Czech Cinema

Directed by Zbynek Brynych.
100 minutes; released 1965.
In Nazi-occupied Prague, an elderly Jewish doctor, no longer allowed to practice medicine, hides and treats a wounded partisan in his apartment at great personal risk. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jaromil Jireš.
87 minutes; released 1972.
Tells the true story of Maruska Kuderikova, a courageous, young Moravian girl who was part of the Czech Resistance during World War II. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Frantisek Vlácil.
99 minutes; released 1969.
A tale of two lovers trapped in the aftermath of WWII. Lingering resentment over the war and bitter political strife stand in the way of their happiness. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
180 minutes; released 1984.
Composer Antonio Salieri is jealous about the successful career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Based on the play by Peter Shaffer. In English.

Directed by Vladimír Michálek.
95 minutes; released 2001.
A carefree old man ignores his wife's pleas and leads a life of amusement and adventure. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
85 minutes; released 1964.
A delightful coming-of-age comedy, Black Peter finds its humor in the keenly observed details of youthful romance, teenage dissatisfaction, and the small moments of life. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Martin Frič.
144 minutes; released 1952.
Rudolph II, the Holy Roman Emperor, does not have a simple life. And yet he manages to complicate it even more with his frequent outbursts of anger. While he searches for a mythical Golem... In Czech with optional English, French and Czech subtitles.

Directed by Jan Svankmajer.
153 minutes; released 2005.
A collection of short films produced 1965-1992. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty and perversely visceral. Includes The Fall of the House of Usher (5 min.; 1980), A Game with Stones (9 min.; 1965), Et cetera (7 min.; 1966), Punch and Judy (10 min.; 1966), The Flat (13 min.; 1969), Picnic with Weissmann (13 min.; 1969), A Quiet Week in the House (19 min.; 1969), Dimensions of Dialogue (12 min.; 1982), Down to the Cellar (15 min.; 1983), The Pendulum, the Pit and the Hope (16 min.; 1983), Meat Love (1 min.; 1988), Flora (20 sec.; 1989), The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (15 min., 1990) and Food (17 min.; 1992). In Czech, German and English with English subtitles.

Directed by Alfréd Radok.
98 minutes; released 1950.
The story follows Dr. Hannah Kaufmann and her family from the time of the Nazi occupation of Prague through her experiences in the transit camp of Theresienstadt (modern Terezin). In Czech with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Alfréd Radok.
91 minutes; released 1957.
The Dědeček Automobil is dedicated to the pioneers of car racing. Nice veteran cars from the early 20th century can be seen in this movie. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jaroslav Papoušek.
80 minutes; released 1970.
The misadventures of the multigenerational Homolka family, as they enjoy a Sunday, as they purchase their first car, and as they go on a winter holiday. In Czech with optional English or Czech subtitles.

Directed by Jan Svankmajer.
97 minutes; released 1994.
A fantastical take on the Faust myth, this movie combines live action with stop-motion and claymation animation. Leaving a Prague subway station, this modern Faust is handed a map which eventually leads him to summon a devil. In English.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
73 minutes; released 1967.
A firemen's ball with a beauty pageant and a lottery turns into a comedy of errors. The film was a commentary on the Czech leadershiop and was banned following the Russian invastion of Czechoslovakia. In Czech with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Ivan Passer.
72 minutes; released 1965.
Debut film of a great director and a signature work of the Czech New Wave. Concerns the dreams of two musician friends... In Czech, with English subtitles.

Directed by Jan Svěrák.
105 minutes; released 1996.
A confirmed bachelor is in for the surprise of his life when a get-rich-quick scheme backfires, setting off a wild set of circumstances and leaving him with a pint-sized new roommate. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by F. A. Brabec.
70 minutes; released 2003.
An ancient legend about a man with a whistle is not the beginning or end. Pied Piper for centuries going from town to town, and his face has a myriad of forms. In the mysterious streets of Prague... In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Juraj Jakubisko.
93 minutes; released 1967.
In this tragi-comic testimony to the need for a choice at the crossroads of maturity, the main character, an emotional artist, keeps thinking about himself and the purpose of his life. In Slovak with English and Slovak subtitles.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
85 minutes; released 1965.
With sixteen women to each man, the odds are against Andula in her desperate search for love - until a rakish piano player visits her small factory town and temporarily eases her longings. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jan Hrebejk.
122 minutes; released 2000.
A Czechoslovak couple decides to hide a young Jewish neighbour in their home from the Nazis. In Czech with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Jindřich Polák.
91 minutes; released 1968.
Nebeští jezdci is a Czechoslovakian movie about Czech pilots in RAF service during the Battle of Britain, and the ongoing aerial battle in Northern Europe. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jan Němec.
68 minutes; released 1966.
A political thriller that satirizes unquestionable conformity. In Czech with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos.
125 minutes; released 1965.
A Czech peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of his town appoint him "Aryan controller" of an old Jewish widow's button shop. In Czech with optional English subtitles.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
134 minutes; released 1975.
Based on the novel by Ken Kesey. A convict on the run fakes insanity and moves in to a state mental hospital. In English.

Directed by Jiří Menzel.
93 minutes; released 1966.
At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher's apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war, he embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jan Svankmajer.
127 minutes; released 2006.
A collection of short films produced 1964-1989.
The Ossuary: a journey around the Sedlec Ossuary, a monument made of the skeletons of thousands of Black Death victims & other stories that would make you want to scream. Includes The Last Trick (12 min.; 1964), Don Juan (31 min.; 1970), The Garden (19 min.; 1968), Historia Naturae (9 min.; 1967), Johann Sebastian Bach (10 min.; 1965), The Ossuary (10 min.; 1970), Castle of Otranto (17 min.; 1973-79), Darkness Light Darkness (8 min.; 1989) and The Male Game (12 min.; 1988). In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Věra Chytilová.
95 minutes; released 1970.
In this modern, highly stylized adaptation of the Adam and Eve story, a couple vacationing at a spa is offered the forbidden fruit of Eden. In Czech with English subtitles.

105 minutes; released 1966.
Five short films by the greatest directors of the Czech New Wave make up this extraordinary anthology; based on the stories of legendary Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. Includes The Death of Mr. Baltazar (dir. Jiří Menzel), The Swindlers (dir. Jan Němec), The House of Joy (dir. Evald Schorm), The Globe Buffet (dir. Vira Chytilová), Romance (dir. Jaromil Jireš). In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Juraj Jakubisko.
88 minutes; released 1980.
Potent drama about Pavel, an independent young man, who defies the conventional wisdom. In Slovak with English subtitles.

Directed by Oskar Reif.
86 minutes; released 1998.
Forty-year old PE teacher Luboš Urna, is a man you’d be unlikely to notice on the street. He is completely average and unremarkable, but... In Czech with English, French, German, Spanish and Czech subtitles.

Directed by Marek Najbrt.
100 minutes; released 2009.
Emil is a Prague radio reporter in 1938. His wife Hana's newest film has just catapulted her into fame. As the Nazis come to power, Hana's Jewish heritage precipitates her fall from stardom. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jiří Trnka.
156 minutes; released 1999.
Collection of short films produced between 1944 and 1965. In Czech and English.

Directed by Václav Krška.
92 minutes; released 1946.
The hero acquires the power of a magical river unique opportunity to live their lives again. In Czech with Czech subtitles.

Directed by Vera Chytilová.
74 minutes; released 1966.
Two teenage girls decide that since the world is spoiled they will be spoiled as well... In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Štefan Uher.
90 minutes; released 1962.
A girl, with a blind mother, drifts uneasily between no comprehension of her family and an inability to find a way with a young boyfriend. In Slovak with English subtitles.

Directed by Martin Sulik.
95 minutes; released 2005.
A story about four workers who one day find themselves without work. In Czech with Slovak, English and Spanish subtitles.

Directed by Bohdan Sláma.
102 minutes; released 2005.
In a town in the middle of nowhere, a group of friends long for something the other has but keeps it silent. These unspoken longings bind them in difficult, complex, and passionate friendships. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Václav Vorliček.
85 minutes; released 1973.
This version of the well-known fairy tale presents Cinderella as an independent and energetic girl who has a happy childhood as a nobleman's daughter. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jan Svěrák.
112 minutes; released 2001.
The friendship between two Czech pilots in the RAF is ruffled by the stress of combat and and a woman. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Karel Kachyňa.
91 minutes; released 1970.
The film is about a bitter married couple that consists of Ludvik, a senior official of Prague's ruling Communist regime, and his alcoholic wife Anna. In Czech (and Russian in one scene) with English subtitles.

Directed by Miloš Forman.
137 minutes; released 1989.
In 18th century France an embittered group of aristocrats try to ensnare one another with seduction and intrigue. Based on the novel Les liasons dangereuses. In English.

Directred by Hugo Haas.
88 minutes; released 1939.
Based on a play Camel Through the Needle’s Eye by František Langer. In Czech with Czech subtitles.

Directed by Vojtech Jasny.
114 minutes; released 1969.
During the Prague Spring, that brief flowering of freedom that preceded the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Jasny directed this impassioned account of his country's tragic relationship with the Soviet Union. In Czech dialogue with English subtitles.

Directed by Matej Mináč.
91 minutes; released 1999.
Inspired by the real life heroics of Nicholas Winton who saved hundreds of Czech Jewish children from the Nazis. In Czech or English.

Directed by Jan Svěrák.
100 minutes; released 2007.
The Empties, a comic love story about a man facing old age. Joseph teaches literature in a secondary school in Prague. One day he is forced into retirement but he refuses to take it lying down. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Juraj Jakubisko.
78 minutes; released 1969.
A tragic comedy set in post war Eastern Europe where two men and their mutual love, Marta, act like children in their postwar world. In Slovak with English subtitles.

Directed by Ondřeje Trojana.
147 minutes; released 2003.
Eliska, a bright medical student and member of the Czech resistance during WWII, escapes to a remote village where she must marry a sawmill worker and pose as his wife. In Czech with English subtitles.

Directed by Jaromil Jireš.
80 minutes; released 1969.
Set in Stalinist Czechoslovakia during the 1950s, this tragicomedy revolves around the consequences of a single joke... In Czech with English subtitles.