Marek Epstein

A dramaturg is present during the writing of the screenplay, but does not write the film. A dramaturg is present on set, but does not direct the film. A dramaturg sits in on the editing process, but does not edit the film. A dramaturg is also involved in many other activities throughout a film’s production, yet performs none of them directly. In this sense, the dramaturg is invisible. The same could be said of the life of the distinguished Czechoslovak dramaturg Jan Gogola, who influenced countless stories throughout his career—including this documentary itself. His portrait is, in fact, being dramaturgically shaped in real time as the film unfolds.

An ordinary man with an ordinary job, ordinary family and ordinary affair has an unordinary day after he signes the Charta 77.

A dramatic story of a mother and daughter set in the late 1980s. The film tells the story of Lilian, a young mother whose life has not been easy. She has an intellectual disability and, to make matters worse, suffered a traumatic assault during her adolescence. The relatively idyllic life she shares with Mrs. Holasová, who cares for both Lilian and her young daughter Malvína, is shattered by the death of the eldest member of this three-generation trio of women. Lilian and Malvína’s lives are thus turned upside down literally from one moment to the next.

Born in the early 20th century, herbalist Jan Mikolasek became rich and famous after curing countless diseases with unorthodox means. A true emblem of Czechoslovakia before World War II, the healer became even more appreciated during the Nazi occupation and the communist regime. Each regime appreciates his skill and protects him. But how much will it cost him to maintain his status in a new political change?

Conceived as a kaleidoscopic mosaic, the film follows the imprint Franz Kafka left on the world from his birth in 19th-century Prague to his death in post-WW1 Vienna.

A story that takes place during Advent, we'll meet again with your favorite pair angel Petronel and devil Urias. Their eternal wrangling causes the rare apple from the tree of the knowledge to roll on earth. And that God is really angry. Petronel with Urias find themselves in a small Czech town on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas. And after a series of human and "divine" tests our heroes eventually find that the path to knowledge leads primarily through self discovery through the strength of friendship, love and forgiveness skills.

In a small village in the Danube Delta, where traditions are confronted with new material purposes, a teenage girl is becoming a woman. This is the story of Ryna, a 16-year-old girl working as a motor mechanic in Sulina, who strives to find her identity next to a father who is firmly denying her femininity.

Georges looks after his little sister in a remote part of Romania. They're all alone in the world. And even if fate over-takes them, life will reassert its claims.

Based on the true story of brothers Josef and Ctirad Mašín who, in 1953, tried to escape communist Czechoslovakia to join the US army in West Berlin.

No synopsis available yet.

She was once the wife of an important man, lived in a beautiful house in Hradčany, and was friends with the famous race car driver Eliška Junková. Today, however, she lives somewhere on the outskirts of Prague in a ground-floor apartment overlooking the courtyard and the street, alone and abandoned by practically everyone. Her husband died a long time ago, and her life now consists only of regular meetings with the postwoman, who brings her pension and her favorite motoring magazines, and regular help at the rectory and the local church. She occasionally cooks and bakes for Father Jan, and with her characteristic willingness, she also does his laundry and ironing. However, one of the last certainties in her life collapses unexpectedly quickly—Father Jan is transferred somewhere to Hradec Králové and is replaced by a young priest who is used to doing everything himself. At that moment, a smiling young man with dark glasses and a flower in his hand enters Květa Galová's life.

In the former Czechoslovakia, 1950s, police captain Hakl investigates a jewelry robbery. An opened safe deposit leads to a known burglar. What seems an easy case soon starts to tangle. When he is called off the case, he continues on his own. The investigation leads him onto thin ice. Can he beat a stronger enemy and save his family and his own life?

At a small bus station in an anonymous town, five strangers meet. Each has their own reasons for no longer enjoying life and wanting to end it, but none of them has the courage to do it alone.

Comedy inspired by paperback crime novels tells the story of an adventurous search for a mysterious murderer who just after the end of the First World War has begun a rampage in Wilson City, a jerkwater town somewhere in Eastern Europe. The investigation is being led by an inhomogeneous pair of detectives - a greenhorn and local police cadet named Eisner and an experienced FBI officer Food, who has been sent to Europe by US President Woodrow Wilson himself.

Lenka is a high-earning manager in the global finance sector. She lives for her work and is on the verge of achieving success in her life: if she manages to close a deal with a Turkish company, she will become the director of the company for the whole of Asia. However, because of her work, she neglects her loved ones—her husband Jiří, a university professor, and her teenage son Patrik, who is currently experiencing his first relationship. A foolish bet with her son that she can skate more than 100 meters on roller skates proves fatal – she wins the bet, but immediately breaks both her wrists.

A bitter-sweet comedy about two people who wish to live life to the full despite their age. Ota is a retired high-school teacher and at this point in life has various foibles that complicate life for his son and daughter-in-law. Moreover, he has a complicated and risky eye operation ahead. That is why Ota decides that this is the time to look up Jana, the retired actress who had influenced the course of his life many years ago. However, his reunion with Jana - who lives in a retirement home - works out differently to his expectations. Although disappointed at first, it is actually this zestful lady who sets Ota in the right direction again. Thanks to Jana, Ota finds the courage to set out on an exciting road-movie trip of the kind he would never have had the courage for in his youth. Their meeting and the excursion, full of unexpected turns and new impressions, give their lives a new dimension.

Two young technicians, Filos and Kája, come to a small village that is a bit cut off from the rest of the world in order to find the best place to install a new station for the reception of a cell phone signal. Their arrival understandably arouses a feeling of expectation among the locals, especially when they learn of the interesting financial reward for the owner of the land on which the transmitter will stand. A fight flares up in the village over this reward, and all weapons, those permitted and those not, are put into use. Of course, there is also the question of whether Filos and Kája will be able to live up to the expectations that have been placed on them. Maybe they aren't even who they claim to be...

Famous actor Bořivoj Vojan arrives unexpectedly at a student film festival in a small town. The smug, aging man has bruised his ribs on the way and his frustration deepens with every passing minute of his stay – the amateurish organization of the festival, the lousy food, the private accommodation with the confused grandmother Pánková. What's more, he has no idea that one of the most unpleasant encounters awaits him, with the local drunk journalist Merhautová. But there is also tension among the students who organize the festival – Míra is ambitious and promiscuous, Šárka is kind and naive, Jana is beautiful and manipulative, and Matyáš is perpetually stoned and childishly in love.

Andrej, a programmer, is developing his smart house project. To perfect his program, he moved with his wife Zuzana to a test house. He strives to introduce a bonus into the program - care for his wife. Suddenly someone else, someone mysterious takes control of the program. The idyll of a perfect life is replaced by a nightmare and a struggle for survival.

Vaclav, the village loser, in his 40's bordering on autism, lives with his widowed mother on the outskirts of the village. He is seen by villagers as the local fool, nothing but a constant pain for them, but there is a skeleton in the village closet concerning his father's death.

Old guilt, forgiveness and a new love. After 20 years in the French Foreign Legion, Martin returns to his Czech hometown. As soon as he arrives, he learns that his mother has died in his absence. Martin realizes that while in the military he learned to survive in any dangerous situation, but not how to cope with the complexities of human emotions and relationships. When he meets the deputy mayor's clever daughter Sara, he falls passionately in love and happiness seems to be within reach. But then his past catches up with him.

Thirty-something Jonas is not doing well at the moment. He has been taking antibiotics for a long time, so he is out of shape, and the trainer does not nominate him for the upcoming boxing match, he had a fight with a homosexual customer at work and is facing criminal charges because of that, and he also got a little involved with his colleague Silva, which logically does not please Jonas's friend Klařá. But Jonas hides the biggest problem by far from everyone. Although the suspicion of rectal cancer is fortunately not confirmed, the method of treatment of the damaged colon nevertheless shocks him - he has to regularly insert a dilator into his ass!

Young Filip is cursed with terrible luck ever since his father dared to outwit Lady Fortune herself, and to make matters worse, Filip falls hopelessly in love with Fortune’s daughter, Hanička. Determined to win her heart and break his family’s jinx, he embarks on a fantastical journey around the world, where an unlikely alliance with a compulsive liar named Kdokoliv (“Anybody”) becomes his only hope in the struggle for Hanička’s love.

Detective Miller lives with his mother even though he is over forty. He has a serious girlfriend, but he tries to keep her as far away from his nosy mother as possible. He likes his peace and comfort. He tends to avoid problems rather than solve them. This is probably why he hides from everyone that he has kidney problems and that, on his doctor's orders, he has to carefully measure and record all his fluid intake and output over the coming weekend. This causes him no end of trouble, as everyone interprets his strange behavior differently - his mother, his girlfriend, and his colleague at work.

Private psychologist Jakub tries to help others, but he has his own problems. Then he gets to take care of his old father which starts a lot of funny situations due to fathers starting dementia. Then this new medication appears...