Frantisek Vlácil

Mikolás (Frantisek Velecký) and his brother Adam (Ivan Palúch) rob travellers for their tyrranical father Kozlík (Josef Kemr). During one of their "jobs" they end up with a young German hostage whose father escapes to return news of the kidnapping and robbery to the King... (imdb)

In Frantisek Vlácil's debut feature film, a young girl, Susanne, waits for her homing pigeon to return after releasing it in France, but the little white bird has been blown off course and lands in Prague. There, a wheelchair-bound boy injures it, but, with the encouragement of an artist who lives in the same apartment building, he begins to nurse the dove back to health.

After his father marries a teenage bride, 12-year-old Ondrej is banished from the household and sent to live and study with a strict religious order. It isn't long before the boy begins to reflect on existential matters and question his fundamental set of beliefs. Exploring the nature of faith and doubt, Czechoslovakian director Frantisek Vlacil's poetic rumination set during the Middle Ages packs a dramatic wallop. (Netflix)

Old doctor Meluzín is helping pregnant woman with her life.

A priest travels to investigate a miller suspected to be working with the devil.

In the aftermath of World War II, a former Czech soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family. He falls in love with the daughter, who is now a maid, and is forced to confront the stress between his love and his conscience when he discovers her sheltering her German-soldier brother. (imdb)

Two young men from a small town kill a gameskeeper after he catches them poaching and flee into the countryside, vowing to stay together.

Ukrainian guerillas come out of the forest to occupy a family's countryside farm house, kidnapping a doctor to help heal one of their wounded. (imdb)

A study of the Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha.

Based on novel L. Tolstoy. Filmed for Slovak TV. (KG)

This is an interesting docudrama about four weeks in the life of famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, played here with elan by Josef Vinklar. The drama -- filled with many of Dvorak's compositions -- begins when the composer suddenly decides to cut a concert in London and return home. While on the train, flashbacks reveal his relationship to his wife Anna and her sister Josefina. (All Movie Guide)

Twelve-year-old František, owner of a beloved wolfhound named Sirius (after the brightest star), enjoys an idyllic countryside boyhood. Gradually, however, the darker events of war intervene: first, František's dad is accused of aiding the Czech resistance; then, the Germans order the conscription of all local dogs, in order to retrain them for attack purposes... (cinematheque)

A young boy's infatuation with flight is the subject of Vláčil's poetic, prize-winning early short, made for the Czechoslovak Army's film unit. (cinematheque)

A symphony in sound and image documenting art and architecture in Prague in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (cinematheque)

After the death of her mother leaves her orphaned, teenaged Vladka rebuffs the assistance of her boyfriend's snobby family and sets out to find the father she has never known. Her quest takes her to a remote village in the dead of winter, where her father alternates engineering work on a drilling rig with bouts of serious drinking. An awkward reunion gives way to a hopeful attempt to become better acquainted over Christmas -- and an opportunity, perhaps, for dad to beat the bottle... (cinematheque)

A period in the life of a small boy in a remote village in the 1940s. His family, neighbours, employer, strangers, fears, hopes, goblins, cows... A limited cast and scope, as is appropriate for the life of a small boy in a small village. We see life both from the boy's point of view and also from that of the adults who dominate and influence his life, for good and ill... (imdb)

A boy from the Beskydy forests romantically admires the demanding and dangerous work of local seed gatherers.

A symphony for a city in transition.

Impressionist view of Karlovy Vary, a spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic.