In 13th-century Bohemia, King Přemysl Otakar II sends his Bezděz castle steward Oldřich of Chlum north to broker a peace-marriage between the feuding Dubé and Vartemberk houses, only for him and his men to stumble on a murdered merchant’s trail. At the celebratory feast meant to seal the alliance, the Vartemberk castellan is killed and suspicion falls on a humble lutenist whose fiancée the victim had tried to violate, plunging Oldřich into a dangerous game of courtly intrigue.
A gloomy tale about a king whose pride robbed him of love, friends and power. A cruel curse is at the beginning of the story of this fairy tale based on an old Irish legend. Until the king's newly born son raises his sword against his father, there will be no spring in the Hawk Kingdom. Although the king orders the counselor Ordon to kill the child, the nurse saves him and entrusts the child to the care of a bird. He names him Christopher and raises him together with his son Janko. Twenty years later, the king succumbs to Ordon's urging to war with the neighbouring King Ubald. It is in this war that the curse is fulfilled and the tragic fate of the new king, who cannot listen to the right mouth, begins to unfold.
An American tourist lands in a Slavic prison run by a twisted woman and the U.S. ambassador.
During a winter storm, Ursus offers shelter to two orphans, Gwynplaine and Déa; some years later, they are still living together. Gwynplaine has become a famous star, but his success threatens his relationships with Déa and Ursus.
An elderly paper-crusher branded a fool in Prague secretly stashes condemned books, preserving their contents and extrapolating from them eccentric scenarios of wit.
Charming, witty and smart men represent a fictitious insurance company who soon fall for an innocent-looking young woman smarter than she seems.
A sad story about love between Czech boy and German girl during 1944.
A classic Czech comedy about the privatization of a small South Bohemian brewery. In a series of comical situations, good Czech police officers encounter the mafia, and honest citizens encounter swindlers. This amusing story, which of course includes a romantic subplot, is significantly influenced by fairy-tale creatures that suddenly emerge from the distant past.
Love story against the background of the fall of the Wall. On New Year’s Eve 1989 Maria’s ex-husband turns up on her doorstep. She lives in Rotterdam now and he has just fled crumbling Communism in their homeland. A long flashback makes it clear why he is not welcomed with open arms.
Pepe and Prengel, returning from war, meet Ester and both fall in love with the girl and live together in a deserted house. Fanatic communist, Zelmira, wants to turn their world upside-down.
A Czech-French existential tragicomedy. Its (anti)hero is a young man named Andrej (played by Filip Topol, leader of the Czech underground band Psí vojáci). The story turns on his fateful love for the powerfully attractive though superficial Kristyna (Markéta Hrubesová).
The fantastic world of little Thomas, who conjured up beauty and happiness.
Inspired by Jaroslav Durych's novel of the same name. The story of an aging man—sick, exhausted, and twisted by life—who arrives in the borderlands shortly after the end of the war, searching for the man who denounced and destroyed his family during the war. He meets a young German woman who has been stripped of her last shred of human dignity by the revolutionary guards. She is alone, without family or children, hiding from people who come to the border region to loot and enforce their self-proclaimed order. The two grow close, but before they even have a chance to tell each other their names, everything tragically...
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Rimini, there lived a beautiful princess named Nicoletta, who ruled alongside her older brother Riccardo after the death of their parents. This cheerful and witty princess, though wise for her age, foolishly fell in love with a song about the perfect and universally admired King of Salerno. Riccardo, like a loving brother, went to offer her hand to the king, regardless of what he thought of the idea. However, the proud king, spoiled by his mother, insultingly rejected her, saying that she was not worthy of his beauty, but he did not know that Nicoletta's other qualities included stubbornness and determination.
The district town is reeling from the murder of a well-known local businesswoman. She was found dead one morning, dressed in a revealing costume in a dentist's office. The investigation is entrusted to a pair of detectives, Commissioner Petr Brouček and Commissioner Jaroslav Falta. It is up to them to solve this complex case, which involves a number of well-known local figures and revolves around a local luxury gentlemen's club.
Even after twelve years, Štěpán, Kendy, and Karas have remained true to themselves. They are inseparable friends with an inexhaustible sense of humor and a knack for self-irony, albeit with a slight touch of skepticism.
This production of Ostrava TV Studios was inspired by actual events which occurred in the Ostrava region of Moravia during the 1920s and 1930s. A hedonistic bon vivant of a lawyer named Zajícek (played by Václav Postránecký) came up with a sophisticated finance speculation scheme which exceeded the bounds of law. When discovered it became one of the most closely-followed First Republic scandals.
A young woman, married to a wealthy man, but miserably lonely; trapped within a world ruled with an iron fist. Katerina is driven by a lust for life and for love. Her husband, though, is impotent; her father-in-law a tyrant. No wonder, then, that she longs to free herself from this yoke. When Sergei starts work on the family estate, she sees in him a chance for salvation. However, their subsequent affair marks the beginning of a descent into crime.
A black comedy about suicides. Good old England, 1937—a spooky night scene on the moors, silhouettes of trees, the distant silhouette of a small castle reflected in the glistening water. Only the Hound of the Baskervilles is missing... we see only distant silhouettes of figures on a raft and have no idea where they are sailing.
Three hundred years after she fled the Witch Academy for love, Saxána has settled into a comfortable human life with her husband and daughter, until her curious little girl, Saxánka, uncovers her mother’s hidden magical past and is whisked away to the Fairy Realm. There, amid dwarfs, dragons, and mischievous spirits, Saxánka with her newfound fairy friends to unravel a tangle of enchanted dangers and stop the comic-book gangster Crashman from plunging the realm into ruin.
A modern retelling of Erben's fairy tale from 1980 tells the story of a prince who failed to look after an apple tree from which golden apples were disappearing. So he has to set out on a journey to find the thief - the Firebird. On his journey, he has many adventures and finally realizes that there are more important values in life than material ones. He is helped by his love for a red-haired princess, who teaches him to unlearn pride and helps him find a new relationship with life. The prince stops overestimating grandeur and wealth and discovers that the most important values in life are sincere human relationships.
Indy's work with the Belgian Army takes him to the front lines of Verdun in 1916, where officers' callous stupidity sends thousands of men to their deaths for virtually no territorial gain. In Paris, Indy falls in love with the seductive German spy Mata Hari, only to suffer the pains of deceit.
Dr. Štěpán, dismissed for his outspokenness, returns to his hometown determined not to bend his ethical principles to the ruthless new capitalism surrounding him. When he meets a young woman who may become the meaning of his life, he must confront the tension between his ideals and the demands of a changing world.
After his mother's death, a man tries to sort out his declining relationship, live-in best friend, a career opportunity and a potential new romance.
In post–WWII Italy, inspired industrialist Adriano Olivetti oversees the creation of the first all-Italian electronic calculator while theorizing a revolutionary business model based on the idea that profit should be reinvested for the benefits of the whole society. An utopian vision that catches the attention of powerful interests...
Series of erotic stories, inspired by La Fontaine's and Boccaccio's work.
A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
After a queen's tragic death, the king abandons his newborn daughter in a cave, but a witch saves her. Years later, the tomboy princess must confront and ultimately falls in love with the enemy king.
Pre-WWII Czech democratic politician Milada Horáková was one of the first victims of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Opposing the 1948 coup but not leaving the country, she was arrested and tried for treason on fabricated charges in a show trial broadcast on the radio.
"Dear sister, strawberries don't grow in winter!" Marushka begs, but her crying is in vain, neither her stepmother nor Holena shrinks from her and the girl is driven away to the snow-covered mountains where freezing January reigns. Who doesn't know the fairy tale by Božena Němcová about the good Maruška and the twelve magical brothers who knew well who deserved their help! There is no doubt that Marushka and her Hansel and Gretel will find their happiness in the end.
A lyrical fairy tale of romantic mood tells of a girl who freed the Wind Young Man from the curse that punished him for his arrogance and violence. The fairy tale highlights the ennobling impulse and power of love, which can positively influence all human actions.
Čenda and Jana don't have it easy in life. They're both unemployed, Čenda is up to his ears in debt, and the most frequent visitor to their home is the debt collector. But that's about to change thanks to a lottery ticket blessed by a priest. A fairy-tale win of 176 million crowns opens the door to a world of unlimited possibilities for the couple. But it also brings a lot of new friends who would like to get a big piece of the prize.
A young and sympathetic teacher joins the music school. He leads the school orchestra and also teaches twelve-year-old Anezka to play the cello. The girl falls in love with him and only her grandmother, who lives alone and does not get along with Anezka's mother, her daughter-in-law, has any sympathy for her. But even she can't help Anezka overcome her first emotional turmoil, so the girl uses a little trickery to get closer to her teacher...
After World War II, fighter pilot Antonín Maděra returns from England to his native village in the Ore Mountains to forget the hardships and horrors of war and to "live, work, and love his neighbors," as he himself says. But Svatý Štěpán, which his family had to leave in 1939, is no longer the same place it used to be. However, even in his wildest dreams, he could not have imagined what really awaited him there.
Beata Parkanová, the filmmaker behind Moments, returns to Karlovy Vary with an exceptionally vivid portrait of the family of notary Václav Vojíř, a small-town moral authority, and his selfless wife Věra. This masterfully told and highly original intimate drama, whose protagonists undergo a difficult ordeal in the summer of 1968, is reinforced by finely wrought, exquisite performances from Martin Finger and Gabriela Mikulková.
After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops, everyone is packing their bags to leave the country. Martin Ivánek, who has just been dismissed from his position as head physician, has a valid passport and an exit visa to the United Kingdom. He has made up his mind. But! He has a complicated medical case on his hands, which turns into a personal commitment.
In 1930s Ukraine, the desecration of a sacred bath disrupts the sex lives of Jewish villagers.