordinates and the alibi of the management, but time proves him right and by the time the plant is inaugurated, he is once again the main manager. But the demanding job takes its toll, his heart cannot withstand the frantic pace of work...

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.

The story takes place in a retirement home and creates a mosaic of the lives of old people who are trying to find a relationship with themselves and with life in these specific conditions. Each of its residents has a distinctive approach to life and its basic values. The most interesting features of the title, which is marked by a visibly cold production approach, are the worthy performances of the actors of the older generation. Some of them appeared in front of the camera after many years and unfortunately for the last time.