Viktorie Knotková

A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.

Alice Nellis's small-scale debut tragicomedy spotlights small-town elections. The protagonist, a university student name Jana (Theodora Remundová) who is trying to solve a troubled relationship with a married man, takes her mother's place on the election commission. In the meantime the mother (Iva Janzurová) is going through her own small domestic crisis with her husband (Leos Sucharípa). Thanks to excellent acting performances and restrained direction, the film convincingly outlines interpersonal relations and their light social overtones.

A striking generational tragicomedy, A Hoof Here, a Hoof There is a caustic group portrait of pals who enjoy a tipple, all kinds of hi-jinks and no-strings sexual adventures. Auditor Pepe, vet Dědek and restaurant manager František are financially secure and enjoy life with their similarly fun-loving girlfriends—at least until the moment when the brash Pepe collapses and ends up in hospital.

Stage mime Antoine Moreau is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for the children of Terezin, a "model" concentration camp, to convince the Red Cross observers that the camp is truly what it seems. Reluctant at first, Moreau slowly learns the true nature of the camp, including the meaning of the "transports" on which people leave. With a world-class orchestra (made up of people interned in the camp) and a cast of children, Moreau stages a show to end all shows.

During WWII a youth deserts his country's army after a combat experience, but not before wounding his commanding officer with a knife in order to escape. The young man, now very emotionally distraught, dresses in women's clothes and eventually joins a passing gypsy caravan, who think him a young girl... as well as a kind of seer, or 'rawney'. In time, however, he regains some composure and becomes attracted to one of the gypsy girls, which only leads to problems within the gypsy band, especially when the wounded commanding officer finds him.

Martin is an innocent lad from small-town Mlada Boleslav who comes to big-city Prague, hoping to exchange his krona for deutschemarks so that he can visit Germany. A local spiv named Robert obliges Martin, but at an unfair exchange rate. When Martin finds out he was rooked, he plans revenge on Robert ... but then decides to join Robert's gang instead.

The heroes of this wacky spectacle are the large Karafiát family, who, in the emerging market conditions, decide to abandon their current way of making a living (stealing funeral wreaths and transforming them into artfully tied bouquets) and start a business. This is how the peculiar travel agency Český ráj, built on the ingenious idea of not taking poor Czech tourists abroad, but on the contrary, rich foreigners to Bohemia, sees the light of day. Thanks to a quirky advertising campaign, a motley mix of French people actually manage to board a bus in Paris and set off. But the Karafiats' entrepreneurial worries are just beginning.

Between 1924 and 1934, six children grow up in an apartment building in the Munich suburbs. Among them is the rather inconspicuous and melancholy Leo Knie, who has been in love with the pretty Marilli Kosemund since early childhood. Marilli is not averse to the young man's advances, but she wants to be conquered. But that is exactly what shy Leo finds difficult. So he escapes into harmless dancing with his buddies, pursues other girls - rather unsuccessfully - and resigns himself to his predetermined fate.