Ivan Acher

Amidst today’s urban jungle of concrete, glass and metal, it is easy to forget that we actually live in the territory formerly dominated by wildlife. Many of its members have been exterminated by humans, while others have fled the sprawling urbanization to the surrounding countryside. It is their survival strategies that get revealed in exciting detail in the documentary series, Planet Czechia. For two years, a team of camera operators headed by Jan Hošek were recording a life cycle of Prague’s wild animal world across all seasons of the year. The film, accompanied by the commentary read by the actor Jiří Macháček, registers everyday struggles of the fat dormouse, the mouflon, blackbirds or the water hen, teaching the viewers in a casual manner a higher degree of tolerance toward the city’s overlooked inhabitants.

Trapped in an abusive marriage, a wealthy German prince desperately seeks a way out. But what appears to be the road to salvation soon turns into a highway to hell. The universal language of music meets the international language of Esperanto in this debut opera by Ivan Acher. The carpenter, forest worker, designer and composer has cleverly blended electro-acoustic and contemporary music to breathe life into Ladislav Klíma’s expressionist novel, The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch.

Trapped in an abusive marriage, a wealthy German prince desperately seeks a way out. But what appears to be the road to salvation soon turns into a highway to hell. The universal language of music meets the international language of Esperanto in this debut opera by Ivan Acher. The carpenter, forest worker, designer and composer has cleverly blended electro-acoustic and contemporary music to breathe life into Ladislav Klíma’s expressionist novel, The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch.

Trapped in an abusive marriage, a wealthy German prince desperately seeks a way out. But what appears to be the road to salvation soon turns into a highway to hell. The universal language of music meets the international language of Esperanto in this debut opera by Ivan Acher. The carpenter, forest worker, designer and composer has cleverly blended electro-acoustic and contemporary music to breathe life into Ladislav Klíma’s expressionist novel, The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch.

Urban, an orphan, serves a greedy master watchmaker as an apprentice. When Urban grows up, he falls in love with the watchmaker's daughter Laura and wants to marry her. Before this can happen, the master sends his apprentice out into the world with the task of looking for a mythical watch that can warn of death. No one knows if the watch even exists, but if Urban doesn't bring it back, Laura will never be his wife. The watchmaker's apprentice therefore sets out on a long journey full of hardships, which he must overcome with bravery, skill and a good heart.

Безобидный обычай похищения невесты (представьте, и в Чехии такой есть) по капризу судьбы превращается в нечто несусветное. Захолустная пивная пуста – идет чемпионат Европы по хоккею, а телевизор неисправен. К тому же разражается страшная гроза, отрезая от мира невесту, свидетеля жениха и бармена. Все эти трое – женского пола, что само по себе любопытно. К их услугам целый бар спиртного, а спиртное, как известно, развязывает язык. И не только. Этот фильм чехи определили как комедию, очень справедливо определили, хотя кто-то увидит в нем и драму. Едкий, забавный и жизненный фильм. Снято по пьесе, которая успешно идет в театрах, и тем, как раскручивается действие, напоминает пьесы Пристли.

Romi (Gabriela Mícová), a prostitute, is anything but successful at her job: she is of far too gentle a nature for her clients. The more obstinately she is pushed to the streets by her pimp Franz (Stanislav Majer), the closer she is to a complete breakdown. One day Romi is addressed by a property speculator referring to himself as a "wealthy Jew" (Martin Finger). He does not demand any sexual services of her. He satisfies himself with Romi telling him stories, for which he lavishly rewards her. However, no one shares the sudden happiness with Romi. Her work-mates and current clients turn their backs on her, as does Franz, with whom Romi is in love. The whole story takes place in the setting of a dilapidated city, during the clean-up of which politicians openly split their profit with speculators and lobbyists, all under protection from the police.

Tůma's film is a sovereign cinematographic space, which, broken up into many chapters, takes an unconventional look at contemporary Czech society. The opening political grotesque on the election of the President is drowned out by the ecstatic ramblings of philosophising (and chattering) fragments turning on the sought-out axis of life and the world, and especially the inward-looking images full of colourful objectivity and charming humour that is elevated to the level of pure poetry.