Roman Janečka

Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

Three American college students studying abroad are lured to a Slovakian hostel, and discover the grim reality behind it.

In communist Czechoslovakia in 1980, 15-year-old Mara dreams of leaving her village to study in the city and become a pilot. But her father, a widowed Ruthenian farmer, insists she stay and work the land. When her village faces destruction due to a new dam, their generational conflict intensifies, revealing the struggle between tradition, identity, and the desire for freedom in a context of historical change.

The movie is based on the narrative of a Czech multimillionaire who achieved success not by stripping companies, making crooked deals and crony-ism, but by blazing his own trail like Schweikesque self-made man. He realizes early on that he has nobody but himself to rely on. During the totalitarian regime of the 80s, he ambles along his oddball path and then experiences the Velvet Revolution atypically, too - in an asylum amidst nut-cases. After the Revolution, he really gets rolling. To Germany and back. To prison and back. To China and back. The intriguing and endless opportunities afforded by the Internet eventually blossom into virtual prosperity. The hero has everything and is even planning a highly unorthodox family. A happy ending is nigh, until everything goes up in smoke, of course...

Anna's work day begins badly and culminates in one very special, unique moment.

Rowdy Jonas, 11, longs to spend the summer exploring the Slovakian countryside with his cool Grandpa Bernard, but his exasperated mother plans for him to go to the seaside instead. Jonas sneaks away from home and takes the train by himself to his grandpa’s. Upon arrival he finds his grandpa grumpy and moping. Luckily, his brave and tomboyish neighbor Alex befriends Jonas and together they create a scheme to raise money for a raft of their own. Their illegal racket creates an uproar in the village, lands Grandpa in jail for a crime he didn’t commit and causes Alex and Jonas’s friendship to fray. Will Jonas find a way to repair the mess?