Smiles of Sad Men

The story begins at the airport in Bandung, an abstract, attractive city somewhere in Southeast Asia, where Czech tour guide Tomáš Egermaier witnesses the arrest of 21-year-old Patrik Lovický. It is only back in the Czech Republic that he learns that the man arrested had attempted to smuggle four kilograms of heroin out of Bandung. Egermaier's surprise is all the greater when he discovers a plastic bag with five videotapes for a camera on the conveyor belt at Ruzyně Airport. Together with Egermaier, we then watch the story of Patrik Lovický, his girlfriend Elena, and her mother Michaela on the videotapes.

Samuel stands on the edge of a hotel roof in the rain and, before he jumps into the street below, he tries to summon up in his mind an image of his homeland.

The feature film Diary of an Alcoholic tells the dramatic story of a young woman struggling with alcohol addiction. The main heroine (although she often does not act like a heroine) is a young mother who decided not to give up, to start treatment and to fight her demon and her family. How hard is it to admit a drinking problem? Why is not even a small child an obstacle to addiction? Where to get the strength to heal and what comes next? These and many other questions are answered by an authentic and honest cinematic confession of an abstinent alcoholic.

Hynek Michánek wants to study medicine but fails his entrance exams five times. He starts a job as an orderly in a district hospital where one of the doctors on the examining board works as well. He feels no-one takes him seriously and he loathes the doctors, who treat him with disdain. When an old man begs him to end his pain and suffering by helping him to die, Hynek gives him a "liberating" injection. But now he has done it once, he finds he can't stop. He continues killing other patients, even though he knows he can't get away with it for long.

Director's memoirs of his childhood in a lively tenement house, in particular one hot summer day in 1949 when all tenants gathered to celebrate the wedding of the landlord's daughter. Small details slowly reveal that the narrator's recollection of the events may not be altogether correct.

All the parents suddenly fall asleep, and children have to survive in the world. A thrilling adventure showing what can happen when chaos reigns and children are forced to face the pitfalls of the world on their own.

A married couple unexpectedly find themselves witness to a murder. The perpetrators pay them to remain silent, but also turn them into the main suspects of the crime. The more the two try to distance themselves from the case, the more entangled they become, and so does their relationship

Stories about parent-child relationships, fate, and the unknown forces that guide our steps unfold across several continents. A Japanese businessman wants to reconcile with the daughter he abandoned as a child and sets off with her on a journey to the Himalayas. Like him, a single mother in the Czech Republic receives a mysterious letter with important news. A painter and recovering alcoholic meets a beautiful woman and with her an unexpected opportunity for family life. A writer takes his friend and their inner demons on an expedition to the Indonesian jungle. A priest in New York has to deal with strange dreams, and an old man waits for his son to visit him in a remote place somewhere on the Baltic Sea coast. Each of the heroes faces a fundamental change in their lives, and their actions can influence the story of the others. Their separate journeys begin to intertwine and eventually merge into one great story of life.

Ondřej Sokol and Lukáš Pavlásek, together with a film crew led by director Dan Svátek and cameraman Jakub Šimůnek, decided to shoot a travel series unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. And they really succeeded... Viewers haven't seen much of the countries they visited, but their cameras captured one screw-up after another. And that's why this film was made...