FAMU Presents

A film about a young man discovering himself though his transsexuality. While on most days, he's a man named Víťa, sometimes he becomes a woman called Aurélie. We witness a unique insight into his physical and mental transformation with the participation of Libuše the photographer. The film consists of Libuše's photographs and conversations of the two protagonists.

A documentary observing the fortunes of the Al-Araqarqeeb , a village that has been already destroyed 111 times. The Bedouin settlement was needed for military training, so the army ordered its evacuation in 1951. The inhabitants were not permitted to come back even after the date that was set for them to return. The village is being repeatedly demolished by the state of Israel since 2010.  The struggle between the state and its citizens continues.

A young Russian patriot realises that the Czech Republic is the best place to start a career in the Russian intelligence services. She meets with famous speakers who can share some information about Russian spies working in Prague, and she does her best to contact the Russian Embassy to offer them her services.

The first-year workshop of the FAMU Documentary Department is led by Vít Klusák, who, together with his students, will present both the concept of the seminar as well as the films resulting from it during the 2016/17 academic year.

The first-year workshop of the Documentary Film Studies at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague is led by Vít Klusák. Together with his students, he will present the workshop concept and the films made during the school year of 2017/18. Each of the six students will present two films made for their final exams and film exercises that are not usually screened outside the school.  This year, viewers will take part in a friendly trip, which is about finding a way to one’s self, look behind the scenes of this year’s Klimakemp, and jump into the world of puddles with a 16mm Bolex camera.Discussion welcome!The worskhop is led by: Vít Klusák  

A topical film created for the anniversary of the Warsaw pact occupation cleverly combines 3D animation and actual archival footage. The film’s main character is a Russian solder who looks back on the invasion and comes to a paradoxical conclusion of how his life could have been very different.

Lenka Benešová skillfully worked the creative process into her final project. The filmmaker’s documentary film Prostředek, about the colorful personality of Stanislav Lysák, is incorporated between episodes taken from the filmmaker’s family life and sources of inspiration. The path to a good film becomes the protagonist of this short film.

A film about staging a theater performance 70 years after the events of 1948, as well as the real theater production that the whole communist coup was. Puppets seemingly without puppeteers, puppets moving about of their own free will - this is how communist comrades were and this is exactly how they’re presented in this film.  

Mum is. Mum lives. There’s a scar on her chest, but don’t pay any notice. There’s a heart inside that is beating. Metal against metal. A mechanical aortic valve to replace the one that was all used up. The heart beats on. The film poem gets beneath the surface, opening up the skin through projection. It shows a process that gives new life.

With an international arrest warrant out on him, Russian artist Oleg Vorotnikov of the radical art group Vojna (Military Service), infamous for his politically engaged protest performances, is an alluring enigma for the young documentary filmmaking student. She attempts to learn more about him and his family through a series of (attempts at) meetings in Berlin and Prague.

Martin Konvička is a scandalous figure in the Czech media. After reading an internet article in which his performance on Wenceslas Square was featured, Aysel coming from a Muslim background, was curious about facing a person who propagates an anti-Muslim agenda and wanted to try to understand his motives.

A documentary with distinctive elements of animation will lead us to the czech side of the Bohemian Forest, where the bark beetle calamity started at the beginning of the new millennium. The film deals not only with the political context surrounding this disaster, but also with the ecological aspects of the situation - the relationship between men and nature.

This film, shot on 16mm colour film, explores the life of a person who steals things according to written lists. He takes only specific things that people need – primarily senior citizens, single mothers, and other socially marginalized people. When is a crime a crime? Where does this modern 21st-century Robin Hood live, and what do his activities bring him?

Under the surface of the modern state of Israel there lie stories that are largely hidden from European visitors. One of these is the fate of Palestinian Bedouins in underdeveloped areas living in unrecognized villages. A meditatively experimental film by an Israeli-Czech team captures the atmopshere of these places and the tragic fates of some of their inhabitants.

A film portrait of a legend of the Czechoslovak music scene takes a look at rock keyboardist Marián Varga (1947–2017) near the end of his life when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She filmed this hugely introverted chain smoker during his last performances as he slowly began to lose his breath.

Four consecutive linked symbolically imbued portraits of women of various ages – a 16-year old scout, a young mother of two, a mature woman, and a pensioner. In intimate proximity to the camera, each reveals their mental and emotional frame of mind and the current state of their womanhood.