Čestmír Řanda

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 this zany Czechoslovakian comedy, a scientist invents a machine that projects a sleeping person's dream on a screen; disaster soon follows when the machine malfunctions and the cartoon-like dream characters become very real!

A wonderful fairytale about looking for love, defeating evil and learning some valuable moral lessons on the way. The story begins with the young Prince Velen, who is left in charge of the castle and his three sisters. During the night he has a visitation and before he knows it, all his sisters are married off and gone away, and himself falls in love with beautiful Večernice. Now he is faced with the King's wraths and charged with a quest. The journey, however, hides obstacles and danger; not only treacherous merchants and robbers, but also a evil wizard Mrakomor...

In a Prague shop, an assistant has been carrying on an affair with the dishonest, married manager. An emotionally repressed auditor with domestic problems of his own uncovers serious stock discrepancies. A test of loyalties and a questioning of values concludes in tragedy.

The film is a metaphor for the Cold War. It depicts two neighbouring nations: peace loving Fortuna and the not so peaceful land of the Steel City.

Five young people take off in a lighter-than-air machine at the Prague Centennial Exhibition. In an Art Nouveau style, the film consists of live action generally shot in black and white, as well as hand-drawn, stop-motion, and cutout animation. Various live-action and animated elements are often composited into the same scene.

The heroes of this absurd comedy, full of confusion and humor are Dzharda Zemanek and Frantisek Liska.

After a soldier cuts off the arm of king's cousin, king decides to deactivate the army. Of course, generals don't like it at all and they try to kill the king. The assassin should be artificial body in the shape of actress Evelina Keleti and with brain of psychotic serial killer Fany Stubová. They also manage to kill king's astrologer Stuart Hampl, who warns the king. Accidentally, Hampl's brain is implanted into assassin's body, actress Keleti is killed and chaos begins.

Wandering through the forest, a woodcutter finds a golden fern whose seed turns into a beautiful woman - they fall in love. After getting drunk in a village feast, he gets to sign up to the army. The fairy gives him a shirt to wear and asks him to swear he will never abandon it. At the war front, he falls in love with the the colonel's daughter and will have to perform various feats to get her attention.

In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, a doctor-turned-warehouse employee reluctantly agrees to treat a gravely wounded political fugitive, putting himself and everyone living in his building complex in danger.

The year is 1936, the nervous atmosphere of the Nazi threat penetrates into the sport. Upgrade boxe Vilda Jakub will compete with German Kurt Schaller. The Nazis decisions are used in order to win his master even the dirtiest means. Vilda inspect their game and focus on the preparation of environmental events. The story culminates in the victory of one of the two lovers, between which Vilda tense moments in the decision.

There are still water spirits among us. One group lives in Prague, led by Mr. Wassermann, who is using his wife's family as a servants. All they need is their old house near the river. But the house is to be demolished. They have to stop it. And the only way is to drown Dr. Mrácek, who is responsible for the demolition. But he falls in love with Wassermann's niece Jana. He changes to fish, is mistaken for water spirit from Germany, is drowned and revived again. The other problem is the flour with ears... and so on...

​In 1947 Prague, Holocaust survivor Dita lives in a hostel for orphans, acting as a protective mentor to a younger girl while failing to fix her own shattered life. Unable to form lasting bonds or find a place in a society that has moved on, she drifts through emotional isolation.

The water sprite Toníček fell in love with the beautiful and hard-working Andulka, but her father did not approve, so he sent her to Prague to work as a servant. Toníček did not give up and went to look for her. All the water sprites from Prague and the surrounding area helped him, but Andulka was nowhere to be found. Of course, she was eventually found, but it was not easy.

Pavel is a Czech partisan fighter in the waning days of the war. Just as peace is declared, Pavel is shot in the spine and sent to the hospital emergency ward. As he fades in and out of consciousness, he recalls the events that led to his participation in the underground. Holding German occupation commander Engelchen responsible for all the horrors and deprivations heaped upon his comrades, Pavel is kept alive by the possibility of recovering and exacting vengeance upon the Nazi officer - no matter how long it takes.

An only son, Jirí Valenta (Jaromír Hanzlík), has been drafted to the army. At the barracks he acquires the nickname Seamstress because he sews rugs in his spare time. One day, his friend introduces him to Julka Vávrová (Jorga Kotrbová), a girl he is desperate to get rid of. The naive Jirí falls in love with the girl and accepts her invitation to spend Easter together in the country. There he learns that the girl is the single mother of the young boy Martínek, whose father is the married tractor driver.

A small town is one day visited by a priest who is there on a secret mission. He is a member of the Inquisition sent to investigate the activities of a local miller. The miller and his son are the descendants of an old family whose ancestral home burned down a century ago, but was rebuilt from scratch. The miller inherited much of his knowledge about the land, water, and a building's stability from generations of family experience. His reputation for finding water and predicting when a structure might collapse have come to the attention of the Inquisition -surely he must be in league with the Devil.

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Story about the people around the circus and the unfortunate love of a young man an acrobat. Before the dispute escalates so much that, according to the old clown, Vincek ends up with a noose on his back and Lotyš in a bass, fate intervenes and the young acrobat is called up to the war, where he serves with the dragoons. After serving his time and being released into civilian life, he sets out to find the National with his beloved Nina. However, she has not been with the circus for almost a whole year. Her parents took her away and Vincek, to the chagrin of his friends and the principal, decides to go looking for her. After a long journey, he finds his beloved in the Russian Kuznecki circus, but she has changed a lot during the years of separation. A simple girl in love has turned into a calculating, ambitious woman who desires money above all. But Vincek doesn't have you.

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The exemplary accountant Antonín Safránek lives his orderly life as a citizen of a small town. His wife Eliska brings up their three children and desperately tries to get by on her husband's low salary every month. At the same time, she sadly watches the luxurious life of their neighbor and other people like him who have no qualms about improving their standard of living by cheating. One day, the infallible Safránek makes a mistake in the cash clearance and there are nine one-hundred Crown bills left in the safe. An unexpected company control carried out the next day passes without problems and the account is closed. The temptation is too strong. The insufficient control enables Safránek to gradually steal one million Crowns.

Ordinary man making his dirty actions in the small town and his coming to the right side.

Three retired soldiers - veterans who wander the world - receive magical gifts from elves - a bottomless bag of gold coins, a hat for any wish, and a harp for conjuring giants. The soldiers, thus gifted, set off for a kingdom that is a bit strange. King Pikola lives there with his daughter Bosana, with whom Bimbác falls in love. Bosana is not only beautiful, but also treacherous and gradually deprives the soldiers of all their gifts and has them banished...

Mr. Benda, a married father of two children, works for a company that liquidates old banknotes. After one drunken party, he is visited by a painter who tattooed his back in drunkenness the previous night. The image tattooed on Benda’s back is considered the painter’s best work by the professionals.

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.

Czechoslovakian Zbynek Brynych directs this psychological drama set in World War II Terezin ghetto. A dark, visual portrayal of the trials and tribulations the Theresienstadt people faced on a daily basis presented in a series of memorable stories. Their hopes and dreams unfold against the perpetual threat of deportation (or worse) by the Nazis. Based on the novel "Night and Hope" by Arnost Lustig.

An animal lover father brings home a cuddlesome female chimp named Tereza from his latest around the world and adopts her as a pet...

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.

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...

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The Ronov castle has been changed into a hotel, offering stylish facilities to its guests: weddings in the torture chamber, a Black Lancer kidnapping brides, a night's lodging in a family tomb etc. The reformed petty swindler Felix Pacínek (Bohumil Smída) runs the hotel. The business is far from thriving; the place is half-empty, and the jazz band Skeleton, together with their singer Zuzanka (Jaroslava Obermaierová), decide to leave. Nobody in the hotel has any idea that the band is in fact a gang of thieves who have just robbed the Prague State Bank, taking two million crowns from its vaults.

It is 5 May 1945 and the uprising against the hated German occupiers has broken out in Prague. The Czech guards open the gate of the Pankrác prison to allow the prisoners to escape en masse. Many of them are shot dead by the German guards but young Ruda (Jaromír Hanzlík) manages to run away. He is taken care of by one of the Prague fighters, concierge Kytka. Kytka hides him in the flat of the house's owner where only the young maid Karla (Jana Brejchová) is left, ordering her to take care of Ruda.

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.

Saxony, devastated by the Thirty Years' War, is led by the comedy troupe of the principal Fortunato. The student Vavrinec has fled Bohemia and greatly values the text of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, which he has acquired on his wanderings around the world.

The opera lady singer Ema Destinnová is in all her splendor at the American stages. But in Europe there rages war and she decides to return home to Bohemia.

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This castle has its own ghost - a mysterious White lady. She emerges from the painting on the wall when someone speaks out magic formula. White lady is good ghost, she can make someone's wishes true. Even if it is a new duct. But a miracle is not the thing that Communist leaders want in the town.

Set in the early 1930s, a young man finds a job as a dishwasher in a hotel and quickly works his way up the ladder. Loosely based on the novel by Henryk Worcell.

The three Potůčks live in a house in Ouplavice: a widower grandfather, a son whose wife has run away, and a still unmarried grandson. The father works as chairman of the agricultural cooperative, the son leads the local youth and the pensioner grandfather supplies the two of them with lots of witty advice through the trumpet of his inseparable pipe. They've got a lot on their minds right now. Their village is in competition with neighbouring Piscory, and their opponents are using dishonest weapons to fight...

A crime writer is accused of being too imaginative and his ideas unworkable, but everything changes when an international criminal demands his professional cooperation. The somewhat freaked out and disbelieving hero is also surprised to discover that his own wife has unsuspected criminal tendencies...

Criminals have their hands full: first a shoplifting, soon the murder of a young driver. Do these crimes have anything in common? But the attempt to create a suspenseful story is broken by its unimaginative nature.

At the end of May 1918, released prisoners return to the Rumburk garrison from Russian captivity, hoping that the war is over for them. The only thing they want is to get their withheld ...

The holiday story revolves around the children of editor Hlavsa and their desire to get a dog. Dad bravely faces his children's wish and all he cares about is the dreamed summer peace. However, the editor's unexpectedly requested regular feature stories from the children's lives change everything. The uproar in the pages of the newspaper and the children's determination not to give up on their dream leads to the hope that something four-legged might eventually turn up at the Hlavs' after all.

When you hear the word "Naughty Fairy Tale", you will undoubtedly think that it could not have been invented by anyone other than Josef Lada, a master of turning fairy tales inside out. And that's true. No brave prince, but Princess Máňa will free the innocent Honza from hell and make such order there that the devils will only hate to remember her.

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.

A fairy tale about how those who have a heart and are not stingy will not fail. The most popular hero of Czech fairy tales, besides the brave prince and the beautiful princess, is undoubtedly Honza, who is often not stupid at all, but on the contrary brave, clever, handsome and cheerful.

Game Hubač George, honored at Golden Prague 1977 and the MTF Monte Carlo 1978, one of the most original works of Czech Television production. The dramatic story of a father, son and entire family addresses a serious social problem that brings with it dangers of alcoholism.

The sequel to the film Icarus focuses on the further fates of pianist Kára, who decided to fight the demon of alcohol. With the support of his family, he enters an alcohol treatment center. He decided to undergo treatment voluntarily. He did not want to continue to torment his family, who care so much about him. In the treatment center, he gradually gets used to the new environment and the harsh daily routine. He also meets several patients, and perhaps the closest he gets to know is the alcoholic Fendrych. The man's struggle to gain new self-esteem and restore damaged relationships with his surroundings begins.

A cunning plan to deprive an "illegal millionaire" of his ill-gotten wealth. But the catch is that someone else has an even more subtle plan...

On the train to Prague, the bride-to-be Zuzana Vítová accidentally meets the clerk Dr. Karel Jánský. Upon arriving in Prague, it seems that Jánský follows the girl on her way from the station, but it turns out that the two of them have only a common journey. When Zuzana discovers that her fiancé Petr Klika is not at home and that she has lost the keys to his apartment, Dr. Jánský gallantly helps her and keeps her company until deep into the night...

February 1948. The struggle of decisive social forces for the heart of Europe.

A satire about small and large crooks who thrive in a planned economy. They made great use of all its strengths and weaknesses.

At the funeral of his schoolmate, the nearly-fifty-year old architect Jirí Mánek (Václav Voska) meets his former close acquaintance - physician Jarmila (Blanka Bohdanová). They both are still single. Jarmila has recently returned to Prague after years of work on the frontier. Jirí leaves for a business trip. As a conservationist, he is to grant permission for an adaptation of a Baroque château to office spaces. On the road, a pretty young hitchhiker named Eva (Ida Rapaicová) stops him. Eva is Slovak and her spontaneous behavior enchants Jirí. He thus does not mind making a short detour and takes Eva all the way to the luxurious cottage of her parents. A romance develops between the two people, so different in age and temperament.

The discovery of an unexploded aerial bomb on a construction site brings a shock to the peaceful existence of a small town: the sudden threat makes at least some people rethink their previous attitudes.

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It is 1905. The police director gets Jindrich Legenda (Eduard Cupák) shadowed as, yet Legenda had served his sentence for a burglary, the jewels have not been found. Russian revolution encouraged also Czech workers to fight for their rights. Radical anarchists are followed by Legenda's friend Karel Wohryzek (Vladimír Mensík) who was forced to collaborate with the police as he was convicted of pornography distribution.

A television adaptation of the classic comedy by Ukrainian playwright N. V. Gogol.

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.

Set in a South Bohemian village, this faithful film version of Smetana’s opera follows farmer Krušina’s plan to marry his daughter Mařenka to wealthy Vašek. Mařenka loves Jeník, a stranger. Through matchmaking schemer Kecal’s plots and revealed identities, true love triumphs in a festive village wedding.

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The already old King Charles IV. is fully devoted to politics and reigning and does not have as much time for his wife Anna Svídnická (third in line) as the young and in love monarch would like. Anna therefore weaves a small intrigue to incite the king to jealousy. The second picture from the life of the aging Charles IV. concerns his last wife Elizabeth. On the contrary, she does not desire the king's tenderness at all and prefers to devote herself to the problems of the monarchy. But this time it is the king who craves marital joys, and therefore tries to arouse jealousy in the queen...

A story about a meeting of high school graduates from Písek, a story about the enduring power of friendship, love, honesty and duty.

Managers at the construction of a big hydro plant are accused of having embezzled money.

Konvalinka, a notorious betting man, has become the scourge of the establishment. He can turn anything into a bet. During one such bet, when he is not ashamed to take advantage of the manager to win, he is noticed by the owner's brother, Bohus, who is visiting a friend. After finding out who Konvalinka really is, he decides to shake the bettor down. Since he works as the manager of a small South Bohemian pub, he sets up a big operation to punish Konvalinka. He is seconded in this plan by his cougar father-in-law and Bohouš's St. Bernard son Pepa.