Stories of 20th Century - Frontier Guards

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.

This six-episode climbing travelogue follows the world's best sports climber as he breaks records. Adam Ondra not only chooses both known and unknown locations in the former Yugoslavia countries, but also travels to Romania, Greece and Albania. He meets with the local walls and climbers who help him identify the most extreme and previously unexplored rocky paths.

Their parents came to Czechoslovakia in August 1968 along with the occupying forces. Today, these “children of Milovice” find themselves on opposing sides in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. These “brothers,” destined for “friendship for all eternity,” are now shooting at one another. How do the children of the former officers stationed in Milovice see the contemporary Czech Republic and Russia? 

Architect Josef Pleskot can be described as one of the best known and most respected contemporary Czech architects. Pleskot has earned many awards since the 1990s, and his designs regularly represent Czech architecture at international exhibitions.

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.”

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 true story about the unlikely love of a middle-aged woman from a middle-class family and a scam artist. The risk of death and hope in the form of a newborn child enter into their relationship from the least probable direction. Another chance is a perceptive psychological portrayal of a woman, her partner, and other loved ones, and at the same time a riveting testimony to the struggle for life and its meaning.

The life of Lída Baarová possesses all the features of a Greek tragedy. Beauty, love, fame, betrayal, rejection, punishment, escape, loss of home, and finally reconciliation at a wise old age. And all this is accompanied by the dramatic political events of the 20th century, which touched everyone, all the more so this women of exceptional beauty, ambition, and fame.

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.

Alois and Ladislav Rašín, who paid for their lives for their patriotic endeavors, did not get the recognition they deserved, and after the communist takeover in 1948 their names were erased from memory. Their forgotten lives are now recalled in a historical docudrama featuring Alois Rašín’s great-granddaughter Karolina Breitenmoser. 

New York became the biggest epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020. The feverish pulse of this iconic metropolis came to a standstill and eight million people faced a major blow comparable to that of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This is a special inside look from director Tereza Nvotová on the troubled Big Apple.

After the successful and Ji.hlava MFDF Award-winning docuseries, Enclosed World, director Karel Žalud returns to prison once again. This time, he follows the story of Dan Lauf, a young warden working in a small prison in Teplice who leaves his pregnant wife for 30 days to help out at the large prison in Stráž pod Ralskem. His personal story shows not only the prison environment and the specific demands of Lauf's profession, but also the problems of the current Czech prison system.