Ladislav Gzela

In the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects.

In autumn 1941, Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich’s brutal rule in occupied Bohemia and Moravia fuels Czech resistance. In spring 1942, the government-in-exile sends trained paratroopers led by Lt. Král on a mission to assassinate him. Masters Strnad and Vyskočil ambush Heydrich’s open Mercedes in Prague’s Libeň district, mortally wounding him despite a jammed submachine gun. Their success triggers harsh Nazi reprisals, mass executions, and an intense manhunt for the operatives.

A 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accompanied by Cyrano de Bergerac and the characters from Jules Verne's novels about the conquest of the satellite.

A selfish self-centered widowed ruler, barely tolerated by his subjects and called appropriately enough, 'King Myself, First' asks his three daughters to name the measure of their love for him. When one of them says, "more than salt", he banishes her from the kingdom. Not understanding what she meant the King assumes love can only be measured by precious metals or one's own talent, the 'correct' answers from his other two daughters. The arrogance of the King leads him to gather all the salt in the kingdom and destroy it. Of course, this backfires as he slowly learns the universal value of the substance, and of course, the essence of his daughter's reply. With the help of the wise and magical old 'herb woman', the King also learns what it means to be a true and wise ruler.

A satire of the Great American Way, with Lemonade Joe a "clean living" gunfighter who drinks only Kola-Loca Lemonade and convinces everyone else in town (with his gun skills) that all "real men" drink ONLY lemonade!

Cast out by his father, young Ondrej joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, where he is raised by strict monk Armin. After years of hardship, Ondrej escapes from the Order when he is wrongly punished, and sets out for his former home. Arriving to discover his father to be dead, Ondrej now not only assumes control of his father's properties, but seeks to marry his former stepmother.

A group of outcasts, including a vagabond and a prostitute, gather at the outskirts of the industrial area of a large Czech city, one of the things that helps some of them survive is alcohol.

Pavel, a young student living in Prague in 1942, hides a Jewish girl in his apartment building's attic. Amidst the brutality of the occupying German army, love blossoms between the two. He is her only link to the outside world. Then the two are discovered by Pavel's mother, who forces the residents of the apartment building to decide whether Hana can remain.

The young Prince Charles (Jaromír Hanzlík), the future King of his country Charles IV, is being educated at the French court in the company of his fiancée Blanche (Daniela Kolárová). One day he receives a summons from his father John of Luxembourg (Milos Kopecký) in Italy. He leaves for Italy accompanied by a deputation from Bohemia. On the way the prince's company fights a battle with armed Milanese against heavy odds. Thanks to Charles's perspicacity, the prince's almost naked soldiers win through. In Lucca in Italy Charles joins his father, and here he experiences an amorous adventure and escapes from the traps laid by the Italian rebels.

Working in the city office is a bitter clerk who believes he has only 14 days to live and so he bravely stands up to his bureaucratic director.

On 20th of April 1945 the Soviet army launches its attack on Berlin. The end has come for Nazi Germany and Hitler decides to commit suicide. In Prague K.H. Frank (Nazi Secretary of State and Chief of police in the Protectorate of Bohemia a Moravia) discusses with his commanders how to transform the city into an impregnable fortress, but the Praguers do not intend to wait any longer. From the early hours of 4th of May people start assembling in the streets and tearing down German signs. On the next day, the 5th of May, the uprising begins.

A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.

Blazenka likes to imagine she is on a desolate island and has to find a way how to survive. After the death of her mother she stays together with her baby brother and has to take care of the family. In this difficult situation, she plays this role-game that helps her to deal with the sudden loss of her mother.

The leader of the emerging organized labor movement in the 1880s, Ladislav Zápotocký-Budečský, is exiled to his native village, where he works as a tailor and continues to raise social awareness among members of the working class.

JUDr. Kroupa will take over as President of the Civil Court from his colleague who is retiring. His job description is mostly to judge married couples who are divorcing and arguing over alimony, with the very least concern for the welfare of their children. With his new job, Kroupa "inherits" a handsome but peculiar secretary, Zdenka, who takes a liking to him. However, his attempts at courtship are occasionally thwarted by strange events...

When a comet passes the Earth at close range, it pulls a small part of North Africa with it. Carried along are a bunch of people, among them Angelika, who has just escaped from a ruthless weapon dealer's ship, and her two brothers, who are searching for her. Then there's a group of natives planning a rebellion against the French colonists. All conflicts become secondary when the people finally realize that they're doomed to live together on an alien planet. However, this time of peace and happiness won't last for long...

During the Nazi occupation of a Czech city civilians are being rounded up on the slightest of pretexts and shot. One day three high school boys who crack jokes about a recently deceased "hero of the Reich" are pulled out of school by the Gestapo.

During the Thirty Years' War, ploughman Petr, recruiter Matěj and country girl Lenka are caught up in both sides of the war and experience many adventures before they find happiness.

1. A taxi driver barely finishes his coffee before a young woman asks for a ride to impress her boyfriend, only to reveal her beau’s ramshackle “plan” beside his sleek car. He then smooths over a quarreling couple, helps a frustrated engineer solve his machine’s fault in a dream, and delivers a masked father’s gifts for his estranged daughter. 2. Mr. Kalina, an airport employee, fulfills a flight attendant’s plea by taking in an orphaned African girl for the night. He ensures her safe transfer to a children’s home the next day. 3. Zaza, a coquettish milliner’s assistant, juggles the attentions of a shy tailor and her stern salon manager. After a humiliating fall on the runway, the tailor comforts her and stages a private reprise, revealing where her heart truly belongs.

A dark fable set in an early 1950s Czech village, a time of Soviet-style socialism which saw the implementation of collectivized agriculture and the mass closure of monasteries and convents.

It is summer 1944. The war is far away from Slovak mountains for the time being. The head of forest management Borodác brings a new employee to complete the eight woodcutters work team of Czechs, Slovaks and one Pole - the young guy is Martin Uher, a former clerk form Prague. The eight tough men do not trust the newcomer at first, but as time is passing, they got used to him. After some time, Martin gets next to Julika, a young wife of the gamekeeper Tkác (Vlado Müller) and they begin to go out secretly. The gamekeeper knows that Martin had promised to cooperate with German Gestapo, after he had experienced a hard interrogation. In avoiding to be a grass, Martin leaves Prague to hide in Slovak mountains. Tkác wants Martin to inform on his colleagues who hide guns in the forest to ready to use them against Nazis.

We learn that the greatest virtue of socialist competition is collective cooperation. This is what the young, physically fit assembler refuses to understand. He suspects his co-workers of overlooking his merits out of jealousy. And it takes him a long time to understand that the individual alone can do nothing, that only the collective has the necessary strength - and therefore the truth.

An allegory set in an archetypal Czech village, it tells the story of what happens when a series of mysterious events take place, including the disappearance of the station master. While everything has a rational explanation, collective paranoia takes over and everyone's worst instincts are unleashed. Interrogations, disenfranchisement, and the search for scapegoats ultimately lead to murder. The movie was completed in 1969, but it was banned and not released till 1990, Evald Schorm who died in 1988 never saw it completed.

A stuffy middle-aged foreigner, a businessman named Fabricius, lonely and looking for a night's diversion, finds it in the form of a mysterious blonde. In an abandoned cemetery, she tells him three tales involving black magic and erotic obsession. In "The Last Golem," a young rabbi struggles to fashion a massive, silent giant out of living clay — until he's distracted by a mute servant girl. In the second episode, "Bread Slippers," an 18th-century countess indulges her passion for sweet cakes, adulterous affairs, and secret kisses with pretty maids until a mysterious visitor whisks her away to an abandoned mansion, where Fate has a different kind of dance in store for her. And in the final story, "Poisoned Poisoner," a ravishing murderess in the Middle Ages dispatches lecherous merchants to the tune of upbeat '60s Czech pop songs.

Even if a person grumbles about difficulties, he should realize that he will find a place where he did not want to go at all. Such an exemplary realization is also reached by a budding doctor who was assigned a remote border village as his first posting - his fiancé did not want to go to such a backwater at all. But the example of the local doctor, who is about to retire, convinces him that a good doctor is needed everywhere.

According to one Beskydy Mountains legend, if you do a good deed you will see silver trees. Little Ondra knows trees like that. In his family's cottage hangs a picture showing silver firs, a person falling from a height and a watch. In art lessons Ondra paints trees of the same kind. - One day Lojzek Hojgr, a man who climbs fir trees to gather the seeds, comes to see Ondra's parents. Long-ago Ondra's father has had such a job and Lojzek is his long-time friend. Hojgr moves into a half-ruined wood cabin. Ondra's father takes him on a visit to Lojzek and both demonstrate the beautiful but dangerous work of seed-gathering to the boy.

Telling the prisoners of a death camp. Boxer Tony Majer, who got into a concentration camp for a fight with the Gestapo, remembers the murderous work in quarries, on the cruel torture of the Nazis and prison solidarity that helped him survive.

Set in a bleak, filth-ridden provincial hospital, a disillusioned doctor begins to find the philosophical ramblings of a mental patient more stimulating than the company of "sane" society. As their relationship deepens amidst the grimy and decaying wards, the doctor's own mental health is called into question by his suspicious colleagues.

An orphaned young woman named Jana moves into the household of Robert and his older, possessive wife, Klára. While Klára maintains a strict and manipulative control over the home, a mutual attraction develops between Robert and Jana. The three characters continue to live together as their domestic tensions increase.

In the Hussite times, religious truth was sifted even on the tips of weapons. When in 1430 the Hussites set out on a raid to Nuremberg, the so-called Spanila Cavalry, to defend their doctrine, the young commander of the cavalry, the landowner Keřský, whose bride had once been kidnapped by a vicious crusader, saw it as an opportunity for personal revenge. Although Oldřich Daněk has tried to establish a distinctive interpretation of historical events, he reflects on where the blinded desire to punish a bad deed with further cruelty leads, but his version seems too thesis-like and lifeless, it does not rise above the descriptively illustrated scenes from old Czech chronicles...

Frantík arrives in Prague for the holidays and discovers an abandoned tram named Terezka. With local children, he secretly paints and hides it to prevent scrapping, then organizes a scrap-metal collection to raise funds for its restoration.

Pavlata, the director of an educational institution for juvenile offenders, will push for the early release of Pepík Adamec, whom he respects for his sincere efforts and good work record. However, the boy bears the dishonest and dishonourable behaviour of adults in his new job and in his family.

The unfortunate 1930s also befell the student Standa Půlpán. For existential reasons, he had to abandon his studies and entered the mines. However, he only slowly and with difficulty became close to the older miners, rough men who were closed in on themselves. Only his brave stand in rescuing people who were trapped in a mining accident will win him the solidarity of the entire mining collective. Even Karel Čapek's draft once lent itself to promoting an exacerbated class interpretation of social relations.

Czech nobleman Petr Vok of Rozmberk (Milos Kopecký) is no longer so young, but his amatory adventures continue to arouse the envy of men and the indignation of respectable ladies. In his "female retinue" at the chateau in Bechyne he has twelve comely girls, but he still manages to seduce the miller's wife and the maid. Lord Vok is in great financial difficulties. His elder brother Vilém advises him to marry a rich woman. Petr surprises him by announcing his intention to marry the very young Katerina of Ludanice.

As a young actor František Lukávec and his teacher Vladimir Tuma became enemies. František insisted that Tuma was dismissed from the school as a reactionary and hostile to the new government. Many years passed, and here they met again on the stage of a theater. František is assigned the role of Julius Fucik, Tuma plays the role of a Gestapo man in the same play. In the course of the action, the Gestapo man beats Fucik. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tuma beats up his old enemy during the dress rehearsal. Frantisek's face is bleeding, but he will still play. The rehearsal continues...

It is the summer of 1968 and also in South Moravian Pálavice appear political clashes. The so far peacefully farming Unified farmers' cooperative starts splitting. Some of the farmers have found the cooperative called Vidrupa and want to deal with wine in private trade. Michal Janák, chairman of the farmers' cooperative is a deliberate man and refuses the latent return to the capitalism. As an excellent farmer he continues preparing planting out new vineyards. His adversaries do not agree - the returns will come many years later. Jozka Hrdlicka, an émigré, notices on the Austrian TV the interview with the representatives of Vidrupa and decides to visit his native village. The new suit and the hired car transform the bankrupt and criminal to the successful businessman with wine.

Two short stories by Karel Čintamani a ptáci An avid collector of carpets, MUDr. Vitásek discovers a unique piece in Mrs. Severýnová's junk shop - a Persian carpet with a pattern of birds. As a connoisseur, he knows that there are only three of these carpets in existence and they are all owned by different monarchs. Severyn has no idea how rare it is, but the carpet is not for sale. It was saved by the wealthy widow Zanelli, who travels all over the world and rarely visits Prague. Vitásek confides in his lawyer friend Bimbal and with his help tries to retrieve the rare piece. Tales of a marriage fraudster The police headquarters is on high alert as marriage frauds proliferate. The hallmark of the culprit is violin playing and gold teeth. Inspector Pigeon of the train service eventually apprehends the fraudster, Vincent Plichta. The serious criminal doesn't resist arrest, he just bills the costs and goes to serve his sentence. After a while, marriage fraud is reported again.

Funny banter about love, sex, social status, and other ideals, while a new railway employee is trained and sent on his first run as driver.

Screen adaptation of Julius Fucik's story about communist fighters.

The sad hero of the story, Petr, an ordinary lawyer in a construction company, is crowded into a small apartment in Žižkov with his wife and grandparents, desperately struggling with the lack of money. One day he offers an old man a seat on a crowded trolley bus and is generously rewarded for his good deed, for the unknown old man is a fabulous grandfather. He gives Peter a magic bell and the opportunity to make three wishes, but the first two slip through his fingers. For the third, the astonished man must take time to think...

The second part of the revolutionary Hussite trilogy takes place in the years 1419-1420.

The movie describes proletarian life in the Czech Lands after World War I.

After the battle of Sudoměř the Hussite teaching spreads through the whole country and people start leaving their homes to help build the fortification of Tábor. Prague citizens request help against the army of Zikmund. The Hussite army with Jan Žižka in the lead make their way towards Prague. They fortify themselves on the mountain Vítkov and engage in a bloody battle with Zikmund’s huge army.

Prague in the 1870s. Work in Smolík's sulphur factory is hard and dangerous to health. The poorly paid workers resemble torches because their clothes are soaked with poisonous phosphorus. Young Josef Rezler also works in the sulphur factory and uses his earnings to feed his mother and little sisters. He throws his perpetually drunken father out of the house. The older worker Brož forces Josef to learn to read and write. A cholera epidemic breaks out in Prague and Josef is the only one of his family to survive the disease...

The story of a childhood dream come true. Schoolchildren discover an abandoned poultry farm with an artificial hatchery and agree to raise their own chicks. They devote all their energies to it and wait anxiously for the little chicks to come into the world. Before that happens, they face many obstacles...

In this crime story, surprisingly, neither the all-powerful criminals nor the spies or saboteurs are pursued, as was once common. The plot is almost mundane: someone unwittingly siphoned off alcohol from a tanker, unaware that it was deadly methyl alcohol, intended for industrial use. Finding out where the poison has been transported and which people it endangers requires painstaking work.

Second half of the 19th century. In a small town in South Bohemia, fifth-former Jan Ratkin is living through the confusions of first love together with his classmates.

Kaspar Len returns home after three years in the army. He vainly searches for the mason Kryštof’s family where he had lived before he left. All he finds out is that Kryštof’s daughter Márynka, who was in his thoughts all those years, is now working in the local brothel. He goes to visit her and Márynka tells him of the misfortunes which befell her family.

The family is connected with Prague's "Kolbenka", the ČKD locomotive factory. Grandfather Antonín, already retired, son Rudolf, a master in the locomotive assembly section and grandson Antonín, a promising football player. The film also tells the story of Rudolf's daughter Vera - each generation has its own ideas about life and cannot identify with the others. The film is linked by retrospective sequences from the lives of Antonín the Elder and Rudolf, especially from the war years. It is a realistic take on working-class life, unencumbered by ideology (despite the opening dedication), featuring well-known and time-tested actors in mainly male roles.

Olga finds her husband Karel Brand, whom she has just divorced, shot dead after returning from the cinema. It appears to be a clear case of suicide, but Lieutenant Dusek of the Public Security Service suspects that it is a murder, which, it is not impossible, as a number of evidences point against it, could have been committed by Mrs Olga. A letter from the dead man to his wife seems to dispel any doubt that it could have been murder. Lieutenant Dusek, however, investigates further. Much more than he, however, learns about the true circumstances from Mrs. Olga's legal advisor, Dr. Klimesh. He learns that the letter is indeed a forgery and that Brand's death is linked to the raids of an anti-state gang. He hesitates for a long time whether to confide in security, believing that doing so would testify in favor of Dusek's theory that the murder was committed by Olga...

A poor miner, Kuba Dařbuján, cares for his wife Markýtka and eleven children. When a newborn arrives, he seeks a godfather and, finding only Death fair to all, accepts a pact: as a doctor whom Death accompanies at the foot of a patient’s bed, he can heal; but if Death stands at the head, no cure is possible. Kuba eventually heals even a miserly brewer, violating the pact and imprisoning Death, leading to a world where no one can die and unforeseen chaos follows.

The border must be guarded against insidious intruders, of that the brave border guard has no doubt. He takes in a shot dog, gains its trust, and eventually, thanks to it, catches an enemy agent who wanted to disrupt the peaceful life of our progressive people.

Three stories from the school environment, mostly from the perspective of teachers. In the first story we see an unnecessarily strict teacher, in the middle one a sports career is glossed over, which causes a young teacher to leave his job. In the final story, on the other hand, an experienced high school teacher goes to teach in a rural school to gain inner peace.

Labakan is a lazy tailor's journeyman dreaming of a life of luxury and dresses himself in fancy clothes for the rich emir, and when he sees how respectfully people greet him in the marketplace, he seizes the opportunity that unexpectedly presents itself. For he meets the Sultan's son Omar, who was brought up by the noble Cairo Pasha and is now returning home. Labakan steals the Sultan's dagger, his trademark, and sets out to find him. However, the Sultan's wife recognizes her true son and forces the Sultan to put both men to the test. Both have to prove their skill by sewing a coronation gown, which of course only the real tailor Labakan will be able to do, and so the executioner awaits him. Fortunately, it was all a dream and the foolish young man will make amends in time.

The life of the famous French writer Alexander Dumas the Elder. Screenwriter Jaroslav Dietl did not hide his admiration for this literary giant, and in addition to the screenplay he also wrote a three-part TV play about Dumas (starring Vladimír Menšík). In Kachyn's film, Dumas played the father and son of the Štěpánková brothers, and it was a very difficult and difficult task for these young actors.

A short story film depicting the three different faces of crime. In the short story "The Weekend", Karas kills a woman he raped some time ago in order to silence her. However, he accidentally kills another woman. In "Hostages", a drug addict, Chaban, terrorizes the hospital's operating team, but the disciplined doctors handle the difficult situation. In "The Pickpocket", the thief Benda wants to return to his trade immediately after his release, but his attempt ends tragically.

The history of the rebellion of the brave Chody, led by Jan Sladký Kozina and Matěj Přibek, against the violent tyranny of the foreign nobleman Maximilian Lamminger of Albenreuth. Based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek.

An anthology of three absurd, ironic tales inspired by Čapek’s “Tales from One Pocket” and “Fables and Side Stories,” each showing uncanny forces disrupting ordinary lives: in Krejčík’s “Glorie,” a gentle clerk is haunted by a sudden halo; the other two segments by Mach and Makovec similarly blend everyday routines with ironic, supernatural twists.

Ancient crimes are once again encroaching on a man who failed during the occupation. So he wants to cover his tracks with another murder...

Two young returnees from the First World War face a difficult future because they cannot find work. One eventually finds a job as an electrician, the other breaks into the Social Democratic press, where he gets the chance to watch up close how the Social Democratic leadership deceives its members and enters the service of the ruling classes. And a newly-trained journalist solves the problem of whether he should also adapt to the corrupt environment...

Young Jan Stehlík signs up for a job to build a new mine. On the train he meets the pretty Alena, who falls in love with him. However, she means nothing to the superficial Jan, and when the girl becomes his lover, he treats her rudely and insultingly. But Alena's relationship troubles the honest Joseph, who really likes her.

Set in a 1950s Moravian wine village, an elderly Josef, guided by his quirky life philosophy and humor, recalls key moments from his past. Across nine seasonal vignettes filled with local folklore and customs, he and his fellow elders remain fully engaged in the joys and trials of village life.

Three detective stories, three different views of life and death... Collection of three horror short stories.

Delinquent youths wander aimlessly and commit mischief. Few, however, manage to break free from the influence of such a gang. One of the lucky ones is a girl who grew up in an orphanage - already reformed and reformed, she remembers her dark past.

A few bus-loads of holidaymakers from the agricultural cooperative on a day trip arrive to see the show at the Slavia Circus. But, they have bad luck. It is Monday, the day on which the employees have their extra day off.

Soldier Honza Marek got a three-day leave. Marta, whom he dated before the war, did not wait for him, but she prefers him again to her new admirer, the impractical and still dreamy Ivan...

In the middle of the eighteenth century, at the time of the Prusso-Austrian War, a cuirassier, a hussar and an infantryman meet by chance and hide together in a secluded place. The war has left different marks on each of them, but they all long for normal human happiness. Although they initially have different attitudes towards military service, they are changed by their stay in seclusion and the atmosphere of life in a peasant cottage and refuse to return to the Austrian army. But all three Theresian "misfits" take up arms again, which they no longer want to touch, when the solitude is overrun by the Prussians. They manage to cover the escape of the family and their child, but pay with their lives.