Movies by Jaromil Jireš
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
Valerie, a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when she puts on a pair of magic earrings. Now seeing the world around her in a different light, Valerie must endure her sexual awakening while attempting to discern reality from fantasy as she encounters lecherous priest Gracian, a vampire-like stranger and otherworldly carnival folk.
Incomplete Eclipse
Marta (Lucie Patikova) was blinded in an accident brought on by her careless and indulgent younger sister. Now in a school for the blind, Marta keeps up her hope that she will one day see again, mainly because her mother - out of good intentions - has led her to believe that the blindness is only temporary. Before long, Marta comes to realize that her condition will last until she dies, and she begins to despair, hating her mother for giving her false hope. Only a dedicated psychologist, Dr. Mos (Oldrich Navratil) seems to have the means of ...
People from the Subway
Three short stories. Prague finally sees the approval of the subway construction. Thousands of individuals took part in preparing, course and finalizing construction of subway and their lives crossed at certain points of this construction.
The Joke
In the 1950s, Ludvik Jahn was expelled from the Communist Party and the University by his fellow students, because of a politically incorrect note he sent to his girlfriend. Fifteen years later, he tries to get his revenge by seducing Helena, the wife of one of his accusers.
The Dynamite Watcher
Katapult
Adaptation of Vladimir Paral's comic novel, which criticizes consumerism as an attitude of life.
Zápisník zmizelého
Lion with a White Mane
The film tells the exciting life of the great Czech composer Leos Janácek (1854-1928), also known by the thick silver hair that crowned his head and his strong character, which could overcome the adversities of fate.
And Give My Love to the Swallows
This film, chronicling the last days of Czech resistance fighter Maruska Kuderikova (played by Magda Vasaryova), is based on her diaries. Though she was tortured and eventually executed by the Nazis, her diaries indicate that she was optimistic for the humanity of her captors and did not by any means hate them. Told with simple dignity, this film makes clear why Maruska became a national hero.
Opera ve vinici
O Háderunovi a víle Elóře
O labuti
Story about fate, and their fatal consequences.
The Young Man and Moby Dick
Good-looking Edita Beningerová (Jana Brejchová) arrives at a chemical factory in the North Bohemian town of Ústí nad Labem together with her young assistant Nada (Zlata Adamovská). She is hoping that her ex-husband, outstanding practical chemical engineer Vik Panc (Eduard Cupák), will help her conduct an experiment to validate her proposed theoretical method of isolating cholesterol from lanolin. The success of Edita's invention is crucial for her career at the Prague Institute of Chemistry. Vik's roommate from his hostel Bréta (Ivan Vyskoci...
Uncle
In this six-minute short, a man’s attempt to burgle a home is interrupted by a child.
Il Divino Boemo
The Island of the Silver Herons
The late summer of 1918. Paul, Willi and Heinrich from an age-old German town are good friends, although there is a great deal that divides them. Heinrich comes from an officer's family with an army tradition and is preparing to enter cadet college. Paul's father and grandfather are workers, and Willi, left to depend on himself, works as a hotel messenger. The last year of the war is hard for everyone, but while Paul and Willi know their own minds and do not hesitate to help the war fugitives Tony and Sepp, for Heinrich everything is more co...
Antonín Dvořák
A documentary about the composer who made Czech music famous all over the world.
Královský gambit