Albert Marenčin

Documentary about Stefan Uher's film.

The second, and unfortunately. the last feature film made by a unique talent among Slovak filmmakers, Elo Havetta, is one of the most originial pictures of Slovak cinematography. The film was conceived as a paraphrase of Vincent Šikula's prose, the tragic episodes of which screenwriter Lubor Dohnal and Havetta composed into a dramatic story. The main characters are veterans coming home from the First World War. And while they feel a need to find A home and settle down, they are also driven by a passion for a vagrant's free life.

The film is a historic parable about the topicality of revolution. 1514. The peasants' uprising is over, Dózsa has been arrested. Werbőczy tries to get the imprisoned peasant leader deny the revolution and offers him the lives of his people in exchange.

In the aftermath of war, two men and a woman begin acting more like children than adults, leading to tragedy.

A classical ballad motif about an aging father and his three daughters is quite unusually here set against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia of the 1950s. After having been expropriated, the former landowner Majda seeks refuge with his three daughters whom he had sent to a convent a long time ago. But only the youngest one is able to forgive him and she is willing to take care of him despite the threat of expulsion from the order.

In this bitingly satirical film Peter Slovan, a continuous source of trouble for the film functionaries of the socialist Slovakia, tackles an evergreen topic – the corruptive effects of power. Barnabáš Kos, a triangle player at a symphonic orchestra, is suddenly promoted to serve as the head of the said institution, even though both he and his superiors deem him completely unfit for the task. Encouraged in equal parts by this unexpected recognition and the servile praise of his colleagues, Kos’s modesty starts to gradually vanish. The erstwhile bashful and aloof percussionist quickly becomes aware of the advantages of his new office, and begins to realise his increasingly ludicrous artistic ambitions. Ultimately, the submissive marionette turns into a source of public humiliation, and his astonishing career finds an abrupt end. Orchestra serves here as a microcosm that grotesquely reflects the absurd and tragicomic mechanisms of the paranoid apparatus of power.

The Organ is a drama set in the times of the wartime Slovak State. A young Polish deserter and gifted organist finds shelter from the fascists in a Slovak Franciscan monastery. He gets into a conflict with the local organist and choir leader, a man limited in his world views and spiritual values. The collision of talent and beauty with pettiness and closed-mindedness leads to envy and ill will, which draw young Felix away from his temporary hiding place and back to the dangers of war.

An unusual children's film set during World War II in Czechoslovakia, this compelling drama unfolds five different segments that present the war through the eyes of three youngsters. The three have a series of adventures which include saving a soldier from being captured by the Germans, helping out the resistance fighters, and meeting up with a young Russian woman trained in guerrilla warfare. As they learn more about life and danger, various circumstances constantly recall the reality of war itself. The title comes from a wounded pigeon under the care of one of the youngsters.

An unusual children's film set during World War II in Czechoslovakia, this compelling drama unfolds five different segments that present the war through the eyes of three youngsters. The three have a series of adventures which include saving a soldier from being captured by the Germans, helping out the resistance fighters, and meeting up with a young Russian woman trained in guerrilla warfare. As they learn more about life and danger, various circumstances constantly recall the reality of war itself. The title comes from a wounded pigeon under the care of one of the youngsters.