Jan Oliva

Comedy about a group of village boys and in one selfless father who wants his players to do the real football.

Little Vendulka receives a birthday gift of a seemingly innocuous children's book. Little she knows that the book is actually a portal into the surreal world of nursery rhymes and Josef Lada's paintings.

In this character study by Czech director Frantisek Vlacil, a stout middle-aged physician whose marriage has come apart establishes a practice in a small town. Gradually he's drawn into the lives of his patients—a childless couple, a pregnant girl with a stern mother, the son of a duck farmer—and each relationship reveals a bit more about him and the idyllic but insular community.

The late summer of 1918. Paul, Willi and Heinrich from an age-old German town are good friends, although there is a great deal that divides them. Heinrich comes from an officer's family with an army tradition and is preparing to enter cadet college. Paul's father and grandfather are workers, and Willi, left to depend on himself, works as a hotel messenger. The last year of the war is hard for everyone, but while Paul and Willi know their own minds and do not hesitate to help the war fugitives Tony and Sepp, for Heinrich everything is more complicated.

Three short stories. Prague finally sees the approval of the subway construction. Thousands of individuals took part in preparing, course and finalizing construction of subway and their lives crossed at certain points of this construction.

Lieutenant VB, disguised as a laborer, is looking for a young woman killer among the staff of a wheel loader. But which of the possible motives found is the right one?

This film, chronicling the last days of Czech resistance fighter Maruska Kuderikova (played by Magda Vasaryova), is based on her diaries. Though she was tortured and eventually executed by the Nazis, her diaries indicate that she was optimistic for the humanity of her captors and did not by any means hate them. Told with simple dignity, this film makes clear why Maruska became a national hero.

In the thick woods at the edge of the Bohemian Forest, two border guards are keeping watch - rifleman Kucera (Rudolf Jelínek) and dog handler Stencl (Josef Hajducík), whose sluggishness and clumsiness have won him the nickname Simpleton. The official army dog, the bitch Líza, picks up the scent of an alien dog on the German side - Black Wolf. She bites through her leash and runs away. Soon afterwards, the border boundary was interrupted. The two soldiers are wounded in the gunfire that follows, but Stencl's shot also hits the target and the intruder - an attractive woman in a black jersey - is dead. The investigation reveals that this agent knew someone among the local residents. The locals are all called in to identify the body but nobody admits to knowing the woman.

The harsh reality of a home for abandoned children blends with episodes of youthful fantasy and slapstick comedy in this story of an orphan girl. Lucy's fondest wish is to find new parents and leave an orphanage. She befriends a man who can create doors from paint. He gives her a stuffed dog that magically comes alive when placed on the ground, and he and his wife end up adopting the little girl. After finding parents of her own, Lucy sets out through fantasy to find parents for her orphan friends. All of the people Lucy meet during her remarkable make believe wanderings end up taking children home.

할머니와 함께 사는 10대 소녀 발레리는 마을 축제가 다가오면서 성적으로 각성하게 되고 혼란을 느낀다. 이글이라는 청년으로부터 한쌍의 귀걸이를 선물받으면서 발레리의 환상은 현실과 뒤섞이고 악몽이 된다. 발레리는 자신의 부모가 야수의 모습을 감춘 주교라고 상상하게 되고 할머니는 그녀의 상상 속에서 흡혈귀가 된다. 사제가 그녀를 겁탈하기 위해 뒤를 쫓고...

Young script-writer Frantisek (Petr Cepek) is hired to write a film script based on the successful novel Looking Back. He meets with the novel's female author, a University professor and writer named Olga Machová (Jirina Trebická), approximately ten-years-older than him. In the beginning, they do not understand each other at all. Frantisek is a skeptic experiencing a moral crisis, unsatisfied with both his work and his private life - he lives separated from his wife and has no deeper feelings for his numerous lovers. He even gets drunk from time to time and breaks the public peace. Olga is lonesome, too, but considers her life fulfilled.

A gifted poet checks into a Gothic hotel in hopes of meeting the woman with whom he has long been enamored. He is surrounded by a variety of offbeat characters like the hefty homosexual cook, shadowy clerks, snooty waiters, and valets prone to violence. He finally meets the woman of his dreams only to lose her and ultimately meet with tragedy.

In the forest near the village of Drahovice, a nurse from the local health center is found murdered. Three months ago, another young woman died nearby and a sexual motive was proved in the case of her murder. In the case of the nurse, the motives are not so clear. Two criminologists from Prague - Major Kalas (Rudolf Hrusínský) and Lieutenant Varga (Radoslav Brzobohatý) - patiently collect all available leads and question the villagers.

Michal's father and his friends are stigmatized by their war experience and the post-war social deformations in which they took part either directly, or watched them cowardly and in silence. They are trying to repress their feelings of guilt and justify their behavior to the young generation with memories of their heroic war feats. Michal, however, does not want to have anything to do with their problems. He subconsciously perceives the unpleasant atmosphere in the family as well as his father's hypocrisy. After one of many quarrels with his father, he runs away from home, determined to go his own way.

A man boards on a tram together with a naked boy. Somebody has stolen the boy's clothes when he was out bathing, leaving him with not even change for the tram. The man has taken care of him and is taking him home. At first nobody notices them but as soon as the people realize they are seeing something out of the ordinary they begin to react to the situation. Some are content with the simple explanation as to why the boy is naked. Others are agitated, for they see the whole situation as something unseemly. An ordinary incident, which might have been passed over in silence, results in a heated argument that turns into a fight. More and more people join in the fight until the police are forced to intervene.

Seven days, or rather evenings and nights, in the life of Jenka (Stanislava Bartosová), a young good-looking nurse. Jenka is attractive to men and enjoys their company, but there is a limit beyond which she won't go, since she is faithful to her Filip, who is doing his military service. On Sunday the girl awaits Filip to arrive on a short period of leave, but instead his friend Míla (Frantisek Nemec) turns up and apologizes for Filip, who has to stay in the barracks.

A passionate communist worker is discouraged by the changing political climate and the failure of his peers to live up to his ideals.

A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jasny is divided into four separate segments. In the first skit, a young child's impressions are observed as his newborn baby sister becomes a part of the family. In the second, a young woman falls in love for the first time one summer, and in the third, a tough, older peasant woman battles against the farming cooperatives. Finally, in the last segment, everything comes full circle as a woman who is about to become a grandmother dies while her daughter-in-law has not yet given birth.