Karel Vavřík

Set in Prague during the years leading up to World War II, this family saga tells the story of a cobbler named Vincenc Bursik (Vladimir Mensik), who uproots his clan from the country to the city, only to suffer the loss of his wife and the failure of his shoe business within months. When his daughter moves away to go live with a wealthy businessman as his mistress, Vincenc is left to take care of his two sons, who spend their days in a secret garden vying for the affections of a teenage girl.

For the Novák and Bartáček families, money is king, and they'll do just about anything to get it. While René Novák pitches his parents a lucrative scheme to swindle as many people with the last name Novák in the country as possible, the Bartáček clan decides to pretend to be much poorer than they really are in order to siphon some dollars from an American relative. And it doesn't take long before these separate scams start to intertwine.

There are still water spirits among us. One group lives in Prague, led by Mr. Wassermann, who is using his wife's family as a servants. All they need is their old house near the river. But the house is to be demolished. They have to stop it. And the only way is to drown Dr. Mrácek, who is responsible for the demolition. But he falls in love with Wassermann's niece Jana. He changes to fish, is mistaken for water spirit from Germany, is drowned and revived again. The other problem is the flour with ears... and so on...

This satirical comedy depicts the fate of two con artists who constantly encounter sharper and more experienced rivals. In their quest for easy profits, they often change several jobs and come up with a variety of original tricks and thievery. Each time, however, someone else profits from their ideas. And when they seek revenge on their crooked rivals, they end up back where they started - behind bars...

Pavel is a Czech partisan fighter in the waning days of the war. Just as peace is declared, Pavel is shot in the spine and sent to the hospital emergency ward. As he fades in and out of consciousness, he recalls the events that led to his participation in the underground. Holding German occupation commander Engelchen responsible for all the horrors and deprivations heaped upon his comrades, Pavel is kept alive by the possibility of recovering and exacting vengeance upon the Nazi officer - no matter how long it takes.

The Czech film Svítalo All Night was made to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army and is dedicated to all those who fought and gave their lives in Prague in the May Uprising of 1945. Behind the historical events, the creators see mainly their simple, unassuming participants. Thus, we are presented with a number of apt portraits, whether it is the central hero Dr. Soukup and nurse Daniela on the side of the fighting Czechs, or a captain and a simple private in a Red Army unit coming to the aid of the fighting Prague, or an old, war-weary German major, who only realises the senselessness of the war at the sight of a fanatical, cynical lieutenant for whom Nazi ideology represents the meaning of life.

“And what did you do at school today?” In Pavel Hobl’s Czech fairytale, when Pepik and Honzik learn that school has been canceled they embark on an amazing odyssey around Prague that has them directing traffic, following the lead of a talking dog, breaking the spell an evil sorcerer has placed on a group of local musicians, rollerskating through a museum, and winning a magical car race. (University of Chicago Doc Films)

Sunday in September 1977, a celebration of the Miners Day. The old Hepnar is sitting at the cemetery and is recalling events from ten years ago. That time the representative of the ministry Barvír announced at the miners meeting that mining in the mines would decrease. He reasoned this decision by the fact the deposits of coal are almost used up. The boss of the mine and most of the miners protested. Barvír did not take their critical objections into account. He announced at the communist district meeting the closure of the business as the mine according to new economic principles did not prosper.

To the intolerant and bloody-minded Prague actor Bergner (Milos Kopecký) is the lead in Moliere's Misanthrope which he is studying now as tailor-made. On top of that he is malicious and he advises to the new actress Helenka (Dagmar Havlová) in such a way that she upsets the theatre director. If Bergner accuses somebody of a mischief and he is wrong, he never apologizes. When he almost crashes an older elegant lady by his car on the zebra crossing, instead of an apology he calls her an old ballet dancer... But in Brno's TV he takes part in a discussion on manners and he gives himself as an example of good manners and grace. In the train he meets a magic old man (Ladislav Pesek) who warns him and admonishes him to change his behavior. After he arrives to Prague the old man's threat comes true.

In the pulmonary sanatorium, patients live out their small fates. But not everyone takes a responsible approach to their illness. For example, a young student falls in love, the lovers even take a secret flight, but the young man's condition deteriorates dramatically because of it.

A movie about Czechoslovak border guards trying to arrest the famous escapee called "King of the Sumava".

In 1647, the impoverished noble Václav Rynda shelters an imperial commissioner-only to learn the visitors are French agents plotting a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburgs.

Láda Pitras (Ludek Sobota) and Oto Vacák (Petr Nározný) founded in the company Pragokov a Research department of recruitment of labor. For recruitment of workers in professions sought after both recruiters worked out an effective, often almost illegal methods. They followed secretly for instance the welder Niederle and managed to record his lovesick courting to his colleague Anicka. The fear of his jealous wife made him to join Pragokov.

Saxony, devastated by the Thirty Years' War, is led by the comedy troupe of the principal Fortunato. The student Vavrinec has fled Bohemia and greatly values the text of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which he has acquired on his wanderings around the world.

In May 1945, Czech revolutionaries used several armoured trains in the fighting - partly captured, partly assembled from whatever the railway brought. One of them was commanded by the shunter Jan Chýň, who managed to bring weapons from the ammunition depot in Libčice to help the fighting in Prague.

Two seriously injured patients are brought to the hospital at almost the same time: truck driver Honza Linhart, who had an accident, and a young woman found unconscious in a forest by a man picking mushrooms. The woman is identified as Katerina Marková, the divorced mother of a young girl. Major Kalas (Rudolf Hrusínský) suspects that she is a victim of mugging since a bloodstained small ax has been found near the site of the crime and, according to witnesses, Ms Marková was missing her watch and a bracelet, from which a gemstone has also been discovered. Linhart has lost his only kidney in the accident; in order to live a normal life again, he will need a kidney transplant from the mugged woman if she dies.

Tomáš, an unscrupulous Prague taxi driver who is involved in stealing antiques and smuggling them abroad, lives with his devoted mistress, but he is always thinking of his destined love, Kamila, who has emigrated to Switzerland. It is for her that he plans a robbery of a rare stamp, which he convinces his naive brothers to commit. The seemingly simple theft goes wrong and almost ends in the death of an innocent man. The planned escape across the border, in which a slick Swiss businessman plays a key role, also fails...

The news that the television is going to make a film about the cooperative's leisure activities leads the locals to extraordinary social and sporting activity, but the only result is a chain of endless confusions, misunderstandings and disasters...

Mr. Novak tells a lie to his neighbor Mrs. Bartackova that her husband is unfaithful to her and that is how it all started.

Many of the young workers at an aircraft factory near Prague are members of an aviation club. On the one hand, there is the responsible Franta, who is highly regarded by his colleagues due to his understanding nature. Opposite him is the talented aircraft designer Ruda, who is also an excellent pilot, but also hotheaded, undisciplined and condescending towards his colleagues. He starts flirting with the glass grinder Lída, although he knows that she is Franta's girl friend. A conflict is not long in coming. When Franta's glider crashes due to a suspected mistake by Ruda, Ruda is banned for a certain period of time. This is fatal, because both young men were actually supposed to represent Czechoslovakia at the upcoming international gliding championships in Poland.

At the end of the war, the old train driver Matys saves his beloved locomotive Líza from depth charges. However, the locomotive is damaged and he is injured. At a critical moment, he stands in for his son-in-law, also a train driver, and thus prevents a train accident. Despite this, he is sent into retirement. To show what the "iron old man" can do, he reconstructs Líza with a group of apprentices...