Jiří Ornest

In 1939, Czech diplomat Jan Masaryk flees to the United States to escape his recent past: Germany has invaded Czechoslovakia and he is now a man with no nation; because, as the Czechoslovak ambassador in London, he failed to win the support of the British and could not avert the fall of his country and the outbreak of the World War II.

In 1939, Czech diplomat Jan Masaryk flees to the United States to escape his recent past: Germany has invaded Czechoslovakia and he is now a man with no nation; because, as the Czechoslovak ambassador in London, he failed to win the support of the British and could not avert the fall of his country and the outbreak of the World War II.

The Little Man lives happily in his little house in the Hollow Mountain. His peaceful life ends once he begins to have dreams about a mysterious house where he is to find what he desires. Even though he does not feel like having any desires, he crack the mystery himself.

A man decides to take the madness of the world around him as inspiration.

A computer programmer and his son are going out of the city for vacation.

No synopsis available yet.

Hana is a psychologist and a thoroughly independent woman. Her unemployed husband, jealous of his wife, finds a younger girlfriend, but their teenage son Honzik is frustrated; everyone ignores him. Hana's patient Eva, an attractive middle-aged woman, is having problems with her 25-year-old son; she is in love with her son's friend and her son is offended by her behavior. To complete the circle, he falls in love with Hana and Honzik is utterly disgusted by their affair. Another of Hana's patients is Dub, a millionaire who can have pretty much anything, or anyone, he wants. He wants Hana. But he can't have her.

Ice hockey is a Czech national obsession, and the country's victory over Russia in the 1969 World Championships, the year following the Soviet invasion, is a celebrated moment in its history. In Marek Najbrt's black comedy, the heroic exploits take place only on a black and white tv screen as a group of representative misfits gather and watch the game in a desolate village on the Czech border. While consisting of recognisable types, Najbrt's bleak portrait reveals a world of alcoholism, debt, racism, bigotry, and infidelity that trails behind the dreams of nationalism and bears little resemblance to the fantasies of the new consumerism. A clever and multi-levelled film, it provides a sharp antidote to the reconciliatory charms of the conventional Czech comedy.

On the 16th of January 2009, it will be 40 years from the self-burning of Jan Palach. He committed this act in protest against the progressing lethargy and pusillanimity of the Czechoslovak nation following the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

When a band of robbers menaces the realm, the Duke of the Winter Castle sends his enchanted, crystal-tipped sword to his friend Matěj the blacksmith for sharpening, only for the magical gem to vanish without a trace. As Matěj joins the Duke’s campaign to reclaim the blade, the Duke’s daughter Johanka and a spiteful curse from the smith’s heartbroken wife threaten to derail their quest and doom the kingdom.

No synopsis available yet.

The deportation of 4000 Jews from Budapest to Auschwitz in July 1944, as told by George Tabori, and how the narrator’s mother escaped it, owing to coincidence, courage and some help from where you’d least expect it.

Based on an autobiographical novella by Ivan Olbracht, the film tells the story of Hanele Safarová, who grows up just after the First World War in a little Ruthenian schtetl which, in true Hassidic fashion, awaits the arrival of the Messiah. But Hanele decides to follow the Zionists instead. She moves to the city to prepare for her departure to the Promised Land, where she meets a successful businessman named Ivo Karadzic, who has renounced Judaism to become a free-thinker. Their love for each other doesn’t only drive Hanele’s parents to distraction, it also threatens to destroy the entire community in the schetl.

A period musical comedy set in a quiet Prague quarter at the end of the fifties. Using the western plot device of the "man from nowhere" a generation gap story unfolds of changing social climate. The action is driven by the character of a young man named Baby who causes a local rebellion by bringing rock'n'roll to a Communist neighborhood raised on swing.

A story inspired by true events, the fate of a multiple juvenile murderer, takes place in an apprentice boarding school. "A series of sexual murders! A real case that could happen again at any time."

In 1930s Ukraine, the desecration of a sacred bath disrupts the sex lives of Jewish villagers.

A famous actress arrives at her brother's estate with her son and boyfriend, a writer. There they meet young Nina, who flies through their lives like a seagull...

A naive village girl, Valentýna, arrives in Prague and, under dramatic circumstances, becomes reluctantly entangled in the Karlín underworld as a novice prostitute controlled by the slimy gangster Pavouk and his bumbling henchman Milan. She repeatedly refuses the genuine support offered by the incorruptible mounted policeman Viktor Sokol, even as two eccentric observers serve as a choric commentary on the absurdities around them. Through parodic and poetic scenes, ranging from western-inspired mounted police sequences to a surreal “war” over exporting plastic gnomes, the film satirizes contemporary Czech society.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Three "miniatures" touching on romantic relationships between men and women from different perspectives. Matěj, a young vegetable garden guard and lover of idleness and village women, spends the night in the grass with Agáta, the wife of a switchman, even though he is not particularly interested in the unsatisfied woman. Voloďa, a young man growing up without a father, is confused about his feelings for the married thirty-year-old Míša, who seduces him on a whim and then rejects him. The hunter with a "free spirit" refuses to spend even a single day with his unhappy village wife, whom the mayor (who first got him drunk) married him to years ago out of envy for his shooting skills.

No synopsis available yet.

Just in time, Róza Riedlová returns from the grave to beneficially intervene in the life of timid Jana, who is full of doubts about everything and especially about herself. If Róza, that charming older lady, is a ghost at all, then she is definitely one of the kindest ones in our world. Otherwise, she would not be able to bring such wonderful order to human relationships, not only in Jana's family and at school, but everywhere she appears. An appealing comedy story that has won awards both at home and abroad. In 1995, a jury in Montevideo named it the best film for children, and in 1994, it won first prize in the children's film category at the Ota Hofman Festival in Ostrov, with Iva Janžurová winning the award for most likable adult actor for her role as Róza.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The story takes place in the Czech-German border region in 1938. The hero Tomás Jakl marries but the marriage is not very lucky and falls apart. His German friend forced him to enter the Nazi party.

A clever but often teased boy, is able to clone himself thanks to a stolen formula from a scientist. Time to take revenge on those bullies.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The film is set in the environment of the internationally renowned Pardubice Steeplechase, with the main roles being devoted to equestrian sport outside of filming.

Technical school student Pavel Brychta, arrives at a youth correctional facility located within a chateau in Konečno. He is an atypical, but not hopeless case for the institution. Pavel comes from a well-off family and his antisocial behaviour on the verge of criminality was some kind of response to his difficult relationship with his authoritative father. However, it takes quite some effort for Pavel to find his place in this environment of bullying, and also diverse methods from the tutors

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The little mermaid rescues a prince from drowning and falls in love with him. To be with him, she makes a deal with the evil sorceress: her beautiful voice against a life on land.

A musical starring Jiří Menzel (whose part is sung by Achilles Michailidis) as a math and physics teacher employing innovative teaching methods.

No synopsis available yet.

The female employees of the poultry-processing factory find relief from their monotonous work in chatting about weddings and marriages. The very young Zdena (Marta Vancurová), too, dreams about a white veil and an entourage of bridesmaids. On her return home from work, she runs into a peculiar man on an abandoned road who pertinaciously offers to read her palm for a few crowns to buy soup. His augury is rather usual - wealth and poverty, suffering and happiness. Then however, he declares that Zdena must marry exactly on 3 November of that year otherwise she will be unhappy.

An 11-year-old boy is the only survivor of a tragic car accident in which both parents are killed. It's not until he meets a travelling student theatre company that he is able to shake off the long-term shock...

No synopsis available yet.

Three short stories ("Zelenáči 1945", "Silvestr 1948" and "Zimní vítr 1951") about members of the SNB units guarding the Šumava border in the post-war years. Ivo Toman had artistic supervision over the debutants. The theme of the third short story was made in 1959 for the film "Entry Forbidden" by František Vláčil, who was also starting at the time.

Webs of Prague's post-war underworld.

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...

In the era of normalisation, a number of (pseudo)historical films were made, even described as reconstructions, which glorified the world-building mission of the Communist Party and attributed to it exclusively humanitarian intentions ("Days of Betrayal", "Sokolovo", "Liberation of Prague", "The Victorious People"). In 1929, when its fifth congress met, Klement Gottwald, who had taken the line of the Russian Bolsheviks, took over the leadership of the Communists...

Seventeen-year-old student Milan wants to get rid of his morbid fear of flies, which originated sometime in his childhood. Only then will he feel mature and responsible for himself and his actions...

A romantic story about Jakub, a student in the summer camp, and his teacher Klara.

No synopsis available yet.

Day in the life of teenagers.

Françoise, a French sociology student, moves to Czechoslovakia to write her thesis. She falls in love with Pavel, a professor. But the events of the "Prague Spring" begin and Pavel decides to collaborate. Françoise returns to France and meets up with her militant friends on the eve of the events of May 68 in Paris.

Radio announcer Petrícek reads the evening news in a studio. Viki, the female editor of a woman's program, is annoyed by the stereotypical information he provides as well as by the speaker's melodious voice and his heart-felt performance. Then she gets an idea for a prank. She calls the speaker from the neighboring room on the phone and pretends to be an unhappily married woman who draws all her strength to live from Petrícek's voice.

A film in five episodes, all based on an attempt to show the life of young people today, their feelings and relationships, their behaviour in public and private life.

No synopsis available yet.

A dramatic story from the setting of a youth de tention center. Youngster Jakub, out of delusory solidarity, gets convicted of theft and goes to prison in place ofthe "sheriff" of his gang. He naively hopes that the sheriff will appreciate his gesture and leaves the stolen goods in a safe hideaway to later divide them fairly among the gang members. This conviction gives Jakub the strength to endure the unbearable conditions in the center. But reality is often much harsher than naive ideals and hollow relations in the gang.