Our Countryside: Bedřichovice Upon Thames

The Bikes for Africa charitable project has been operating in the Czech Republic since 2012. Its mission is to offer African children a way of getting to school. The project is founded on the principles of giving, volunteerism, cooperation, and people’s personal initiative. One interesting paradox is the fact that the project involves people from the margins of society (prisoners, homeless people), who recieve a “second chance,” thus giving the project not only a humanitarian, but also an environmental dimension involving the “ecology of the soul.” The film shows all these aspects of the project, set against the journey of one particular bicycle donated by a Czech girl to her Gambian peer. 

He's one of the longest-serving psychiatrists and psychotherapists in the world. At the age of eighty, he still actively works at three clinics, writes a respected blog and publishes popular bestselling books. His dream was to become a general practitioner in Šumava, instead he ended up in the “crazy house”. He was behind the creation of many bluebooks for Czech dissidents and he was the first person in our nation's history to begin devoting himself to psychosomatic medicine. Above all, he is a people person and puts his life in the service of humankind in all its bizarre forms.

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.

The Arhuaco are an indigenous tribe that has resisted fate for more than 400 years, but that today, because of the advanced technology of mining companies, politicians’ arrogance, and the spread of tourism find their existence threatened. Their houses are demolished by giant bulldozers. In July 2017, some 180 families were forced from their homes, and today they live in squalor in a park in the town of Puerto Bello. Their sacred sites have been burned. In response, an organization was founded in the Czech Republic to try to help the Arhuaco purchase their original lands, so that they can return… 

This film compares the fates of two newborns, whose parents either could not or did not want to care for them. Whilst one is placed into a temporary guardian’s care immediately after birth, the other is sent to a residential care home for infants. The documentary explores the system in place for handling unwanted newborns. At the same time, it also raises several controversial issues.

They have spent nearly their entire childhood growing up in institutions. They have no home and no family, no idea where they will leave or how they will earn a living. Lukáš wants to be a famous hip-hopper, Simona is planning to get a sex-change operation, and Jarda would like to have a big family. This longitudinal documentary follows the lives of three young people as they leave the children’s home where they have been living, and try to go it alone.

A look at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s incredible tour of Romany settlements in eastern Slovakia and its collaboration with Ida Kelarová, the Čhavorenge ensemble, and local Romany children who had ten days to learn the songs that they performed on stage with members of the philharmonic.

A documentary look at this current political issue presents unique scenes of life in the annexed territory where foreign journalists and television crews are not allowed. The film is a mosaic portrait of several men and women, whose everyday lives have been affected by the political crisis between Ukraine and Russia. Just as international pressure and sanctions have made the Crimean peninsula a de facto island, so too are the supporters and opponents of Russian annexation isolated (pen)insulas in search of their identity within the sea of a divided society. 

Three stories about the youngest generation of “digital natives” for whom the Internet became an endless source of entertainment and communication as well as of new dangers. Most today’s children can use a computer or a mobile phone before they learn to tie shoelaces and ride a bicycle. New generations of children who spent much more time in a virtual world than on a playground are growing up all over the world.

A look at the lives of three photographers. Josef Koudelka, Antonín Kratochvíl, and the Moravian photographer Vojta Dukát all spent the majority of their lives outside Czechoslovakia. The film explores the differences in their work, which often shares similar themes, places, or encounters.

The documentary series Czechs Save… with host Dan Bárta looks at endangered animals all over the world and the Czech naturalists who, often thousands of kilometers away from home, are working to save them. The first episode of the series focuses on the work of the young biologist Hana Svobodová, who is trying to protect sea turtles on several islands around Borneo. Although there exist other breeding stations, her extensive knowledge of the turtles lives allows her to help them more effectively.

Rock legend Vladimír Mišík has his own little planet. It was discovered in 1995 by Czech astronomers from Kleť Observatory who named it in Mišík’s honour. And it is mostly on this very planet that Jitka Němcová’s new documentary about Vladimír Mišík and his beautiful songs takes place, reminiscing on all the weird things that happened in his life and recounting a rather thrilling search.