Laika

Laika 2017

5.70

Life is not easy for Laika, a dog on the outskirts of a big Russian city. She is caught and forcibly retrained to become a pioneer in astronautics. Soon after her lift-off into space, a number of animals follow that are hurriedly launched from Houston and Baikonur. The animals travel astray, but finally manage, with the help of a black hole, to colonize a faraway planet. After a short period of harmonious, undisturbed co-existence with indigenous life forms, however, first human cosmonaut run ashore on their planet, and their harmonious life, indeed their very survival, are suddenly in jeopardy.

2017

Eighty Letters

Eighty Letters 2011

6.50

The story takes place in Czechoslovakia in 1987. The father has defected to England and the mother and her son are planning to leave the country to reunite with him. The film is told through the eyes of the fourteen year old boy, his rankled look without the veneer of experience and initiation in one day. Autobiographical.

2011

Central Bus Station

Central Bus Station 2019

1

The architects' plans for Central Bus Station to swallow visitors has turned into an endless maze of corridors. Once a gift to the citizens of Tel Aviv now serves to the immigrants. Yonathan has been a guide there for 17 years and is able to show the other side of the station's significance to those who walk with him. Yonathan knows that the purpose of going down to the building is to find not only himself, but also a society that harbours its values, protects its original traditions and wants to defend its home.

2019

Don't Stop

Don't Stop 2012

6.90

Prague, 1983. The communist regime, in a suffocating atmosphere ruled over by the secret police, imposes "normalization". Miki and David need some kind of motivation to carry on in the communist wasteland. They discover The Clash's album 'London Calling' and, of course, decide to set up a punk band. But playing punk during normalization in Czechoslovakia isn't the best idea, an opinion shared not only by their horrified parents. Many decisions made under the influence of cheap alcohol and compulsive music could be more fatal than they initially seemed. A story about the revolt of some 18-year-olds against authority, against social norms, against adult duties and responsibility. It is about the search for one's own models and values. Although based on personal experiences from the early 1980s, it could have taken place at any time and anywhere, and is more than likely taking place somewhere right now.

2012

Some Secrets

Some Secrets 2002

6.10

A dark and absurd road-movie comedy in which the grandmother fulfills a dream, the mother stops treating her daughters like kids, the daughters stop treating their husbands like idiots, and the father's ashes get spread all over the country.

2002

Breaking News

Breaking News 2018

1

A carefully composed observation of two newsrooms which, in March 2017, were avidly chasing after information about the Czech president’s decision whether or not to run for re-election. Two teams of reporters, one extraordinary event, and two takes on one "objective" piece of news.

2018

Menandros & Thaïs

Menandros & Thaïs 2016

6.00

A kidnapped bride. A distraught hero. Odysseys through surreal worlds. Menandros and Thaïs are freshly married, but the wedding day ends bloodily. Thaïs is abducted by pirates. Searching for her, the bridegroom becomes a bloodthirsty monster, his horse grows wings, a witch promises him to another woman, King Xerxes unmans him, but everything comes to an happy end. Or does it?

2016

A New Shift

A New Shift 2021

1

For Tomáš the mine is the centre of his life, along with soccer, his kids and the cosy after-work beer. The 44-year-old has worked as a miner for 21 years, until the mine was closed down for economic reasons. Tomáš then re-trains as a coder in the appropriately named educational programme “New Shift”. What he doesn’t know yet is that his new skills alone won’t get him out of the crisis. A film about a tug-of-war with fate and the employment market.

2021