Each week you will find one Czech movie online on the website of Czech That Film for a small fee, starting with the film Old-Timers on April 27, 2020.

The following films will be to watch: Old-Timers, Karel, Me and You, On the Roof,  The Cage, Overfingers and The Play.

You can find more information on facebook of Czech That Film

 

The Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago will also post updated information and invitations on its facebook profile.

 

Annotations to the films:

Staříci / Old-Timers  

The fifties are the distant past, and yet the injustices of the old regime still keep Vlasta awake at night. He doesn’t have many more years to live, but driven by his need for revenge he seeks out his old friend Tonda in order to realize his final wish: to find and kill a communist prosecutor. This unusual road movie, about two former political prisoners who fight for justice despite every obstacle, is the most recent joint effort by Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník, whose background in documentary film is reflected in the realistic depiction of the arduous journey taken by two decrepit men. At times poetic, at others absurdly humorous, the directors’ cinematic look at the past provides a portrait of the stubbornness of age.

Dir. Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník, 2019, 90 min.

 

Karel, já a ty / Karel, Me and You

Saša feels that her marriage to Karel has come to a dead end, so she decides to move out for a while, finding refuge with Dušan. Both are trying to work out their relationships and provide support for each other as uncertainty gets the better of them. Bohdan Karásek’s feature debut directs its focus on the spontaneity of both dialogue and performance. With discreet elegance and subtle humour it portrays the world of thirty-somethings, who seek, find and sometimes also lose their friends and life partners. Karel, Me and You is the next instalment in the series of “domestic films” (Lucie, 2011; Love Songs, 2013), which enabled the director to shoot his projects despite a lack of funding. He turns the limitations of working with a low budget to his advantage, thereby leaving his unique stamp on Czech cinema.

Dir. Bohdan Karásek, 2019, 111 min.

 

Na střeše / On the Roof

Situated in Prague - while the same story may easily happen in any city in Europe or North America that attracts immigrants and is big enough to shelter stories we never get to know. Song, 20-year-old Vietnamese, hoped for a better future in Europe but now, in a Vietnamese district in Prague, he is trapped in a marijuana grow house and has life of a modern slave. Police crushes in. Song runs away on the rooftop of a condo building in a nearby district where he breaks down. Mr. Rypar (75) lives alone. He is fond of the old times, living in a strong opposition to modern world. Rypar goes up on the roof and meets Song standing on the very edge of the roof crying.

Dir. Jiří Mádl, 2019, 101 min.

 

Klec / The Cage

“Things get pretty dull when you pass eighty. You wait and you wait, but you don’t even know what you’re waiting for,” says Květa Galová, a former teacher struggling with solitude in a ground-floor flat somewhere on the outskirts of Prague. She fills her days looking after the local church and its resident priest, but he is soon sent elsewhere. Just when it seems that no-one needs her anymore a mysterious young man steps into her life, claiming to be a distant relative. While Jiří Strach’s psychological thriller revolves around the confrontation between two individuals with an intriguing past, the setting of this intimate tale also takes on a central role after the characters find it very difficult to leave.

Dir. Jiří Strach, 2019, 87 min.

 

Přes prsty /Overfingers

Linda and Pavla are beach volleyball players willing to give up everything for their common goal. Although younger Pavla has lately another goal - she wants to start the family soon with her boyfriend Hynek. The older, single and childless Linda doesn't have much understanding for that since they finally managed to qualify for European championship... And at this point, the manager of the sports ground Jíra enters the picture and makes everything even more complicated.

Dir. Petr Kolečko, 2019, 101 min.

 

Hra / The Play

The world of the young theatre director Petr in a small Czech town crumbles after he decides to realize his dream: to adapt an overly ambitious play based on Euripides’ classic Phaedra. Petr falls for young actress Karolína, who plays the lead. Shortly before the premiere both women leave him. Petr attempts to save his masterpiece, but the play is a fiasco.

 Directed by Alejandro Fernández Almendras, 2019, 93 min