Karol Spišák

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

In 1980s CSSR, depressed Martin tries to overcome the feeling of being locked up with jazz music.

To have the opportunity to play in a movie, many a girl dreams. To look behind the scenes of filmmaking, to become well-known, popular, maybe even famous... that's one side of the coin. The other side demands discipline, self-denial, perseverance, which is not so attractive to people anymore. This is what Viki, an eighth-grader, has to go through on her way to film fame.

Two female clerks using up their savings to enjoy a few days of carefree life, two plumbers looking for an erotic adventure, a building contractor determined to drink away all wages of his workers and a former major who became an alcoholic due to political persecution — these people meet in a ski resort bar somewhere in the High Tatras. During one night they gradually reveal their unfulfilled dreams, illusions and disappointments of ”average" people of those times.

A story of a family that after WWII moved to the south of Slovakia and acquired a prosperous butcher business left behind by a Hungarian emigrant. From the previous owner, the family also inherited a self-assured, greedy assistant who does not like to observe any firm moral principles. He assists the family in gaining wealth but in the long run, he causes the family's moral dissolution. In his most successful feature film, director Zoro Záhon combined a complex drama with excellent acting performances, especially that of Hungarian actor Gábor Koncz in the lead role.

In Slovakia, they often and gladly honored those soldiers who refused to serve the fascist regime and stood against it. Lieutenant Kukorelli also rejected the tempting career of a pilot, instead helping the resistance fighters and later participating in the Slovak National Uprising.

Set in 1960s Bratislava, the film follows a cynical, thirty-year-old architect named Andrej who unexpectedly falls deeply in love with Vanda, a free-spirited and spontaneous young woman. However, their burgeoning relationship is quickly strained by his growing possessiveness and desire for a traditional marriage.

The story of a young college student who loses his parents and well-off family background in a car accident. He gradually finds inner balance with the help of a group of young workers whose friendship helps him overcome difficult life problems.

A humorous film about the emotional problems of adolescence. Sisters Helena and Vlasta, one aspiring to win a hairdressing competition and the other dreaming of a career as a famous model, have their own ideas about a great future, but gradually realize that in life they must also count on failures and defeats.

Based on one of the most famous mysterious disappearances in the world, Richard John Bingham, the Seventh Earl of Lucan, was accused of the murder of 29-year-old nanny Sandra Rivett on 7 November 1974, at his family home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street, in London. Three days later, police found his borrowed Ford Corsair abandoned some 16 miles away near the docks of Newhaven. Since then there have been many reported 'sightings' of Lord Lucan around the globe viz. Africa, Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sicily.

Johanka had a fling with a well digger she had not met before and who, she was most likely certain, would never be around again. Just before his departure, they have sex and she eventually becomes single mother of a baby girl. Now, 18 years later, her daughter Paulina commutes by bus to work in the nearby city, which gives the village gossips the occasional opportunity to remind her of her unknown father. A resultant conflict with her mother makes Paulina take up residence in the city. Johanka, prodded by her also-single friend Jozefka who maintains that a woman without a man is nothing, begins to woo the new teacher Jarek only to discover later that he is married. Paulina, in the meantime, loses her virginity to the soldier Jirka who promptly makes himself scarce. Johanka fails to consider that she actually has a better life than some of her married neighbors, begins to see.

Set in Bratislava, university friends Turo and Andrey are paralyzed by existential dread under the shadow of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war. Rejecting long-term goals, Turo is an astronomy student that adopts a hedonistic lifestyle, while Andrey channels his anxiety into a sculpture for Hiroshima. This shared trauma ultimately tests their friendship and undermines their relationships.

A dramatic story from the setting of a youth de tention center. Youngster Jakub, out of delusory solidarity, gets convicted of theft and goes to prison in place ofthe "sheriff" of his gang. He naively hopes that the sheriff will appreciate his gesture and leaves the stolen goods in a safe hideaway to later divide them fairly among the gang members. This conviction gives Jakub the strength to endure the unbearable conditions in the center. But reality is often much harsher than naive ideals and hollow relations in the gang.

A psychological drama from the judiciary. Lawyer Kolár handles the case of the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and tries to remove the fifteen-year-old boy from suspicion and subsequent conviction based on discrepancies in the case file.

Young Dasha lives in a small town. Her father is a prominent man, the owner of a restaurant. However, when her father's connections are not enough to get Dasha accepted to college, she has to spend the summer working part-time in her father's business. Love, friends, even running away from home, all belong to this period of Dasha's life. The failed wedding arranged by her parents, the patronizing imposition of university studies at a price that the girl fears - all this brings on the one hand a deep disappointment in her own parents, but over time also the recognition of her own mistakes.

The tragic story of a village fool - hussar Ondráš Machuľa, who became a victim of a fabled love for a pretty farm girl, Zuzka Bezanova.