The common denominator of the five stories, preceded by a brief prologue by Artem Benki, is the setting of a giant open-pit mine in the Podkrušnohoří region in northwestern Bohemia and its surroundings, including the dominant feature of the landscape, the ruined Jezeří Castle.
This darkly grotesque drama unfolds on multiple paths. The tangible one, now cruel, now crazy, along which the nomadic actor "Dad Mour", his wife "Mum" and two sons try to return home, but also the imaginary one, even more, tortuous and dusty, on which the often impressive mental youth (or immaturity, a scrooge might say) is welded with life circumstances forcing the protagonist to wise up. An anxious and exuberant cinematic faerie about love, the fear of loneliness and the gaze of sons fixed on their fathers.
Inseparable friends Štěpán and Kendy are students in their final year of high school. When they are in the principal's office after the trouble with the rather scandalous song "On the Carpet", the school principal gives them the idea of rehearsing a theater performance. They decide on Tyl's Forest Maiden in a rather unconventional version - with music, singing, and several unusual props. While Kendy sees the theater as not only an opportunity to enjoy himself, for Štěpán it is a chance to get closer to the charming Marcela Borůvková. What was originally just a student recession soon starts to get out of hand for both authors, not only because of the quirky cast but also because of information in the press, which is taken care of by the father of one of the classmates. The business is gaining in size, and even a television station is contacted, which shows an interest in making a program about the performance. At that moment, the disaster seems inevitable to Štěpán and Kendy.
The main character, a forty-year-old doctor, tries to cope with situations that life throws at her as a successful dentist, but a less successful mother, lover, and ex-wife. The heroine's relationship with her daughter, lover, mother, and ex-husband is portrayed very convincingly and without the slightest idealization, reflecting the ambiguity and controversy of the contemporary female condition. Although the author accumulates in his novel and television script almost all the paradoxes of today's self-employed woman in the heroine, nevertheless (or precisely because of this) her story reflects the experience of most contemporary women. Especially those who place high demands on themselves and others, which, however, can rarely be met one hundred percent. And if it turns out that we owe the greatest debt to our own daughter, then it is no surprise that everything starts to change completely...
A commemorative and essayistic meditative piece on the Prague quarter Libeň during the 1950s.
Olga finds her husband Karel Brand, whom she has just divorced, shot dead after returning from the cinema. It appears to be a clear case of suicide, but Lieutenant Dusek of the Public Security Service suspects that it is a murder, which, it is not impossible, as a number of evidences point against it, could have been committed by Mrs Olga. A letter from the dead man to his wife seems to dispel any doubt that it could have been murder. Lieutenant Dusek, however, investigates further. Much more than he, however, learns about the true circumstances from Mrs. Olga's legal advisor, Dr. Klimesh. He learns that the letter is indeed a forgery and that Brand's death is linked to the raids of an anti-state gang. He hesitates for a long time whether to confide in security, believing that doing so would testify in favor of Dusek's theory that the murder was committed by Olga...
Civil engineer Luděk Turna accepts an attractive offer from a Prague design office. He tries to get ahead even at the cost of deception, but he recovers in time and voluntarily leaves to build a motorway...
What could the fairies be missing, anyone who sees those three lovely elderly ladies living happily in their castle in the middle of a beautiful garden would think. And yet something was missing. They longed for someone to cheer them up, to care for them. A little magic was all it took for Princess Janet to trade her family castle for a fairy garden. At first it seemed that she would not be so bad off here, but as soon as she made it known that she would not marry the obsolete king of the flower elves, a cruel punishment awaited her.
Philosophical movie, staged at the least philosophical environment imaginable: A closed scenery of a nudist spot, where some hired Czech stuff is making a plain erotic movie for a rich Russian producer. Nothing in this movie is what it seems to be at the first superficial glance.
At long last, King Dalimil and Queen Eliška have produced an heir, Princess Růženka. Consumed with envy, Eliška’s sister Melánie casts a curse: On the day Růženka turns seventeen, she will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep together with the entire kingdom.
Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.
A satire of the Great American Way, with Lemonade Joe a "clean living" gunfighter who drinks only Kola-Loca Lemonade and convinces everyone else in town (with his gun skills) that all "real men" drink ONLY lemonade!
The richest farmer and at the same time mayor Dubský and first councilman Bušek are constantly competing for supremacy. Their rivalry affects not only the fates of their families, but also the entire village, in which every problem, even the smallest one, everything that the board of directors discusses becomes a battleground for the two rivals. And it is not just about who will be appointed night watchman due to the increasing thefts. It is also about the love of Václav, Dubský's son, and Verunka, the daughter of councilman Bušek.
MURDEROUS TALES is a special effect animated feature film combining live actors with 3D/2D animation, puppets and back projection. It contains three stories: Antonio Cacto, Lighthouse and The Big Man, plus three ultra-short films called Charge the Dragon. Each episode uses different production technology and is in a different genre, but both their form and their content are related. All the episodes are about double standards and the topics of heroism and death. Something very small meets something very big (a tiny knight meets a huge dragon, an old Mexican goblin meets a man, a tiny Professor meets real-life cows, two mobsters meet the Big Man). All these meetings result in the heroic death of the small principal characters. Each script sees heroism and death differently.
In the final days of the Second World War in 1945 Frantisek Pribyl is killed during a shoot-out with the Germans. After the funeral, the widow (Jana Svandová) and her two young sons Martin and Ondra move to her deceased husband's native village at the foot of the Kralický Snezník mountains. Life in the borderlands is far from easy for the lonely woman. The village is almost deserted, food supplies are delayed; the Werwolf (Nazi guerrilla squads) are hiding in the mountains, and shooting is heard from time to time. The elder son Ondra (Michal Dlouhý) is helping out his mother and at the same time absorbing intense new experiences. He meets an old Czech resident Skurek (Lubomír Kostelka), German women working in the forest, soldiers from the engineering units removing the mines, and a young first lieutenant. At night he dreams about his dead father whom he loved very much. This is why he runs away from home when he finds out that the lieutenant is courting his mother.
A group of children are helping a good spirits who are living in a cave near school.
In the 1980s, a number of films were made about teenagers. At first they dealt with the confusing search for life orientation, the difficult entry into adult life - and gradually the interest shifted to delinquent youth. This film charts the conditions in a dehumanised housing estate, where youths, out of boredom, gather into gangs that wander aimlessly, humiliate passers-by, and attack the defenceless. He discovers that parents have too little time for these children, that their actions are downplayed until tragedy strikes.
In a small and not very wealthy kingdom, there is one huge concern at the castle. The queen wants to marry off her adult son, Prince Emilian, at any cost. She has chosen the best bride for him, the noble and wealthy Princess Leonia. However, the future king of the country complicates this plan when he falls in love with the poor but clever and kind Stázička, the daughter of the local shoemaker Dratvička. He is not only a skilled craftsman, but also a clever practical man, and he shows not only the prince and queen, but also all the other conceited people, that the beauty of the human soul cannot be measured only by wealth and luxury.
Police negotiator Andrik faces accidentally kidnapper, former soldier Kornan, who keeps in hostage the Minister of Defence and Andrik pregnant partner Lena.
The biggest TV adventure begins! Eighteen brave Czechs fight for two and a half million Czech crowns on the deserted island and the title of the first Czech Robinson. Their hunger, exhaustion, mutual rivalry and cruel nature are in their way.
