Fantastic Planet

Fantastic Planet 1973

7.60

On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignorant animals. Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin.

1973

The Pied Piper

The Pied Piper 1988

7.40

A darkly brilliant stop-motion adaptation of The Pied Piper of Hamelin about a plague of rats that punish townsfolk corrupt with greed. One of Czechoslovakia's most ambitious animation projects of the 1980s, notable for its unusual dark art direction, innovative animation techniques and use of a fictitious language.

1988

The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope

The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope 1983

6.80

Animated short film based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" and Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's "A Torture by Hope".

1983

Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a Sailor from York

Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a Sailor from York 1982

7.00

The picture, unlike the other film adaptations of the story, focuses much more on Crusoe’s life before and after his stay on the island. Following the principle of setting the novel right, it describes Crusoe’s experiences with delicate irony and understanding.

1982

Darkness, Light, Darkness

Darkness, Light, Darkness 1989

7.60

A human body gradually reconstructs itself as its various component parts crowd themselves into a small room and eventually, after much experimentation, sort out which part goes where.

1989

The Flying Sneaker

The Flying Sneaker 1991

6.20

Little Rehor isn't allowed to play with the other boys. His only friend is the girl next door, Luci. Rehor's father is doctor on a boat and he has sent Rehor a package with butterfly larvae. When they hatch he discover a fairy who can do magic tricks.

1991

Dimensions of Dialogue

Dimensions of Dialogue 1983

7.64

Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.

1983

Virile Games

Virile Games 1988

6.80

A man sits down to watch a football match, which seems to consist of the players being violently mutilated in various inventive ways. The players then leave the football pitch and invade the spectator's flat.

1988

Maryshka and the Wolf's Castle

Maryshka and the Wolf's Castle 1979

1

A fairy-tale about a brave, self-sacrificial and faithful girl named Maryska who sets free an enchanted princess and her twelve maids from a mysterious castle.

1979

The Vanished World of Gloves

The Vanished World of Gloves 1982

7.20

Using an array of gloves in different styles and from different historical periods, the film is a short history of the cinema - from silent movies via pastiches of Buñuel and Fellini and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to a futurist junkyard where tin cans become animated police cars in a city of urban decay.

1982

A Ballad About Green Wood

A Ballad About Green Wood 1983

5.90

Pieces of wood are captured by a crow and dance in celebration of spring in this animated short film.

1983

Master Hanus

Master Hanus 1977

1

One of the film stories based on the old Prague legends. This one is about the old master clock maker Hanus who construed the Prague Old Town astronomical clock. Master Hanus' clock started working for the first time in 1490 but did not tell the time for too long. Soon the master, blinded by the perfidious town councilors, stopped it for more than 200 years.

1977

Darwin Antidarwin

Darwin Antidarwin 1969

1

A tragicomic adaptation of Darwin’s theory of evolution. An earthworm becomes man, goes through all historical epochs until the present day, and in the end happily slips back underground as an earthworm.

1969

Castle of Otranto

Castle of Otranto 1977

6.60

An adaptation of the 1764 work of the same name, the first Gothic novel. In this mockumentary, the amateur archaeologist Dr. Vozáb has set to prove that the supernatural ghost love story takes place not in Italy, but in Otranto Castle near Náchod in Czechoslovakia.

1977

The King and the Elf

The King and the Elf 1980

6.50

Wealthy but alone, a king spends his days obsessively polishing shiny objects throughout his opulent castle. After a visit from a puckish forest wizard, the king earns a blessing – or curse – that turns anything he touches to gold.

1980

Players

Players 1982

1

Cartoon tennis match, with players based on Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.

1982

Mean Barbara

Mean Barbara 1989

9.30

When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village.

1989