Martin Huba

Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the inter-war period. Jan Dítě, a young and clever waiter who wants to become a millionaire, comes to the conclusion that to achieve his ambitious goal he must be diligent, listen and observe as much as he can, be always discreet and use what he learns to his own advantage; but the turbulent tides of history will continually stand in his way.

Salzburg, Germany, 2000. The elderly Czech actress Lída Baarová tells a journalist the tumultuous story of her rise to fame in 1930s Berlin and her passionate relationship with the sinister Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of the Third Reich.

In 1943, a childless couple, the Čížeks, decide to hide a Jewish refugee, David Wiener, the son of Čížek's former employer, in the secret pantry of their apartment. Čížek is aware of the danger into which he has brought his household and his neighbours, but he takes helping his fellow man in need for granted. But at the same time, as a largely unheroic hero, he is dying of fear. His personal situation is greatly complicated by the approaching end of the war, when he faces danger from both the Germans and his "honest" fellow Czechs...

Prince Louis Ottomar Charles XII, born Noble, is very close to his loving mother, Queen Ludmilla. However, Prince Louis is already a bit too old, he is 39 years old. He's afraid of almost everything, doesn't want to get married, and spends most of his life hanging around the sumptuous castle and adjacent fields. The wise King Radomil therefore prepares an unexpected gift for him - the prince wakes up one morning in the forest in ordinary clothes and, accompanied by the rough knight Hudroval, he is to go out into the world to learn what life is all about and perhaps finally grow up. On his great journey of adventure, he will encounter things he has only read about in books. He will meet a powerful wizard, evil witches, a ghost, and the Lady Death herself... and maybe even find the love of his life. What will Mummy say about all this? And will Father King be happy?

A man takes up residence with a mysterious marquis and is soon persuaded to enter into an asylum for preventative therapy. Things are not what they seem, and the marquis may be even more sinister than what the young man might have predicted.

An opera troupe in a small town decides to perform Mozart's Don Giovanni. The view behind the scenes uncovers the world of opera without the glitter. A tale of love and disappointment, about music and passionate love-making and about people that live their lives in spite of the opera.

The most famous gypsy prima donna, Cinka Panna, lived and worked in the 18th century at the crossroads of two worlds: the aristocracy she played for and the gypsy community in which she lived her private life. A community that had its own rules of existence. In the spirit of tradition, she was sold into marriage. A young woman's desire is to succeed in a traditionally male profession. To become the first prima donna. But the goal requires sacrifice. Historical, narrative, the story captures a universal theme: the struggle for recognition and a place in the world. It reminds us that times and costumes change, but human problems remain... And these are what make the film's story timeless.

A story that takes place during Advent, we'll meet again with your favorite pair angel Petronel and devil Urias. Their eternal wrangling causes the rare apple from the tree of the knowledge to roll on earth. And that God is really angry. Petronel with Urias find themselves in a small Czech town on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas. And after a series of human and "divine" tests our heroes eventually find that the path to knowledge leads primarily through self discovery through the strength of friendship, love and forgiveness skills.

No description available.

“A burned-out group of Brno intellectuals decides to go to Kolochava in Ukraine to perform ‘A Ballad for a Bandit’ there.” With these words, the author's collective presents their film, in which they use primarily documentary imagery to compose a lyrical grotesque about an epochal trip, which might be their goal. But it doesn't have to be. The main tool of expression here is the film’s edit, which places various shots, statements, and meanings next to each other, often in a sort of productive conflict. Just like in a poem, the “poetic function” of art and its ability to serve as the primary tool for expressing beauty is manifested in full force before our very eyes.

Milan and Goran are two criminals who smuggle illegal immigrants. One night after they complete a smuggle, they discover that one of the immigrants has left a baby behind. Milan and Goran decide to sell the baby to Lubos and Eman, who are responsible for running an illegal baby adoption center. Lubos and Eman make attempts to sell the baby to Miluska and Frantisek, a barren couple.

The nurse Helga meets Baltic nobleman Arno when he's wounded in the Russo-Finnish war. They have a short but passionate affair before Arno is called back to the front and dies. Helga has a daughter, Dorli, as a result of the affair and they have to struggle to survive after the Red Army wins the war.

"Using the same, three times repeating dialogue – dramatic conversation between man and woman – Jerzy Skolimowski from Poland, Slovak director Peter Solan and Czech director Zbynìk Brynych shot three different stories. The result was an extraordinary experiment in the world cinema, which we can call an insight in the relationships of men and women of different age groups, an analysis of love and marriage of those who are at the beginning, in the middle or going towards the end of their life."

The TV adaptation of Ivan Stodola's satirical theatre comedy tells the story of a shy charity official who is looking forward to a definitive life with a charming colleague. One day, however, in return for a promised favor, he confesses to the embezzlement of three thousand crowns, which his womanizing boss "borrowed" from the treasury. When forty thousand disappears from his table, Jožko Púčik is automatically considered a thief and ends up in custody. The man passively accepts his fate because he believes in justice. Moreover, charitable associations begin to get ahead of themselves in paying support for him and his poor sister. However, the existing accusations are also added to the accusation of murdering the janitor. Jožko has a lot to do to convince the investigating judge that he is an honest man. However, as it turns out, this is the worst thing Púčik could have done...

A 19 year old nonconformist poet living in 1947 Czechoslovakia is blind to the Communist behemoth looking over him, and instead lives a bohemian life with sexually liberated girls.

The young Munich sensational reporter Raoul Miller has attacked a lot of people in his cocaine report, who now take terrible revenge: they kill his girlfriend Raphaela and his parents. The drug mafia also ensures that Raoul loses his good reputation and becomes an outsider. But Raoul does not give up...

A funny outlaw tale inspired by traditional folk humour. Pacho is no ordinary outlaw. He detests injustice and feudal oppression and he copes with each troublesome situation with the help of his cleverness and wit.

The story of little orphan Michálek, whom the greedy greengrocer Haboš wants to rob of his cottage, so he lures him on a journey to find treasure and abandons him in a dark cave. Dobroděj, Lord of Radhošť, shows Michálek the way to a magical flower in an enchanted garden. The boy must overcome many of the sorcerer's traps and returns as a grown man. The evil sorcerer kidnaps Countess Bělinka from the castle, and Michal sets out to find her.

When magic and malice combine to gain power, bad times can come to the land - and that's exactly what happened in the kingdom our story takes you to. An evil sorcerer decides to kidnap Princess Kvetusha, and out of his desire to control everything, he is aided in his quest by his sister. The young prince decides to set Quetusha, his bride, free. In order to do so, he must not only overcome many hardships along the way, but also accomplish almost impossible tasks at the wizard's castle. He succeeds only thanks to the help of three friends: the Long One, who, when stretched, can reach perhaps to the stars; the Wide One, who, when stretched, can hold more than all the barrels in the world; and the Bright One, who, even blindfolded, can see more and better than the others in broad daylight. They free the princess, punish the evil, and go out into the world to help more. Who knows, maybe these - or other - friends will one day help you too.

The film tells the story of the relationship between a mentally disabled uncle and his nephew, whom fate brings together at a certain moment, gradually forming a bond between them that is a demonstration of the strength and "power" of friendship. This is then put to the test by those who, for various reasons, try to separate them. Among other things, the film is a confrontation between the two main, innocent protagonists and those who lost their innocence long ago and are guided primarily by what can benefit them, often at any cost.

Loyalty, history and regret take center stage for university professor Pavel Josek, lauded for standing up to the communist regime when it counted most. But as a TV documentary starts to focus in on the facts of his past, new truths are uncovered which may threaten his reputation.

Over the course of a year, in a small town scarred and beaten down by industrialization, Tonda and Monika, friends since childhood, come to experience what life might be like if they could be with one another – which they seemingly can't. Or can they?

No description available.

The drama of a man driven to crime by the mechanism of violence in an American prison. It is an indictment of American justice and the barbarically cruel methods of prison staff. Based on Jack London's novel "The Star Rover".

The new owner Štěpán arrives at the castle at the foot of the Krkonoš Mountains with his fiancée, the beautiful countess Blanka, and his younger brother Adam. There is another new visitor in the mountain town, the ethnographer Jiráček, who collects local legends and is amazed that the local people still believe in Krakonoš. Štěpán's carriage knocks down a passing girl, whom Adam helps and she falls in love with him. Will Liduška's love for Adam come true? What mystery does the painting at Hůrka Castle hide and what terrible thing once happened in the mountains? Who will decipher the mysterious marks of the Italian book? And who is Krakonoš and what is his biggest secret?

No description available.

TV adaptation of short stories from the world of humour. In the dramatised short stories Seven Teapots by M. Saki, The Substitute by G. Maupassant and Signora by L. Pirandello, we will see in the main role the outstanding Slovak actress Zdena Grúberová.

The star Svituška, paired with the admired Sirius, is one day cast down to earth by the jealous star Proxima. Svituška falls into a village where she is found and cared for by a teacher named Václav. Svituška has only a few days to return to the sky or she will perish. She relies on Sirius to rescue her, but intrigues by Proxima keep him away. Each evening, Václav watches the princess skating on the frozen lake and harbors a secret love for her. One night, Svituška accompanies him and, upon seeing the princess, rekindles her own light, fueled by the power of Václav’s pure love for the princess. With Václav’s help, Svituška will survive until she can return to the heavens.

On 26 September 1928, Karel Capek and President T.G. Masaryk meet in the gardens of Topolcianky castle to decide about the fate of their joint literary work. Their fiction film dialogue is based on quotes from a future book and their mutual correspondence, considerably freeing the original format of literary conversation from binding conventions. Capek and Masaryk reproach and offend each other, but they also ask key personal questions and questions about the social functions of a writer and politician respectively. "It's a film about two extraordinary men; it's about the fact that emotions can be sometimes more powerful than ideas even in such exceptional people.

The story takes place in the small South Moravian village of Mouřínov, where the road ends. The residents long to become a "transit" village, and since there is a champion deer caller among them, they make a great effort to host the European Championship in this unique but interesting discipline. The village is busy with preparations, but that's not all. At the same time, the residents' obvious and unspoken relationships are developing, and just as the preparations affect their lives, their relationships affect the course of the preparations. And one day, the championship finally begins...

Oligophrenic Fany (Bohdalová) lives with her aunt who suddenly manages to travel abroad. Fany has to move to her sister (Jirásková). Two very different women, one mentally disabled and the second one intelligent doctor has to live together and learn from each other about tolerance, loneliness, life and why call dogs "Mister".

Film makes the creative process visible by letting its narrative flow in the mind of a foreign director who is researching a film about Franz Kafka in Prague. Based on the principle of dreams and free association, segments unfold that deal with the various points of view that Kafka's work, personality and fate offer. In the labyrinth of his mind, the fictional director projects himself into situations from the author's life, with Kafka himself as his guide. At the same time, he delves into the history of the persecution of the Jews and glimpses the monstrosity of the bureaucratic apparatus that Kafka anticipated but could not have foreseen the monstrous size and function it would grow to a few years after his death in the institutionalized genocide and overall machinery of Nazism.

A girl is transformed into a maple tree by her impulsive and angry mother. Three poor wandering musicians come by the tree and create instruments from it. Walking around the country instead of happiness they bring death everywhere with their cursed instruments. However they cannot get rid of them, unless they bury the wooden instruments at the place of the tree. The three are anything but harmonious, each taking in their disputes various stances.

Zivorad, unassuming young man from the village, is 'pushed' from his uncle to high positions, becoming a police inspector who is looking for hashish, a scientist, a man who rises agriculture land and whatnot...

The author has endowed the main character of the humorous story, Miša, with a human weakness - a love for a drink. He struggles between the word of honor he gave to the priest Drozdík that he would not drink and the temptations of the surrounding world and the opportunities in the vineyards and at the fair, where everyone lets a tear fall down their throats.

Television adaptation of the novel by the Italian writer Italo Svevo. His hero is Zeno Cosini, the son of a merchant in Trieste. He is a type of useless person, defeated by life and incapable of action. The ironic insight with which the author draws a picture of the townspeople of Trieste at the turn of the century sounds like an accurate diagnosis of a social class that is doomed with its entire lifestyle and morality.

Although the title would suggest it, this film has nothing to do with fairy tales at all: it takes place in the North Moravian border region just after the end of the Second War. It presents a fragmented mosaic of the fates of many people, returnees and immigrants, who tried to start a new life and believed in a happier tomorrow. Although the director Antonín Kachlík tried to give the story a certain credibility, he submits to the ideological demands of the 1980s. North Moravian borderlands in the first post-war year: a disparate and fragmented sequence of episodes depicts the individual fates of returnees and new immigrants. Another title that perhaps did not even need to be created.

An interesting attempt at a postmodern crazy comedy with elements of parody. The plot turns on the search for the recipe of a liqueur made by the film’s financial backer.