The Czech World

The largest antelope in the world, the giant eland, lives in the Senegalese savannah and is on the verge of extinction. Its numbers hover somewhere around the last two hundred individuals. A team led by engineer Karolína Brandlová has managed something unprecedented: At the Bandia Reservation just a few kilometers from the country’s capital, they have succeeded – through careful breeding and with the help of Senegalese preservationists and the operators of a local safari – to turn a group of just six antelopes into a herd numbering several dozen animals. The second episode of a documentary series hosted by Dan Bárta about endangered animals throughout the world.

A look at a forgotten chapter in modern Czech history. The “armed fist of the working class,” formed from various factory guard units on the instigation of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, began operating under the guidance of the Central Union Committee in May 1945. After the communist takeover in 1948, the People’s Militia was sent upon orders of the Communist Party to “defend” the borders or to act against students, farmers, the church, demonstrators protesting the currency reform. Their actions against anti-regime gatherings in 1969 resulted in several deaths. They also acted brutally during the demonstrations in Prague in 1988 and 1989.

Where do xenophobic attitudes in society come from, and why have they been on the rise in the Czech society? Documentary filmmaker Apolena Rychlíková tries to find an answer in Brno, where the country’s neo-Nazis have come together on 1 May 2015 for a Europe-wide neo-Nazi and fascist event they are calling “For a Pure Europe.”

A cinematic portrait of three siblings and a society that unites and divides many in a similar fashion as Hayata, Osamu and Tomia. The intertwining of the often-conflicting visions of the three brothers with the history of their family and the attitudes of the other protagonists of the film is a concrete testimony to how the political situation is influenced by personal and social experiences. The film, thus, not only suggests why we are in today's political constellation, but it also reports on the state of contemporary social opinion, both in relation to their authorities and their citizens.

Documentary filmmaker Pavel Štingl engaged in a three-year dialogue with sculptor Jaroslav Róna as he worked on one of the world’s largest bronze sculptures. The film also offers a chance to get to know an exceptional artistic individual and a member of the Hard-Heads art group.

Being a civic activist, Ukrainian film director and screenwriter of Russian origins Oleg Sencov openly spoke up against the annexation of Crimea. Subsequently, he was arrested by the Russian Security Service and accused, among other crimes, of planning terrorist attacks. The evidence produced and the development of the trial made many doubt his guilt and caused a number of international protests. The current Russia and a chilling probe into the way how its legal system operates.

The modest intellectual Ivan M. Havel is a member of one of the most renowned Czech families of the 20th century. Director Roman Vávra spent five years following him in his personal life, at work, and at social events with the country's cultural event. In the film, he returns his protagonist to places that played an important role in Havel's life. The result is an unmediated and lively documentary look at the history and ups and downs of the remarkable Havel family through one of its distinctive members.

Sticking to the asphalt. Zipping through space. Everything in motion. Skateboard! In the gray atmosphere of 1970s and ’80s communist Czechoslovakia, it was something completely new and different. Love at first sight. A never-ending party. Adrenaline. Cult figures of the era’s skateboard scene tell their stories of broken bones, unbroken friendships, and wild rides towards freedom amidst communism.

Rooting for something or someone has always been part of human culture. It would be hard to find a single human being who does not support anything and anyone. Sports fan form a special category, but unfortunately we mainly hear of them in the context of violence at stadiums or in the streets. But there is a poetic side to this fandom that often remains hidden to the eyes of TV news audience.

This documentary film depicts the events of the Lidice tragedy in the practically unknown story of 30 Terezin prisoners. Until now, the story of Lidice has been recalled mainly through the testimonies of Lidice women, who returned to a plundered and burned home after the Second World War. The murder of Lidice men seemed to have ended their story once and for all. The women had remained silent since that horrific night when their husbands were shot and placed in a mass grave, and would only recall the lives of their husbands through mourning.

The current, widespread bark beetle infestation shows clearly that the spruce monoculture in the Czech landscape is a great problem. And yet, spruces are being replanted in places where forests should never be. The illegal planting of forests is a trend that people involved in environmental protection have been observing for several years now. Owners of land classified as meadows and pastureland are planting woodlands, primarily spruce, in defiance of the law, thus driving out endangered species of plants and animals, changing the traditional character of the landscape, and making it less attractive for visitors. 

A film about people with multiple handicaps who attend school at the Jedlička Institute, a secondary school that offers students a universal course of study along with practical education for everyday life. After school, the students transition into a halfway program that forms the main focus of the film.