Production
Two classically trained musicians and childhood friends - one a successful cellist in Prague, the other a violinist who makes his money playing provincial funerals - reconvene on the eve of a small-town symphony concert.
The story of a trio of released criminals that even prison re-education did not reform. They intend to "bankrupt" a farming cooperative, but soon discover that they must first deal with the local thieves. Not surprisingly, therefore, they end up championing the right cause and make the commons flourish...
Princess Blanka (Aglaia Morávková) is secretly meeting her beloved, huntsman Ondrej (Jirí Papez). Only the chamber-maid Anezka (Jirina Bohdalová) is in favour of their love but Blanka’s father, the King (Jaroslav Marvan), mustn’t find out anything about it. Blanka is refusing all the bridegrooms the King has invited to the castle. The King has enough of his daughter’s moodiness and shuts her up in the tower. The suitors must search for her and she is to marry the one who finds her first.
A significant event in the life of the Ostrava assemblers. Private matters take a backseat as preparations are being made to fit the high-rise chimney with an extension for burning kycht gases. The challenging installation is to be carried out by helicopter and the first attempts have not been successful...
A Czech art film set in a modern village. The main character of the film is Karla Tolarová, a worker from a Prague printing house, who arrives for a harvest shift at a unified agricultural cooperative in Běšíčice at a critical time for the cooperative. The grain in the fields is ripe, the machine-tractor station does not have the necessary machines for the cooperative, the cooperative members do not trust each other, they lose interest in working together.
The exemplary accountant Antonín Safránek lives his orderly life as a citizen of a small town. His wife Eliska brings up their three children and desperately tries to get by on her husband's low salary every month. At the same time, she sadly watches the luxurious life of their neighbor and other people like him who have no qualms about improving their standard of living by cheating. One day, the infallible Safránek makes a mistake in the cash clearance and there are nine one-hundred Crown bills left in the safe. An unexpected company control carried out the next day passes without problems and the account is closed. The temptation is too strong. The insufficient control enables Safránek to gradually steal one million Crowns.
The course of an organized strike by workers from North Moravian steelworks in 1931 to resist mass layoffs during the economic crisis.
Second half of the 19th century. In a small town in South Bohemia, fifth-former Jan Ratkin is living through the confusions of first love together with his classmates.
A biographical film about the famous Czech painter Mikoláš Aleš, portrayed as part of the vanguard of the working class and a spokesman for the oppressed, who asserts himself despite the opposing bourgeoisie and reactionaries of all kinds. The film focuses on the period when Mikoláš Aleš participated in the competition to decorate the National Theatre.
Early Days follows the early life of famous Czech writer Alois Jirásek. Jirásek had already developed his own view of the history of the Czech nation while he was at grammar school in Broumov. When he becomes the supply teach in Litomyšl, he has already written his first book and a number of poems. The local dignitaries await the arrival of the young writer in excited anticipation. Jirásek, however, is sickened by the empty patriotism from the depths of his soul and soon becomes disagreeable to the notables. The district sheriff tries to remove Jirásek from the school and drive him out of town. Unable to do this, the sheriff appoints a pro-Austrian headmaster who attempts to sabotage Jirásek. The students stand behind Jirásek , however, and discontent is not only felt in Litomyšl but throughout Bohemia.
A group of children from 1930s Prague follow the news about the polar expedition of the Chelyuskin, whose members find themselves stranded on a floating crust after the shipwreck. The rescue operation they had planned eventually turns out to be an aid to the striking workers of Děčín...
A quintet of vignettes based on short stories by Bohumil Hrabal: an eventful trip to the motorcycle races results in drunkenness, long-winded discussions, and death; two elderly men create false biographies; insurance agents visit an eccentric painter/goat farmer and his mother; guests at a wedding reception remain oblivious to outlying misery; and a working-class boy romances a Roma girl.
A comedy about a young salesman Havelka, who gets his life's wish. He wins his dream car Spartacus in a lottery. So together with his fiancée, they experience a happiness they have never known before and have no idea that their dream car will complicate their lives...
The happenings in a shoe factory serve as a not very thinly veiled examination of the pros and cons of both socialism and democracy.
In the village cemetery, the funeral of a married couple - victims of a car crash - is ending. The relatives unscrupulously take away the facilities of the dead people's little cottage, totally ignorant of the fate of eight-year old Ruda, whom the childless couple took from a children's home and adopted. Fortunately, an elderly lonesome uncle named Tony remains in the empty cottage and decides to take care of the boy, nicknamed Münchie after Baron Münchhausen for his wild imagination.
Four short stories by the greatest Czech satirist Jaroslav Hašek. "Soup for Poor Children" tells the story of how Prince Robert himself cooked soup for poor children, "Meeting of the Municipal Council in Mejdlovary" is the history of filling the position of municipal policeman, "Trampotes of Mr. Tenkrát" shows how strange events lead to marriage and promotion, "Revolt of the Convict Šejba" depicts the victorious fight of the convict Šejba for a dumpling for ministering at mass.
The film, in individual episodes, captures the fate of Bedřich Smetana from 1856 until the end of his life, from his young years until the moment when, exhausted by human and artistic hardship, he sees the fulfillment of his great dream, the opening of the National Theatre.
Sliding, skiing, snow forts, snowball fights, in short, winter is the right season for the children from the village under the Šibeničák hill to have fun. Their leader has always been Zrzek, the son of the local undertaker. But then Myšák, whose father had become the chairman of the agricultural cooperative, moved into the village, and he pulled all the boys to his side, especially because he could take the boys on the horses his father sometimes lent him. Proud Zrzek left the group rather than submit to Myshak. Only his friend Barbora remained faithful to him, helping him catch birds, especially the proverbial black raven.
A look back at old classmates at a high school reunion, discovering how life has fruitlessly slipped through their fingers. And they don't even have a chance to break free from the small-town grip.
A fairy tale story about how the enchanted mill was freed from ghosts and how the shepherd Franta knew fear when he had to confess his love to Verunka...
