- Occupation
Director - Country
Czech Republic
Šafařík Bernard
Parenting Quadruplets
At the end of the 1950s, the Hour family and their quadruplets made Zbraslavice near Kutná Hora a showcase city in the building of socialism: one visitor followed another - journalists, filmmakers, party delegations... After more than 40 years, the same thing happened to the Januš family from the Moravian village of Blišice; only this time the media hype was not so great. Both quadruplets have an older sister so the initial conditions of both families were very similar. The political regime has changed, patron collectives are now called sponsors, but the worries and problems involved in raising children and the financial responsibility involved have not changed a bit. The documentary compares the situation of both families and, thanks to extensive archive footage, gives the Hours a chance to evaluate.
A Czech Phenomenon: Dance Lessons
With a humourous distance, Dancing Lessons examines a phenomenon unique to Czech national culture - dance courses. The director followed a Prague dance class for more than a year - from the signing up, the balls, through to the last class, capturing the transformation of insecure, self-conscious youth into self-confident young ladies and gentlemen.
My Enchanted Castle
The director is one of the descendants of Baron Schebek, a significant railway constructor in the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and the owner of vast estates in the Sazava region. After the Revolution, the family got back among others the castle in Zruc on Sazava, which was the subject of complicated negotiations with the city. The author describes in a humorous way the famous and sad stages of his family history against the backdrop of historical changes and he follows yet another story line - an account of no less complicated events regarding the question of how to best use the heritage from his ancestors. The story is narrated subjectively in the first person and can be applied to the country's general development over the last decade.
Exiles
A documentary film about people who return to their homeland after years abroad.
We and Matterhorn, Matterhorn and We
This documentary film make us acquainted with situation of Czech expatriates in Switzerland, where a part of our inhabitants took to in 1968.
Written off Life
After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the poet Jiří Pištora and the writer Karel Michal refused to live in the unbearable totalitarian regime and decided to emigrate to Switzerland. Jiří Pištora returned to his homeland after a while but was soon banned from publication. Karel Michal stayed in Switzerland but missed his Czech audience. They both ended their lives by suicide. The life stories of these two writers who were severely affected by communism are told by their wives.
At the end of the 1950s, the Hour family and their quadruplets made Zbraslavice near Kutná Hora a showcase city in the building of socialism: one visitor followed another - journalists, filmmakers, party delegations... After more than 40 years, the same thing happened to the Januš family from the Moravian village of Blišice; only this time the media hype was not so great. Both quadruplets have an older sister so the initial conditions of both families were very similar. The political regime has changed, patron collectives are now called sponsors, but the worries and problems involved in raising children and the financial responsibility involved have not changed a bit. The documentary compares the situation of both families and, thanks to extensive archive footage, gives the Hours a chance to evaluate.
A Czech Phenomenon: Dance Lessons
With a humourous distance, Dancing Lessons examines a phenomenon unique to Czech national culture - dance courses. The director followed a Prague dance class for more than a year - from the signing up, the balls, through to the last class, capturing the transformation of insecure, self-conscious youth into self-confident young ladies and gentlemen.
My Enchanted Castle
The director is one of the descendants of Baron Schebek, a significant railway constructor in the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and the owner of vast estates in the Sazava region. After the Revolution, the family got back among others the castle in Zruc on Sazava, which was the subject of complicated negotiations with the city. The author describes in a humorous way the famous and sad stages of his family history against the backdrop of historical changes and he follows yet another story line - an account of no less complicated events regarding the question of how to best use the heritage from his ancestors. The story is narrated subjectively in the first person and can be applied to the country's general development over the last decade.
Exiles
A documentary film about people who return to their homeland after years abroad.
We and Matterhorn, Matterhorn and We
This documentary film make us acquainted with situation of Czech expatriates in Switzerland, where a part of our inhabitants took to in 1968.
Written off Life
After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the poet Jiří Pištora and the writer Karel Michal refused to live in the unbearable totalitarian regime and decided to emigrate to Switzerland. Jiří Pištora returned to his homeland after a while but was soon banned from publication. Karel Michal stayed in Switzerland but missed his Czech audience. They both ended their lives by suicide. The life stories of these two writers who were severely affected by communism are told by their wives.