Ester Krumbachová - a costume designer, screenwriter, director; one of the boldest personalities of the Czech New Wave. She worked in theatre, she was a writer and an illustrator. She co-created films such as O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Sedmikrásky (1966), Vsichni dobrí rodáci (1969), Pension...
The construction of the new dam deprived the ferryman Ryba of his trade. The new dam replaced the ferry. However, Ryba's ancestors were ferrymen and the old man would have liked his two sons to take up the same profession. But Joseph is an indecisive weakling and Karel found work on the dam. That's...
By the end of the second World War, three prisoners wish to escape from the train carrying them from one concentration camp to another. To make it happen, they need to get food first.
Story of a man who, at the end of the 1940s, attempted to cross the Czechoslovak border illegally like many others to escape the communist regime and became a victim of the historically documented game of the security forces of the totalitarian regime, the so-called Kameny action. The project of...
Taking a cue from Franz Kafka's "Letter to My Father," this highly personal film follows Czech director Jan Nemec as he attempts to engage in a dialogue with his deceased mother. While alive, Nemec's mother had a troubled relationship with her son; this rumination seems to be Nemec's public...
It's nighttime in Prague, 21 August 1968. Soviet troops and tanks are occupying the city - random attacks, soldiers shooting, bodies lying dead on the sidewalk. With an impromptu crew, the director (Karel Roden) captures some unique evidence - material which is, however, worthless in occupied...
Jan Nemec, a leading filmmaker of the Czech New Wave, creates an original portrait of one of the most provocative artists of the 20th century: Toyen (Marie Cerminova). As a female artist, Toyen broke through the male-dominated art world to create paintings and drawings often erotic in nature. She...
A neon heart installed above Prague Castle illuminated the city for the last three months of Václav Havel’s presidency in an artist’s tribute to his extraordinary service. His last major undertaking was hosting the NATO summit in 2002 and Němec was granted extraordinary access to film it. Set...
The unique and enigmatic journey of the writer Milan Kundera: from communist Czechoslovakia to exile in Paris, from his quest for glory to his withdrawal from the media scene.
Student demonstrations in Strahov are shown in this illegally made film by a film professional with access to 35mm cameras and collaborating laboratories.
A visit to Prague by the most powerful man in the world coincides with Jan Němec's heart operation. He captures both events in a philosophical video diary, in doing so reporting on what is probably the most important day of his life.
In this fourteen-minute film from 1993, director Jan Němec pays tribute to author Arnošt Lustig, whose work he adapted for Loaf of Bread and DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT.
