Birds, Orphans and Fools

Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.

This film is one of the most popular pictures of Slovak cinema and relates the story about the legendary folk hero and brigand Juro Jánošík [1688-1713] and the social situation in Slovakia of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The first part talks about Jánošík's childhood, studies and return to his native village. In the second part Jánošík leaves for the hills, where he organizes his band of brigands and starts an anti-feudal resistance. The film concludes with Jánošík's execution.

At thirty-three, Philippe, an actor who has turned to Commedia dell'Arte, has reached an age where everything he believed in is being called into question, his family life as well as his professional life, and even the importance he attaches to his masks, an importance that may be derisory. His life appears to him without embellishment, without any romanticism. He has taken refuge within himself. He is more alone than ever. The island on which Philippe has landed echoes the same everyday elements, but in an almost mythical, sometimes caricatural way. We encounter characters buried in their little lives, whose hopes and concerns seem futile. Then, in these clouds, in this mist, a lull...

Juraj, a Slovak artist living in Prague, takes stock in his life, realizing that his days pass without purpose. He lives a carefree life. But now he has to choose between two women, between the city and the country, and between creative work and craftsmanship. He has a passion for art but he also has to make a living. Through his relationships with close people, he grows aware of his position and this knowledge helps him to live a more fulfilling and better life.

Jakub, a dreamer and budding magician, juggles between parcels and services rendered to the villagers. His eyes cross that of the beautiful gypsy Jolanka. Together, they will try to live a first and big love, despite the pressure of their respective communities.

Donizetti's opera as film.

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.

Prince Myshkin is a good man, yet his goodness borders on naivety—or even idiocy. After spending his youth in a Swiss sanatorium being treated for epilepsy and autism, he returns to Russia to enter social circles riddled with hypocrisy and greed. One emerges from the experience dazed, as if waking from a troubled dream.

As a car full of an assortment of characters rolls down an embankment and bursts into flames, the old driver says "See You in Hell, Friends." The relations between the characters are shown in flashbacks. The pretty Rita and her fiancee Petras meet the old colonel, and come to live in his farmhouse. Rita marries the colonel as well as her fiancee, and has a daughter Christine. The colonel's supposed father shows up, and also makes amorous advances on Rita. They all live blissfully together until two holy women with axes arrive. The women start chopping down trees to build an ark. Rita starts having nightmares and Christine is crucified.

Serge follows Hélène in the crowded streets of Paris and manages to seduce her. Werther takes Sophie to her dentist, Raoul, who tries to seduce her too.

Goubi, the simpleton of his village in the French Department Allier, has but one wish: to see Paris. One day, the truckers Grafouillère deposit a drunk Goubi in the biggest market of Paris (the "Halles"). The poor man is completely lost, but the meat merchant Dessertine takes him under his wings when he hears that Goubi was likewise 'raised by the State'...

Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryska looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed reports by Maryska, who has organized a pig-killing feast and is ably assisting the butcher. When she invites the old curmudgeons on the board to enjoy the fresh pork, they are too happy to agree. Francin doesn't know whether he is going to get a permanent contract. To make things worse his brother Pepin - eccentric, noisy and garrulous - turns up on an indefinite visit.

A surreal movie by peter Weigl starring Michael Biehn and Lubomir Kafka.

In the 18th century, as the army of Prince De Beaulieu lays siege on the fortress of Marechal D'Allenberg, a young princess sends a soldier out of the fortress to go find her lover.

Maria, an inn keeper, is always a bride but never a wife. She meets newcomer Pierre, who disturbs the peace of the small village and teaches the locals how to enjoy life. E. Havetta's debut was inspired by naïve art, French impressionism, silent slap-stick and Western Slovakian folk traditions.

Tram driver Marie has far too much to do after her shift is over. But she likes to do it all since she loves her husband Václav sincerely. One day she spots him on the Lesser Town Square in Prague, kissing an attractive blonde good-bye. It seems to Marie that her small comfortable world has collapsed and she walks out of the tram in tears. But her sadness does not last long. She wipes off the tears and begins to act. She withdraws all the money from their savings books and buys off all the latest models from the Fashion Works. The visit to the beauty salon then completes her transformation into a lady.

Biography of the life of Guillaume Apollinaire.

A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.

Chaco and his band of downtrodden men meet Così Sia (Amen), who always seems to get the better of them. He takes on the men with a plan to break into the Bank of Little-hole. For Così Sia, getting the money is not as important as getting his revenge on Reverend Smith, with whom he has a bone to pick.

In the 1950s, Ludvik Jahn was expelled from the Communist Party and the University by his fellow students, because of a politically incorrect note he sent to his girlfriend. Fifteen years later, he tries to get his revenge by seducing Helena, the wife of one of his accusers.

A burglar joins the circus to escape the police. Yet, he continues his thefts during his off-hours and gets involved in the problems of people around him, while also romancing one of the other circus performers.

A worker steals bits and pieces of building materials from work to construct a new home for himself and his girlfriend. When he discovers that she’s having an affair with his boss, he devises one elaborate plot after another to murder the rival, each time with pathetic results.

Vlado has just passed his high school diploma and is starting a job as a home tutor in the family of a big businessman. He finds himself in a very difficult turning point in 1947-48. He does not understand much of what is happening around him. He constantly experiences emotional confusion, comes into conflict with his conscience and finally has to decide between love and reason...

A girl is transformed into a maple tree by her impulsive and angry mother. Three poor wandering musicians come by the tree and create instruments from it. Walking around the country instead of happiness they bring death everywhere with their cursed instruments. However they cannot get rid of them, unless they bury the wooden instruments at the place of the tree. The three are anything but harmonious, each taking in their disputes various stances.

Jeanne Jouvert, a crime writer, has won the Quai des Orfèvres prize. Her publisher devises a clever publicity ploy that results in her husband, Alfred, head of the anti-gang squad, being honored in her place. The policeman finds himself quite comfortable as a best-selling author and takes advantage of the situation. Tired of having been submissive for too long, Jeanne plans her revenge. She asks for help from her friend Anne Beaufort, herself disappointed by her husband, who pretends to help Third World countries by selling them weapons. The two of them will prove what they are capable of by organizing a hold-up of the central post office in Paris.

A look at the life, work and importance of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman (1910-89), a genius of world cinema, a wizard of special effects, revealing his sources of inspiration and his revolutionary filming techniques.

Documentary feature about Czech director Jiří Menzel, featuring Menzel himself as well as Miloš Forman, Emir Kusturica, István Szabó and others.

A very unlikely trio join forces in order to rob a bank: an ex-bandit called Smith, now a cheerful reverend, a nomadic artist and a pickpocket. Their plan is successful, however, and the three make off with the money from the bank's vaults, only to find themselves robbed of their newly-acquired wealth by a young schoolmistress.

Wild Swine is actually an ironic name for the great search operation of Prague's criminologists, who in a tangle of criminal activity of various kinds were digging around like wild swine before they managed to solve a complicated case. The story takes place in a variety of social spheres, from the Roma people to the world of Prague prostitutes and bakshellers to prominent people.