Pictures of the Old World

Pictures of the Old World 1972

8.10

A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolate human experiences.

1972

She Kept Asking for the Moon

She Kept Asking for the Moon 1983

7.00

Johanka had a fling with a well digger she had not met before and who, she was most likely certain, would never be around again. Just before his departure, they have sex and she eventually becomes single mother of a baby girl. Now, 18 years later, her daughter Paulina commutes by bus to work in the nearby city, which gives the village gossips the occasional opportunity to remind her of her unknown father. A resultant conflict with her mother makes Paulina take up residence in the city. Johanka, prodded by her also-single friend Jozefka who maintains that a woman without a man is nothing, begins to woo the new teacher Jarek only to discover later that he is married. Paulina, in the meantime, loses her virginity to the soldier Jirka who promptly makes himself scarce. Johanka fails to consider that she actually has a better life than some of her married neighbors, begins to see.

1983

I Love, You Love

I Love, You Love 1988

5.50

The drama called I Love, You Love was made in 1980 but because of the absurd ideological ban, the film entered cinemas nine years later. Pišta is an unmarried man who works at a freight wagon which carries letters and parcels. Alcohol helps him to overcome his handicap of being short and not good-looking. He wishes he had a woman, but the woman he really wants, ageing Viera who reloads the cargoes, has a soft spot for another man. So, Pišta has nobody and nothing, except for senile mother who sometimes fails to recognize him. The film received Silver Bear for Best Director at the International Film Festival in Berlin.

1988

The Feather Fairy

The Feather Fairy 1985

7.09

A fairy-tale about an old lady who takes care of snow and Jakub who does not fear death. It reflects the idea of people's longing for happiness, love and understanding, their effort to overcome troubles and win over death. It criticizes greed and evil desires.

1985

Sweet Troubles

Sweet Troubles 1984

5.70

A comedy about Simon, an honest, clever confectioner. In practical life, the humble bachelor becomes an easy prey to his boss, his mother, and hordes of women eager to get married. The story incorporates well-tested methods of nearly all major periods in the history of film comedy: from a lumierish etude with the garden hose to a melancholic tramp to the menace of the streets Jacques Tati. Director Juraj Herz made a major contribution to the modest tradition of Slovak film comedy.

1984

Caught by Night

Caught by Night 1986

5.50

A communist journalist from Prague is sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp.

1986

King Thrushbeard

King Thrushbeard 1984

6.90

When a selfless king learns of a beautiful princess in a neighboring kingdom who callously turns down every suitor with an insult, he tries his luck to no avail. So, he hatches a plot with her father in which the princess is married to him, in disguise as a beggar, so he can teach her lessons about humility and compassion.

1984

Otec

Otec 1981

6.00

Small Yozko, who lives with his mother, dreams of a real father, whose ideal is embodied in a tractor motorcyclist on Formula nickname. However, his mother perceives cheerful cool formula, finding it, like many villagers, frivolous. Friendship Formula fills the boy his father's absence, and Yozko increasingly tied to his friend. Suddenly received a telegram from the actual Yozko father, his mother will have to take a difficult decision, but life itself makes adjustments ...

1981

Man Is Not Desirable

Man Is Not Desirable 1984

1

A young teacher grows up in a small Slovak village during the Second World War.

1984

Down to the Cellar

Down to the Cellar 1983

6.80

A little girl goes down to the basement cellar to fetch some potatoes, and finds all her hidden fears about the cellar depicted in animated form.

1983

A Suspended Game

A Suspended Game 1980

6.00

While playing Indians two Czechoslovak pioneers are captured by the criminal who wants to cross the border illegally.

1980