Petr Skoumal

Even the pre-Blohemian times were not idyllic. Even a bachelor, invited by the consuls to Rakovník to elevate the local education system, finds out. But the stingy and proud townspeople soon grow to dislike him, and even love does not develop according to his wishes.

This documentary by director Štěpán Kačírek offers a glimpse into the life of poet, playwright, illustrator, photographer, and, paradoxically, communist and jazz musician Josef Kainar. Despite his artistic versatility, poetry remains the focus of his life's work. Among his best-known collections are Stories and Minor Poems, New Myths, Fates, and Rhymes. Vladimír Mišík, Michal Prokop, Petr Skoumal, Jiří Brabec, Gábina Osvaldová, and others recall the poet, who constantly suffered from a lack of money, love, and happiness.

Two inseparable friends, Vyžilý and Boudník, a village self-made talent and a not-so-successful professional theatre actor, want to make a living as entertainers. But they are running up against both the ceiling of their abilities and the disfavour of the approval authorities. The normalization era of the 70s and 80s does not favour anything distinctive and both heroes repeatedly experience setbacks. Although the story of a lost generation was planned at the end of the former regime, it was not released until 1990.

A recording of a theatre production directed by Jan Kačer from 1967.

The play S úsměvem idiota (With the Smile of an Idiot) by the duo Vodňanský-Skoumal was composed for the Činoherní klub theater and premiered on May 19, 1969. It was performed with great success until 1973, when administrative measures prevented the duo V+S from performing. The play was never recorded in its entirety. This was only achieved thirty years later, when the duo returned to the Činoherní klub with the play S úsměvem idiota. The recording is a selection of the best works by the successful songwriting duo. We remember the songs "Aristocrat," "Marshals," "At the Opera in La Scala," "Grizzly," and others, as well as their original style of humor, on the sad occasion of the death of composer, pianist, and occasional lyricist Petr Skoumal.

Jan Kačer became known primarily as an actor, but he also took up film directing several times - not very successfully. Based on someone else's script, he made a committed, building story: it tells the story of an experienced engineer who is commissioned to assemble a team of specialists for engineering the peaceful use of atomic energy. However, the explanation of human dilemmas is too flat and proclamatory, as is the image of Ostrava's industrial environment; the heroes are thinking about one thing: the proper completion of the assigned task...

The play S úsměvem idiota (With the Smile of an Idiot) by the duo Vodňanský-Skoumal was composed for the Činoherní klub theater and premiered on May 19, 1969. It was performed with great success until 1973, when administrative measures prevented the duo V+S from performing. The play was never recorded in its entirety. This was only achieved thirty years later, when the duo returned to the Činoherní klub with the play S úsměvem idiota. The recording is a selection of the best works by the successful songwriting duo. We remember the songs "Aristocrat," "Marshals," "At the Opera in La Scala," "Grizzly," and others, as well as their original style of humor, on the sad occasion of the death of composer, pianist, and occasional lyricist Petr Skoumal.