Juraj Jakubisko

Bathory is based on the legends surrounding the life and deeds of Countess Elizabeth Bathory known as the greatest murderess in the history of mankind. Contrary to popular belief, Elizabeth Bathory was a modern Renaissance woman who ultimately fell victim to men’s aspirations for power and wealth.

A fairy-tale about an old lady who takes care of snow and Jakub who does not fear death. It reflects the idea of people's longing for happiness, love and understanding, their effort to overcome troubles and win over death. It criticizes greed and evil desires.

In the aftermath of war, two men and a woman begin acting more like children than adults, leading to tragedy.

A satiric tragi-comedy about two women and their lover Robert who is an emigrant that keeps coming back. This film shows chaotic post-communist Europe after the fall of totalitarianism. Two opposite characters, women, meet during the Velvet Revolution in November 1989. Intellectual dissident Nona and a Communist secret police boss’ mistress Ester. They meet at an anti-regime demonstration and become friends. They don’t want anything to do with politics, both want to get married and have kids, but also get rich. Crazy plans and risky attempts to realize their shared dreams land them in many sticky situations in the post-revolution chaos. Too much money gets in the way of the power of friendship.

A parody of Frankensteinian stories. It is a story of a little boy, an orphan who arrives at the Castle of Count Frankenstein - a world inhabited by mysterious and sometimes a bit ridiculous scary creatures. Although each one of them is different, they all share one thing: they feel lonely and they are desperate for a little love and affection.

Lukáš, Alžbetka's son, takes off into the world looking for happiness and love. His godmother, the celestial Lady Winter, keeps an eye on him. He arrives late in the fairy-tale land that she leads him to. Fear reigns where once cakes grew on trees. The miraculous ram has disappeared and the royal town is cursed. Lukáš has to decide what is closer to his heart: a fortune or love?

Juraj, a Slovak artist living in Prague, takes stock in his life, realizing that his days pass without purpose. He lives a carefree life. But now he has to choose between two women, between the city and the country, and between creative work and craftsmanship. He has a passion for art but he also has to make a living. Through his relationships with close people, he grows aware of his position and this knowledge helps him to live a more fulfilling and better life.

Seven seemingly unconnected fairy tales - glued together only by folklore, mood, color and light - make up this Czech collection of visual poetry. The original piece of literature, written by Karel Jaromír Erben in 1853, contained twelve tales.

A family saga taking place mostly in a small Slovak village over a period of thirty years (1887–1917). The first part captures the life of Martin Pichandu in the development of his craft, masonry; in the second part, his son is center stage living in a period of socio-political crisis, which ultimately results in the first World War. After originally airing on Czechoslovakian television in 1983 as a four-part 226-minute mini-series, this production received a 163-minute theatrical release in 1984.

Set over a two-decade period in a tiny Central European village, this drama not only chronicles a couple's tragic star-crossed love, it also serves as a metaphor for the tragedy of lost traditions. After opening in the snowy wilds as two people spectacularly die, the story jumps back 20 years as young Verona prepares to marry. Unfortunately, voracious wolves descend upon the ceremony and all but Verona and her courageous 10-year-old brother-in-law Goran, who saves her, perish. That day, Verona gives birth to Veronika and promptly betroths her daughter to the heroic Goran. A decade passes and on Veronika's 10th birthday, her engagement to Goran is formally announced at a big party. Festivities halt when a troupe of female circus performers and their sly employer Madina show up. Veronika soon finds herself more interested in Madina's young son Michal than she is in the adult Goran. Meanwhile, the worldly Madina attempts to adjust to life in an old-fashioned village.

This year’s gallery of artistically inspiring portraits of uncompromising eccentrics (among them The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld, Robert Richardson: The White Devil and A Pint of Ink) features another unobtrusive stand-out in the shape of Igor Luther, a key figure of Slovak and European cinematography. Ivan Ostrochovský’s perspective is rare, dynamic and also meditative, while Luther himself co-authored the project during the last few months of his life. Works such as Juraj Jakubisko’s Birds, Orphans and Fools, Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum and Andrzej Wajda’s Danton, in the persuasive words of their creators, wouldn't have the same timeless energy today if it weren't for Luther's visionary endeavours.

Pepe and Prengel, returning from war, meet Ester and both fall in love with the girl and live together in a deserted house. Fanatic communist, Zelmira, wants to turn their world upside-down.

Jakubisko’s comedy about infidelity inside the community of lumberjacks in three chapters. First, a group of men gets to know that there comes a group of female brigadiers to a near village and tries to seduce them, which won’t come out as precisely as they wanted. In the next chapter, one girl got pregnant and lumberjacks tries to solve this by a wedding to a man called Domino. In the final phase, they’re struggling for the successful wedding and are afraid of possible punishment from their wives.

Juraj Jakubisko's first feature film after a forced nine-year-long break is a story about an unconventional man, Jozef Matúš. He arrives to a small village in eastern Slovakia to settle down and start a family. He is ready to subordinate everything to his goal. It all starts with stealing building material and ends with him disregarding those close to him to a point where his ambitions are turning against him. Build a House, Plant a Tree is a viewer-friendly film with a plot resembling a western, including several attractive action sequences.

As a car full of an assortment of characters rolls down an embankment and bursts into flames, the old driver says "See You in Hell, Friends." The relations between the characters are shown in flashbacks. The pretty Rita and her fiancee Petras meet the old colonel, and come to live in his farmhouse. Rita marries the colonel as well as her fiancee, and has a daughter Christine. The colonel's supposed father shows up, and also makes amorous advances on Rita. They all live blissfully together until two holy women with axes arrive. The women start chopping down trees to build an ark. Rita starts having nightmares and Christine is crucified.

An apocalyptic story of three wars in three film tales encompassing the end of the WWI,WWII, as well as a vision of the world destroyed by nuclear weapons. This film was honored at the film festivals in Venice and Sorrento. Immediately after that the copy with Italian subtitles was locked in a safe as evidence of the anti-communist activities of the director, who used real footage of the Soviet invasion.

This adult comedy looks at the complex, intermingled sexual relationships between a bunch of diverse characters - a barmaid, a part-time prostitute, a hippy, a rocker, a medical student and a confused virgin!

After her mother had passed, Darinka lives with her grandma. In her fantasy she lives her own version of Sleeping Beauty. Her musical talent helps her to cope with illness and fulfill her dreams.

In a series of juxtaposed images and sounds, Jaromil Jireš comments on the tragic premature death of thousands as well as their posterity due to the atomic bomb.

The documentary tribute to the solitary director Elo Havetta (1938-1975), the author of only two feature films (Celebration in the Botanical Garden and Wild Lilies), which belong to the peaks of Slovak cinema. In their time, they brought playfulness and spontaneity, which the authors of the documentary follow up with a happening in which they search for his legacy on the way to the director's grave.

Frankenstein's Aunt is the protagonist of three novels - two by Allan Rune Pettersson and a seven-episode TV miniseries based on the first one. The story is a humorous homage to the Universal Horror Frankenstein films.

A comedy about three flirtatious woodcutters realistically capturing Slovak village life and criticizing insincerity, hypocrisy and male pride.