Martin Kubala

“You bet on someone in the beginning of the process and then you wait and see what life does with them.” This is how Czech director Helena Trestikova explains her long-term documentaries. Following on from the European Film Academy Award winning RENE (2008), Trestikova brings us KATKA – 14 years in the life of a drug addict. KATKA is an extraordinarily raw and uncensored character portrait of a troubled young woman living on the edge of human existence, desperately searching for love and salvation. Will she find it in the rehab? Will she find it in the arms of the man she loves? Or in the first cry of her long-desired baby? Tagging along with her through the back streets and squalors of Prague, Trestikova gets deep under the skin of a person most of us would cross the road to avoid, and shows us Katka’s profoundly human face. You might be angry with Katka, or your heart may go out to her. One thing is certain – you will never forget her.

Anny follows the life of the titular, intriguing character for 16 years, from 1996 up until 2012. Living in the Czech Republic, Anny is a 46-year-old woman whose day-to-day life has consisted of several different occupations, from a bathroom attendant and a doorman, to occasional sex work. Her outlook on her jobs is fairly simple, you have to do the work if you want to eat, spoil your grandkids, or buy yourself new clothes.

On Klobouk Hill, which rises above the marshy forests, stands a bell tower, and there reigns Lady Fog, who rules the entire region unseen. No matter what the reformed bandit Jerka Berka claims, she is the true mistress here. And then there is the righteous Jan, who would never steal from anyone, not even the robber himself. And Jan has a lot of work to do. He must constantly rescue his brother Matouš, who has fallen in love with the robber's daughter Tereza, and he must also help the wild girl Anděla regain her true human form. Will Mrs. Mlha help him?

For 23 years, Helena Třeštíková followed the story of actor and stage director Jakub Špalek. The first piece of footage was shot in Autumn 1989 when Jakub, then a theatre academy student, was actively involved in the Velvet Revolution. Back then, Jakub dreamed of running his own theatre company which soon came true - he is still in charge of Kašpar Theatre in Prague. The film documents the difficult life of an independent theatre manager, as well as his many personal struggles and joys.

Longitudinal documentary film was shot for past 16 years and the main protagonist is Roman musician and activist Vojta Lavička. Vojta is a master in violin play, who focuses not only on music but also deals with problems of his origin Roman nationality. Vojta is very active in media - he worked in the national radio and television, he worked in the NGO that organize street work for Roman ghettos around the Czech republic, Vojta worked also as a social worker. All together we can watch him struggling with the main topic of his life - his national minority and problems that are caused by living next to Czech majority. Aside this topic films discovers Vojta's private life and his fight for being a good musician and a good man.

The princess, who laughs at the lake lord's feelings because of his non-human appearance, is herself transformed into a living golden statue. The curse can only be broken by the love of a man who loves her just as she is.

The story of fifteen-year-old Renata, who lives in a small apartment with her divorced parents, takes place during the socialist era of the 1980s. Not only does she have her own problems appropriate for her age, but she is also disgusted by her parents' constant arguments, who willingly involve her in all their intimate matters. She takes revenge on them by getting into more and more trouble. She gets drunk, listens to Radio Free Europe, and rebels somewhat clumsily against the political situation. But when things get really bad, she allows herself to be rescued by her father, a member of the secret police, with a mixture of admiration and contempt. Weaned on this confused world of adults, she clumsily stands on her own two feet. Only when she falls in love with a boy she doesn't want at a dance and loses her virginity to a boy she doesn't really know, only after various emotional escapades, does she find a certain indulgence for her eternally quarreling parents...