Alexander Šurkala

A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

Jolana (18) is an object of her step-father's desire. She is unable to cope, especially when her own mother turns a blind eye. Those events are heavily paid for when she finds herself working in a brothel. Her inability to cope raise a question: What is it she actually wants? Are her dreams of escaping really better than the reality she finds herself in?

Charming 60-something José returns to Prague after 30 years living in Mexico, though he was convinced that he would never see his hometown again. He was persuaded by his deeply religious Mexican wife Dolores, who is convinced that only a miracle that might be fulfilled by Prague’s famous Infant Jesus can help their daughter Penelopé get pregnant. And the ideal time for this is Christmas. And when Ruda, his friend from Prague, also insists, José agrees to return to the places he used to know and to the memories that they bring back – including his former Prague love. And it becomes evident that the Infant Jesus is not the only one capable of making miracles come true in Prague. Penelopé’s longed-for conception is definitely not the only one…

Anna, a 16 year-old girl from the sticks, trades her military education for life in the big city Running away to Prague opens a whole new world where she drinks her first cappuccino and meets the kind of people she has only seen in movies.

A story set in a small village in Sudetenland between 1937 and 1945. "Habermann" is based on true events.

A story of Eliska and her daughter, starting a new life in a remote house with the 'father away on business', as the mother claims. After the lie is disclosed, their relationship begins to wither. At that time, the mythical Noonday Witch begins to materialize. She is coming closer and closer and the question is poised: is the danger real or is it all in the mother's crumbling head?

Dostoevsky’s latter-day opus about the siblings and their father is among the masterpieces of world literature. It asks profound questions about ethics and religion. Is there a God? Does the devil exist? Is everything allowed because we live in a world without morality? And if so, does patricide even constitute a crime? One of the most interesting adaptations of the material is The Karamazovs by Czech director Petr Zelenka. We witness a group of thesps from Prague on a trip to Krakow in Poland to stage the novel as a play in a derelict steelworks as part of the Closer to Life Festival. The project, however, is born under the bad sign, apparently doomed from the start. When they arrive, the roof is about to cave in, so that the actors are told to wear safety helmets. Their sole consistent audience is a laborer (Andrzej Mastalerz) who rather follows each dress rehearsal than watching over his seven-year-old son who has suffered a tragic accident in the factory.

The Humorist is a film about a week in the life of Boris Arkadiev, a fictional Soviet stand-up comedian. Boris is tormented not only by external oppression and censorship but also by his own insecurities that poison all his relationships.