Čálek David

The Myth
A feature-length documentary based on the phenomenon of fans following their idols from concert to concert, in this case Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Troublemakers
Věra Chytilová's documentary film that presents a diverse group of women who comment on various social and political issues.

Berkat and Marsho/Happiness and Freedom
Two courageous Czech women decide to set up an organization called Berkat (Happiness) with the aim of helping war victins, especially children. Jana Hradilkova and Petra Prochazkova discover the Sputnik camp on the Chechen-Ingush border, the home of 9000 refugges, who live not only in fear and sadness but also with joy, dance, music and art. They discover the children's dance group Marsho(Freedom) whereby they decide to organize a trip abroad for them, so that they can proudly present their national dances and music. Their aim was to allow the children to experience something other than the horrors of war, but ordinary life in a warless country. Jana and Petra devote their love, time and effort and permit the children to meet new people,gain new experiences,but most importantly, to encourage their long-lasting passion of traditional dance, the only aspect from their destroyed homeland that remains with them and excitement for life in a free world.

Dreamless Nights
A documentary film by Radim Špaček about the Christmas revolt of the employees of the Czech TV, who organized a strike protest against the management.

NATO Inside Our Hearts
Taking advantage of the NATO summit in Prague, the documentarists contemplate whether representatives of the socio-political elite perceive the values of Euro-American civilization in the same way as ordinary citiziens.

Athough I Love Them, They Piss Me Off
A personal meeting with a man who has changed my life. A portrait of the Prague Priest Mons. Jiří Reinsberg (30. 3. 1918 - 6. 1. 2004), who served more than fifty years in the churh of St Havel in the Old Town and at the Church of the Virgin Mary on Old Town Square in Prague. FAMU, Department of Documentary Film (5th year)

Searching for Ester
Ester Krumbachová - an artist, screenwriter, director; one of the boldest personalities of the Czech New Wave. She worked in theatre, she was a writer and an illustrator. She co-created films such as The Party and the Guests, Daisies, All My Good Countrymen, Fruit of Paradise, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, The Very Late Afternoon of Faun, Marian, and many others. In the 1960s, she was at the centre of Prague's art scene, drawing artists who were at the beginning of their career, trying to find their own voice. Those who underwent her training remember her forever. Director Věra Chytilová talks to those who knew Ester Krumbachová, worked with her, befriended her, loved her. She sets out on a search that that should answer the following question: Who was Ester?

E Day
1st May 2004. The Czech Republic along with nine other states joins the European Union. Before the midnight comes, three young authors find themselves at three different locations of the country. Vít Janeček is shooting in the capital, Erika Hníková is in Jablunkov, the easternmost place of the country, and Ivana Miloševič in the westernmost city of Aš. Three different filmmaking styles are united in one documentary, capturing social and mental history of a single moment. And against the backdrop of the historical moment, discovering different opinions of people from different social classes, they are trying to capture the first fundamental change of the Czech state. This unconventional concept of the living history captured in transience and discontinuity of impressions tries to go beyond the initial invisibility of change, in order to stress the co-existence of our national self and the world around us. The three different directorial styles symbolize its incoherent possibilities.

Dancing Kathmandu
Sangita was born in the Czech Republic, but until the age of 18, she lived in Nepal with her parents. Now she returns to Nepal to do research on Nepalese traditional dances. The Himalayan kingdom has undergone profound cultural changes. Her teacher of tantric dance has been out of work for ten years due to the fact that the majority of dance schools have given themselves over to flashy Bollywood choreography. The new trend for undulating bodies has almost completely destroyed the spiritual dimension of Nepalese dance.The film tells a story of nostalgia, desire and the fight for survival of traditional dance and its practitioners.

Chaos
Documentary film made from previous footage is a collective reflection of crisis in Czech Television at the end of 2000 and early 2001.

Only a While
A report from the concert of Šum svistu in the psychiatric hospital in Bohnice.

A Stop on the Way to the Clouds
About the life of the Gypsy population of Náchod.

Heaven Hell
Heaven Hell is a full-length documentary film project dealing with human diversity that doesn't necessarily lead to hell even though it might seem like that from the outsider's point of view. It is an attempt to defend even very extreme notions of freedom if such notions are well-founded and lead to new horizons of human understanding. The film portrays people who have found pleasure in pain and decided not to hide this passion, or at least not to suppress and deny it any more. These people either inflict pain or demand it from others, but they do not force anyone to do anything. This closed society is often labelled by its members as BDSM.

The Legionnaire’s Great-Granddaughters
As a young medic, Bedřich Opletal took part in a series of cruel battles in WWI. He fought in Galicia in Poland, in Dobruja in Romania, in the Ukraine and along the Trans-Siberian Railway. From Siberia, he brought back his young wife Yelena. Later, as an established medical doctor, he wrote his memoirs, to be read only by his family. They contain many interesting stories based on his amusing as well as tragic encounters. The memoirs became a family legend, accompanying his two granddaughters, Kristina and Leona, since childhood. The documentary should depict their journey in the footsteps of their great-grandfather. New images of reality will be confronted with the old text, imagination and private memory of one family will be weighed against the general history of Europe and the world.

Frišta

Escape from Somalia
The Somali Sea, once among the richest fisheries in the world, has been turning into a ”dead” sea in the last 15 years, due to a rampant, massive fishing by multinational fishing cartels. The film reveals the difficult plight of Somali pirates, mostly former fishermen, for whom the sea is no longer the source of livelihood. Escape from Somalia follows Ali, a young fisherman who became a pirate for some time. After an unsuccessful hijacking attempt, he had to swim in the sea for hours until he came upon another pirate boat. His older brothers, who were on the boat with him, perished. He was left alone and has been on the run ever since. The perspective of this bright young guy gives us a better idea about piracy. The film does not defend any form of violence, it tries to ponder the reasons that result in modern-day piracy.

Adoption - A Little Piece of Happines
Every child needs to feel wanted. Every child needs a family. Every child needs love. But not every child has that. On the other hand, there are couples or even single people who are willing or even craving to give an abandoned or orphaned child a family. The solution is adoption – creating a family based not on biological bonds but on a series of decisions, some made by parents, some made by authorities and some made by fate. This process – process of adoption – is not so completely different from biological parenthood and its ups and downs; which is one of the important issues our documentary wants to explore. This documentary would be a unique opportunity to watch family relationships developing over the spun of 20 years. We will see them as they make the biggest and toughest decisions in their lives and we will be there when they have to prove that they are ready to take to consequences. We will watch the fate of people who decide to create a family for somebody who needs it. And we will watch the development of the kids who started their lives with one of the biggest handicaps a person can have – being left alone in the world of strangers.

Komedie Theatre
Shortly before it was shut down, Komedie Theatre invited the filmmakers to capture some of the major plays staged by the theatre. The plays featured in the series include The Trial; Offending the Audience; The Last Days of Mankind; Garbage, the City and Death; Goebbels / Baarová; Oil Lamps; Weissenstein; Anticlimax; Overweight, unimportant: Misshape, and The Suffering of Prince Sternenhoch.

Czech Director / Cinematographer David Calek (39) graduated from Prague’s heralded FAMU film school in 1989 and has shot and/or directed over 30 documentaries around the world for independent producers, TV broadasters (Czech TV) and more. His last doc HEAVEN HELL was released theatrically in the Czech Republic and had its international festival premiere at SXSW 2011. The film also won BEST FILM at the Czech national film festival, Finale – Plzen IFF. He has also shot 8 narrative feature films, including MAMAS & PAPAS, winner of Best Film at the Hamptons 2011.