Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit

Dogs and People

The first short story "Naked in the Thorns" tells the story of a man whose clothes were taken away by a dog during his bath in the river. In the second short story "Games of Love", a retired professor paints a biblical scene of Susan and the old man. In the last short story, "Fidelity", the dog Argos perishes while defending his beloved master.

Searching for Ester

Ester Krumbachová - a costume designer, screenwriter, director; one of the boldest personalities of the Czech New Wave. She worked in theatre, she was a writer and an illustrator. She co-created films such as O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Sedmikrásky (1966), Vsichni dobrí rodáci (1969), Pension pro svobodné pány (1968), Valerie a týden divu (1970), Slamený klobouk (1972) and many others. In the 1960s, she was a 'pivot' of the art scene in Prague, attracting artists who were on the threshold of their career, just setting out to find their own form of self-realization. Those who underwent her tutelage remember her forever. Director Vera Chytilová talks to those who knew Ester Krumbachová, who worked with her, befriended her, loved her. She sets off on a search that is to end by answering the question: Who was Ester?

The Pilgrimage to the Holy Virgin

Farmers get away from their arguments by embarking on a religious pilgrimage, enjoy a picnic en route, and on their return decide to form a cooperative.

Attempted Flight

The twelve year old Ivo has been living in Vienna with his family for three years. His father and brothers work at construction sites. Their Austrian neighbors despise the Yugoslav guest workers. Because the mother has to look after the sick grandmother at home in Croatia, Ivo runs the male household in Vienna alone. Solitude and insults from the locals make the child unhappy. And so Ivo decides on a rainy winter's day to return to his home village on his own.

All My Good Countrymen

The lives of 7 friends in a small Czech town from 1945 to some time after 1958.

Czech Rhapsody

Essay film from Czech director Vojtech Jasný on his home country.

It’s Not Always Cloudy

A film about life in the Czech borderlands after the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans.

The Lunch Date

A woman misses her train and buys lunch in a café. When she returns to her table, a man is eating her salad.

Broken Silence

“Broken Silence” is composed of five hourlong shorts from a quintet of international directors: Hungary’s Janos Szasz (“Eyes of the Holocaust”), Argentina’s Luis Puenzo (“Some Who Lived”), Russia’s Pavel Chukhraj (“Children From the Abyss”), the Czech Republic’s Vojtech Jasny (“Hell on Earth”) and Poland’s Andrzej Wajda (“I Remember”). The helmers, some descendants of Holocaust survivors, focus on the atrocities within their particular parts of the world, with testimonials, pictures and an overall tone as they pertain to each region’s culture and history.

When the Cat Comes

While old Oliva tells a group of children about his life as a sailor and how he met Diana and her cat with sunglasses, a strange circus arrives in town.

The Great Land of Small

While visiting their grandparents in the Québec countryside, two children enter a fantasy kingdom and are confronted by evil forces.

Magnetické vlny léčí

Detective Biddle arrives in a small American town to warn the local mayor Banks about a fraudulent healer. Together, they agree on how to convict the con man. They only need to catch him in the act, so the mayor feigns illness and the healer is called upon to help him. Directed by Vojtěch Jasný, they played with gusto - the healer Jan Werich and the mayor Jiří Sovák.

Desire

A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jasny is divided into four separate segments. In the first skit, a young child's impressions are observed as his newborn baby sister becomes a part of the family. In the second, a young woman falls in love for the first time one summer, and in the third, a tough, older peasant woman battles against the farming cooperatives. Finally, in the last segment, everything comes full circle as a woman who is about to become a grandmother dies while her daughter-in-law has not yet given birth.

The Clown

Based on the best-selling novel by Nobel-laureate Heinrich Böll, this drama is a passionate indictment of Catholicism. Hans Schnier (Helmut Griem) has earned his living as a clown, though he is in fact a very covert sort of social critic. After enduring a difficult childhood in Bonn during the Second World War, including his mother's fanatic Nazism, he is appalled to discover many of the people he knows and loves swept deeply into involvement in the Catholic Church.

The Pipes

This three-part Austrian/Czech comedy stretches the boundaries of what is considered to be humorous. Part one finds a silent film actor upset because of a rival actor's attention to the former's wife. When he kills his rival, it is only when he is strapped to the electric chair that he realizes that this is his last live scene. The second episode has the wife of an elderly British nobleman having an affair with the young gamekeeper of their estate. Part three finds a peasant woman taking a lover when her husband goes off to fight the war.

The Peanut Butter Solution

Peanut butter is the secret ingredient for magic potions made by two friendly ghosts. Eleven-year-old Michael loses all of his hair when he gets a fright and uses the potion to get his hair back, but too much peanut butter causes things to get a bit hairy.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

As the holiday season rolls around and all the Peanuts gang are getting ready for it. Whether it be Charlie Brown struggling to raise money for his girlfriend or Sally and Peppermint Patty struggling to rehearse and memorize their one word lines for the Christmas pageant, these kids try to keep with the Christmas spirit while Snoopy has his mischief to do.

Mixed Nuts

The events of a crisis hotline business on one crazy night during the Christmas holidays.

Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale

Christmas is never so spirited as when Tom and Jerry lock horns for the holidays in their new original movie--Tom & Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale In an empty opera house, Jerry wishes for a chance to perform -- and magically his dream comes true. The little mouse is whisked away to an enchanted kingdom where anything is possible: candy forests, singing snowflakes, even the toys spring to life! Jerry has a great time with his new friends, and when Jerry dances with the music box ballerina, he is as happy as happy can be. Unfortunately, alley cats led by Tom crash Jerry's party, kidnap the music box ballerina and wreak havoc in the holiday kingdom. It's up to Jerry to set things right -- and with help from a fellow mouse named Tuffy and more newfound friends, Jerry just may win the day!

Dearest Relatives, Poisonous Relations

During the annual Christmas gathering at the family home, the parents surprise their children by announcing their decision to move in with one of them and pass on the house.

Holiday in Handcuffs

A ne’er-do-well thirty-something attempts to appease her family by kidnapping herself an attractive boyfriend for the family Christmas. Despite unlikely odds and dysfunctional family moments, the two fall in love and share a magical Christmas.

Holiday Affair

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, who's actually a comparison shopper sent by another store. Steve lets her go, which gets him fired. They spend the afternoon together, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, when he finds out, but delights her young son Timmy, who quickly takes to Steve.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

A slice of life story that follows a large Italian family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, reminisce about the past and seek love in the future.