Background Films

In 1983, communist Poland is shaken by the case of high school student Grzegorz Przemyk, who is beaten to death by police. The only witness of the beating becomes the number one enemy of the state.

Based on a true story. 1996, open sea. During his shift on a transatlantic ship’s deck, Joel, a religious Filipino sailor, discovers Dumitru, a Romanian stowaway hidden between some containers. If he is spotted by the Taiwanese officers running the vessel, Dumitru is at risk to be thrown overboard. Joel decides to hide him, as a sign of his gratitude towards God. Soon, a dangerous cat and mouse game begins. When his crew, his own friends, even God itself start to turn their backs on him, Joel learns that he has to face his cruel destiny alone.

The six-hour essay in four parts examines the history of regimes and revolutions, leaders and martyrs, from a philosophical perspective. The collage of personal memories, staged scenes and archives of collective memory compares the Prague Spring to the Velvet Revolution and shows the exposure, conflict, crisis, and catharsis of the post-communist society.

Having lost their jobs due to a Soviet takeover of Lithuanian Television in 1991, its employees declare a hunger strike in protest. Initial enthusiasm is slowly replaced by frustration about a single question – how long can they hold physical and emotional hunger?

Thirteen-year-old Czech boy and a Belgian girl of the same age who meet at a roadhouse facility want to meet and talk to each other in a short time between lunch and their departure. With the help of an Arab truck driver and an African football player, they overcome the language barrier and manage to spend a few minutes without their families. Both share a modern European experience in this modest location. "Divine Sparks" offers a pleasant story about the power of communication and prejudices.

During a random check, the commander of the Czech Customs Unit notices that there are immigrants in the back of a van. In the turmoil that followed, a minor is injured while trying to escape into the forest. The officers scatter the woods to look for the boy who managed to escape. Their aim is to find him and cover up the event. When the child's father refuses to cooperate, the incident becomes insurmountable and the officers start to mistreat the refugees. It is a fairly harsh short film about human emotions and views against immigrants.

Czech documentary movie.

One of the most striking contemporary Czech film-makers and literary figures, twice over winner of the Magnesia Litera Award, Martin Rysavý, is himself the central character of his new, philosophically tinged travelogue. He takes part in the Ukrainian Maidan, takes the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, sails down the Kolyma river, comes across nomadic reindeer herdsmen, soldiers, mystics, artists and scholars. He tries to comprehend the present situation of two feuding countries of the former Soviet empire. The film's framework forms the director's conversation with a Prague optician, Jakub Thuri, shot during the director's check-up. Using travel materials on top, it allows a peep inside a traveller's consciousness wandering in recollections and trails of sensory perceptions from expeditions to far-away lands and finding a way how to grasp them, put them in order and pass them on.