František Zvarík

The first Slovakian colour film. A celebration of traditional Slovakian folklore and creativity expressed through a story of young love .

A drama about Slovaks who emigrated before WW I. It is focused on the life of Ondrej Muranica. He emigrates to America because of the hard life that is partly caused by Hungarian landowners. His dreams and hopes for a happier life are destroyed by a disaster in the mines where he works. Ondrej is declared missing.Years later he returns to his home country and finds out his wife married his best friend.

In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.

This simple story is the feature debut for well-known Slovak theater and television director Juraj Nvota. Set in a Slovak village at the turn of the last century, the story teems with passion, and repressed and hidden emotion. It delves into the search for identity, investigating both love and hatred, while dramatizing the tragic relationship between an adolescent girl (Tatiana Pauhofová) and her ambitious father (Ondrej Vetchý). Set against the striking though simple backdrop of a picturesque, even idyllic, landscape - one ostensibly cut off from any important historical, political, or social context whatsoever - the arrival of an unwanted individual evokes the onset of a cruel drama.

Historical reconstruction of the events of the anti-fascist struggle in Slovakia in 1943 and 1944.

Slovak psychological drama from the end of World War II. The plot of the film takes place in a short period of time just before the outbreak of the uprising. It is the story of a man who wages his "private" war against the man who is responsible for the serious injury of his brother. The upcoming Slovak National Uprising becomes the backdrop for a model-built story that touches on stubborn personal revenge in a situation of war conflict, when human life loses all value. The actions of the main character thus sound like increasingly absurd actions, his motives and the impact of his actions are relativized, the very legitimacy of such a belief appears shaky.

The Czech feature film, based on the book of the same name by J. Sosnar-Gazda, focuses on teenagers. The hero of the film is a boy named Jurášek from the Moravian Slovácko region, who helped the partisans during the war. He confirmed that his father was with the partisans and went to the forest at night to follow him when the partisans were expecting the Soviet paratroopers to jump. Jurášek finds a paratrooper who had been blown aside by the wind and finds a suitable shelter for him where he could heal his injured leg. Jurášek continues to help the partisans a lot. He informs them about the upcoming raid in the village and thus saves the Soviet paratrooper from being captured. When he then accompanies the paratrooper into the forest to a place from where he could safely broadcast, and when he says goodbye to him, he gets into a firefight with the Germans together with him and his bravery stands up well in it.

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.

A dramatic story about two friends - fisherman Richardus and municipal executioner Emil Targo takes place at the river Danube, in places that used to be targets of Ottoman raids. But their attraction to the same woman and Emil’s betrayal change their indissoluble friendship to an equally strong hatred. And as it usually goes - after twenty years by a trick of fate Richardus’ daughter Agajka becomes the wife ofthe sun of his sworn enemy.

A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his efforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to find his own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.

The employees of the furniture company MARS welcome a rare visitor with hired music. Their boast that they would put together an orchestra is taken seriously, so they receive a small gift - musical instruments for thirty musicians.

A biographical film about the Slovak nationalist Ľudovít Štúr. It captures the revolutionary events of 1848 in Austria-Hungary, when Štúr, as a member of the Diet, led the fight for the national rights of the Slovak people.

Young men Štěpán, Ludvík and Karel became friends abroad, where they fought during World War II. Now they have returned home and are thinking about their future. Štěpán is a designer, so he starts a car repair shop. There is also work for Ludvík, while Karel gets a job at the Omega car factory. However, the young entrepreneurs are all in debt and their business is not prospering. Štěpán invents a car carburetor, but he has no way to test it. In his greatest need, he receives news that Štěpán will inherit from his uncle from South America...

As unbelievable as it sounds, a stint in prison can really fix things. The old seasoned pickpocket will serve many years before he is released, but he comes out a changed man. He even dares to refuse the lures and threats of an all-powerful criminal gang to cooperate with him.

Levoča, first half of the 16th century. Master Paul creates his most famous work - a late Gothic altar in the Church of St. James. He has just recruited the carving companion Kristof into his service.

A Slovak detective story set in contemporary Bratislava and featuring ordinary people with their own everyday problems. The violent death of Olga Holešová places them under heavy suspicion of murder. A series of strange coincidences and circumstances complicate the investigators' work. Her husband's infidelity, the loss of a large sum of money that the treasurer Fiala is supposed to replace, a lawyer earning extra money by doing various odd jobs - all these are confusing clues, among which investigator Jakubec eventually finds a thread that will lead him to the correct solution to the case.

This dramatic story is situated in the town of Trnava of the 18th century. Painter Peter paints an altar-piece of the Martyrdom of St. Juliet and his model is a young girl. This is much disliked by the clergy who unjustly accuse the girl of witchcraft. She is saved from being burnt at a stake by the students of the Trnava University.

A baleful limping man walks through Prague. He is Asmodeus (Juraj Herz), the fiend of lustfulness, entertaining himself by putting together by magic couples of lovers. He only fails at the swimming pool. Zuzana (Jana Sulcová), the good-looking blonde, ignores the men whom the devil foists off onto her. She loves Honza (Václav Neckár) and the boy shares her feelings. The fiend is annoyed by the couple and tries to provoke a row. He sends heavy rain to force them into a hotel and then warns Zuzana's father by phone, but the young lovers manage to get out in time. Then the obstinate Asmodeus takes Honza in his sleep to the Institute for Emotional Disorders, where he shows him the ugly sides of love - hysteria, voyeurism, fetishism, suicide attempts...

Mr. Ctibor once worked as a hotel valet, and although he is retired, he is still eager to prove that he is needed. He thinks he has once again been given the opportunity to intervene in the interests of both the guest and the hotel's reputation, as he wants to prevent the reported suicide of one of the guests. However, the mix-up of room numbers is fatal not only for old Ctibor, but also for the guest in room 32. Ctibor's efforts prove futile, because he mixed up the room numbers and protected someone who didn't need it at all...

War takes its cruel toll, which everyone must pay. It hits a small Slovak village especially hard, where the struggle for a bare life becomes a test of human character. For two impoverished friends, Jakub and Maja, struggling through poverty is more than difficult. Jakub delivers sour milk from somewhere on his cart to the entire village and lives in a dilapidated house with his sister Tereza, whose caregiver and guide through life is the experienced woman Mara, who provides herself with money from seduced soldiers. Maja, on the other hand, is a foundling and homeless man who does whatever he can to survive the next day. The only consolation for the two inseparable friends are the circulating tales of a kind of promised land, where there is no poverty or hunger, and where they could both go. Only this vision, this idea alone keeps the two of them and the rest of the village on their feet, and gives them hope for a better tomorrow.

Two roommates – Ivan Trnovský, a university student from a wealthy family, and Petr Gazdík, a young composer, try to win the affections of a young teacher, Hanka. She teaches schoolchildren to ski, and Ivan arranges a Christmas stay with her in the Tatra Mountains, in a cottage under the Devil's Wall...

A television production of the musical by Ernest Bryll and Katarzyna Gartnerová with a Jánošík theme. This play, staged by director Karol Zachar and choreographer Štefan Nosáľ, was an extraordinary success at the Slovak National Theatre.

Spadla z oblakov is a Slovak language sci-fi TV series for children created in year 1978. The series became very popular in Czechoslovakia and several other countries. The series was based on 1967 child book Spadla z nebe by Václav Pavel Borovička, a Czech writer and screenwriter. The first, very successful edition was followed by several reprints, the last in year 2000. The TV series follows the book quite closely.

An epic saga of the Habdza family of vineyard keepers set in western Slovakian countryside at the beginning of the 20th century. Director Andrej Lettrich's novel adaptation talks of plotting, forbidden love. family discord, and struggle for heritage and power. The story is engaging thanks to the impressive performances of popular actors, dramatic situations, and sensitive music. Red Wine is not so much inventive in terms of auteurship as it is a work of excellent craftsmanship. The resulting picture is a costume production neatly adapted to the character of Slovak rural life in the past.