Scalpel, Please

Schůzka se stíny

Two people scarred by a wartime past meet again years later during an archaeological dig. But the silent, inaccessible man in particular is reluctant to admit to anyone his harrowing experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, where he was the subject of horrific medical experiments.

Girl with Shells

Thirteen-year-old Vendula dozes off at school and dreams about her parents riding in a carriage dressed in their wedding clothes. The young teacher is angry with the girl who has already failed a year, and has no idea that she is looking after three younger half-brothers. They all have a different father and their mother comes home noisy and drunk every day, often accompanied by a man...

Jan Hus

Prague at the end of the 14th century: King Wenceslas, his brother Sigismund, the Archbishop of Prague Zbynek and three popes are locked in a power struggle. All lay claim to influence over the Holy See. Jan Hus, a master of Charles University and preacher, feels partly responsible for the fate of the divided church and its faithful, for whom it serves as a role model. He thus attracts the resentment of the powerful. "Jan Hus" is the story of a man who, because of his convictions, faced death in the battle between the opinions and ambitions of ecclesiastical and secular authorities.

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?

Jen o rodinných záležitostech

Life in communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s and the punishments for going against the state.

Oddechový čas

The drama of a man for whom work has become the only meaning of life. His cold and impersonal manner arouses the disapproval of his colleagues and family members and leads to alienation. Eventually, he realizes the need for "time out" to reflect on his own life...

Into the Darkness

What led a former top scientist to rob a bank and hold a dozen hostages? Czech Television's crime thriller based on Martin Goffa's novel "The Little Girl" is squeezed into two environments - the interior of a robbed bank with hostages and the interior of a crisis management car, from where the police communicate with the mysterious attacker and try, like him, to play for time and find out more about him. The flashbacks also tell the story of the attacker's daughter Karin from the recent past, gradually revealing a connection with what is happening in the current storyline.

The Great Movie Robbery

The film is essentially a feature-length commercial for an exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the nationalisation of the Czechoslovak film industry, to be held at the Prague U Hybernu venue. The protagonists of the piece are comedians Oldrich Kaiser and Jirí Lábus, who are set to accept an award from Japanese television representatives at the exhibition. At the same time, five gangsters plot to seize a revolutionary invention devised by professor Suzuki - a super holograph, which enables any figure from television to be transported in the flesh into the real world, and vice-versa.

The Damned House of Hajn

Sonya is the heiress to the riches of a Czech noble family—the Hajns. Petr, a social climber marries her, ignoring some shady goings-on—in particular, an insane uncle who prowls the mansion believing himself invisible, a peccadillo the family indulges. The uncle’s stalking every corner of the house, popping out of cupboards and out from behind curtains slowly takes its toll on the young bride.

Udělení milosti se zamítá

A story inspired by real events from the 1950s to the 1970s. Honza Steiner was neither a tough guy nor a thug. He was just a boy who had the misfortune of finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ended up on the wrong path due to a series of unfortunate coincidences. Honza was raised in children's homes, juvenile detention centers, and eventually prison. He waged a long, undeclared war with a public security officer, one that was not exactly abounding in rules. The conflict culminated in a staged hunt for Honza, who unfortunately shot his arch-enemy and was sentenced to death for it.

Fallen Empire

A chronicle of the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the rise of the Balkan states.

The Velvet Murders

A thriller loosely based on one of the most violent Czech criminal cases of the nineties, popularly known as the Orlík murders. The film delves into the motivation behind the killings, exposing their exceptional cruelty and an absolute absence of moral values. The perpetrators executed four people on their way to achieving material gain. Two of the bodies were found at the bottom of Orlík reservoir, the third perished in a bomb blast, and the forth was shot at home...

End of the Lonely Farm Berhof

Drama set on an isolated farm on the Czech-Polish border immediately after the end of WWII.

Chain

Carefree young nurse Marta learns upon her husband's death that he was involved in all manner of criminal activity, which puts her life in danger.

Zrcadlo pro Kristýnu

The 19-year-old volleyball player has been bedridden for a long time due to a spinal injury. The self-confident and energetic girl has time to recap her life and short sporting career so far...

Papilio

František Cepl is a young man from a simple family. He graduated from a real school and was going to study technology. When the occupation came, he had to work as a factory assistant. There he meets an older man named Telec, whom everyone knows as Hrabě. He impresses František with his ostentatious disdain for work and his shameless flirtation with women. František, whom the Count calls Papilio (butterfly butterfly), is filled with youthful ideals, while the Count, on the other hand, is an extract of the crudest individualism. He has worked his way up from a student at a business academy and a theatre actor to a member of a pre-war gallery. He blackmails, steals, drinks, abuses women and, in a way, Papilio himself.

Love, Simon

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.

A Hologram for the King

Alan Clay, a struggling American businessman, travels to Saudi Arabia to sell a new technology to the King, only to be challenged by endless Middle Eastern bureaucracy, a perpetually absent monarch, and a suspicious growth on his back.

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

Father Merrin takes a sabbatical from the Church to devote himself to history and archaeology as he struggles with his shattered faith.

Ghost Town

Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!

The Nines

A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.

Inhale

A couple goes to dangerous lengths to find a lung donor for their daughter.

Last Exit to Brooklyn

A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with the fact that their daughter is illegitimately pregnant.