Marek Šulík

Slovak director Marek Kuboš has not shot a film in 13 years. His first film ever – a student exercise at film school – was a self-portrait. The circle is closed, the source of creativity has seemingly dried up. All that is left to do in the last self-portrait is to clean up after oneself, to recapitulate one’s successes and failures, and to bid farewell to one’s protagonists. This introspective meta-documentary is not so much a study of a creative crisis as it is a self-therapeutic process and an attempt at offering a comprehensive profile of the filmmaker at a time of unstable certainties. Appearing in the role of Kuboš’s consultants are essentially all leading Slovak documentary filmmakers.

A story of disillusionment on the threshold of adolescence. A story seemingly simple, and yet, for Martina, the heroine of the story, a turning point. Martina is in her last year of primary school. She is experiencing her first love, preparing for talent interviews and, together with her classmates, for a farewell party. The money collected for the party is with her until someone steals it. More than the loss, however, Martina is hurt by the knowledge that those she trusted most, even her great love, are able to suspect her as a thief...

A feature film composed of 6 short films - 3 Czech and 3 Slovak, emerging authors

Sonia Maletzová's documentary film portrait follows the legend of the Czechoslovak music scene, rock keyboardist Marian Varga (1947-2017), at the end of his life, when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. It captures the great introvert and avid smoker during his last performances, when he slowly began to lose his breath.

Documentary film Heavy Heart arose as a part of ethnomusicological research Silalo panori / Cold water (2014 – 2017) of ancient Roma songs. These songs are usually connected with memories and experiences of their interprets. Documentary in a mosaic-like way traces the way of the original Roma music transport to the next generation or also how it ceases to exist under the influence of social changes.

Documentary film Heavy Heart arose as a part of ethnomusicological research Silalo panori / Cold water (2014 – 2017) of ancient Roma songs. These songs are usually connected with memories and experiences of their interprets. Documentary in a mosaic-like way traces the way of the original Roma music transport to the next generation or also how it ceases to exist under the influence of social changes.

Set amidst stunning Ukrainian winter landscapes, vanishing villages, and an emerging feeling of alienation between people in a post-Soviet society, Stepne is a story of a mature man who comes back home from the city to take care of his dying mother. The mother’s passing, together with a meeting with his brother and a woman he loves, makes him reflect on the life he’s had and choices he’s made along the way. And then, just before her death, the mother tells Anatolii about a treasure she has buried inside the shed…

Ela, 15, has a love affair, which results in her being sent to a re-education center.

The northernmost city in the world, Longyearbyen, is the most populated settlement in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. A Czech social anthropologist attempts to make a new home for herself here with her family whilst also researching social transformations in the local community. The loss of jobs in the mining industry, as well as the complicated relationship between Norwegian natives, foreign immigrants, and tourists all contribute to the city's change of atmosphere whilst the surrounding snowy mountains melt and avalanches threaten the daily existence of the local population. This portrait of the microcosm of an ice town is a raw glimpse into the contemporary globalized world.

A documentary film about the Košice swimming pool, where history came to bathe. Seen through several stories which unfolded between the years 1936 and 2002, the film captures 66 seasons at the popular swimming pool, and the same number of years in the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a community of men and women who share their experience, hope and support with each other so that they can address their common problem and help others to break free from alcohol addiction. The documentary follows the stories of ten people who have been on the verge of alcoholism for almost their entire lives.

A film about the phenomenon of Alexander Dubček, a Czechoslovak politician, one of the most prominent personalities of the Prague Spring of 1968, author of the concept of “socialism with a human face”.

A comedy documentary about the search for happiness. The Italian astrologist Lucciana can alter the destinies of people. On their birthdays they have to travel to whatever location on Earth has the ideal constellation of planets over it. They will be reborn on that day and so be able to change their nature. On the one hand, the film follows the everyday (and unchanging) life of the fortune-teller who changes the lives of people while, on the other hand, it follows five protagonists who set out to various places in the world in order to change their lives.

A sensitive portrait of grandfather Miroslav Benda, a tried and true Sokol member and an ordinary man with extraordinary vigor and ideals, revealing a story of human resilience and optimism through nostalgia and situational comedy. The film is a kind of observational documentary - it includes family videos and archival film material. We’re drawn into the microcosm of the village of Křenovice u Slavkova by two Japanese women who have decided to visit Benda, thanks to his long friendship with a university professor from Tokyo. Together with Benda, the audience travels to the only Japanese gas station in Europe, to Prague’s Strahov Stadium, and to New York to visit American Sokol members.

Part documentary, part mockumentary and part stranger-than-fiction lesson in guerilla tactics, Velvet Terrorists is a quirky profile of three very different men and their former attempts to take down the communist regime of Czechoslovakia – by blowing the hell out of it. Having all spent time in prison for their crimes, one-time bombers Stanislav, Frantisek and Vladimir muse on their personal histories, the fall of the regime and their journey into middle age.

Jan calls himself Buffalo. He loves cowboys, he’s blind, and may lose his hearing. The documentary follows his journey to America to visit the chief of the Navajo tribe, who wants to perform a ritual to help his hearing. The film is full of unpretentious humor thanks to Jan’s charisma. In the USA, he’s like the Don Quixote of the Wild West - a naive adventurer in a world that is much more ordinary than his imagination. This observational, but not standoffish, film is also an example of how the medium of film can relate to blind people by constantly showing the difference between what Jan perceives and what we actually see.

Incomplete thoughts and fragments of dialogue, diverse music interrupted by rushes and glitches, and the seemingly confused, unanchored camera, create a disturbing, philosophical reflection on the limits of anthropocentric thinking.

Eliseé survived the Rwandan genocide as a child. Today he leads an orphan acrobat group in a country, which heavily relies on foreign aid. He cares for the orphaned children and wants them to be happy, to have some sense in their lives. Rosta Novák built a worldwide-acclaimed circus group in Prague, where he successfully rules with a firm, paternal hand, but has permanently dark under-eye circles from the workload. The majority of Rwandese think that all people in Europe are fairy rich. On the other hand, many Europeans think that it is necessary to help Africa with everything. What happens, if we merge these two worlds in a film, during the preparation of a joint circus performance? What are the true motivations of our protagonists and what does it tell us about the Africa-Europe relationship? And who actually helps whom, in the end?

Peter Kerekes’ documentary focuses on the Bata shoe empire and the quest to find the next generation of shoe makers

Across the Border is a polyglot portrait of ideas about borders at the beginning of the 21st century. In an episodic journey five directors from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, present their view and vision of nation, identity and Europe: By placing their personal cinematographic imprint on multifaceted portraits of their home countries, they open up a broad space for encounters with the strangers next door.

A documentary about army cooks and how the everyday needs of thousands of armed stomachs affect the victories and defeats of statesmen. The film is based on eleven meals based on recipes from the Second World War till the war in Chechnya; from France through the Balkans to Russia.

Josef is a writer aged sixty, who thinks that nothing can surprise him any more. One evening, though, his phone rings and he finds himself caught up in a series of events that turn his world upside-down. His best friend – also a writer – tries to commit suicide; his young girlfriend Katka tells him she’s pregnant; and the man with hare ears – his alter ego from one of his stories – appears to him in everyday situations.

A time-lapse documentary about Zuzana Čaputová's tenure as President follows her political work, personal dilemmas and the difficult challenges facing Slovak society.

A time-lapse documentary about Zuzana Čaputová's tenure as President follows her political work, personal dilemmas and the difficult challenges facing Slovak society.

A time-lapse documentary about Zuzana Čaputová's tenure as President follows her political work, personal dilemmas and the difficult challenges facing Slovak society.

A time-lapse documentary about Zuzana Čaputová's tenure as President follows her political work, personal dilemmas and the difficult challenges facing Slovak society.

Slovak photographer Magdaléna Robinsonová lost her parents during the fascist Slovak State and survived the suffering of concentration camps. After decades, she observes with horror the renewed interest of a part of the Slovak public in fascist ideas and the adoration of political representatives of the Slovak State. She asks what was the point of the suffering of the victims of Nazism if society remains uneducated.

Slovak photographer Magdaléna Robinsonová lost her parents during the fascist Slovak State and survived the suffering of concentration camps. After decades, she observes with horror the renewed interest of a part of the Slovak public in fascist ideas and the adoration of political representatives of the Slovak State. She asks what was the point of the suffering of the victims of Nazism if society remains uneducated.

Slovak photographer Magdaléna Robinsonová lost her parents during the fascist Slovak State and survived the suffering of concentration camps. After decades, she observes with horror the renewed interest of a part of the Slovak public in fascist ideas and the adoration of political representatives of the Slovak State. She asks what was the point of the suffering of the victims of Nazism if society remains uneducated.

The documentary film records a weekly meeting of singers and musicians in Veľký Slavkov, who in August 2009 recorded songs for the CD afterPhurikane in the local Lutheran church. It is a kind of "making of", a documentary that brings a new dimension of reality, humor, absurdity to this music. In addition to an intense experience of traditional, but less known to the public, Romani original music, the film also brings the social context of the singers' lives and an intimate picture of the emotional world of the Roma. It is a real, vivid and at the same time positive picture of the Romani minority.

The documentary film records a weekly meeting of singers and musicians in Veľký Slavkov, who in August 2009 recorded songs for the CD afterPhurikane in the local Lutheran church. It is a kind of "making of", a documentary that brings a new dimension of reality, humor, absurdity to this music. In addition to an intense experience of traditional, but less known to the public, Romani original music, the film also brings the social context of the singers' lives and an intimate picture of the emotional world of the Roma. It is a real, vivid and at the same time positive picture of the Romani minority.

The documentary film records a weekly meeting of singers and musicians in Veľký Slavkov, who in August 2009 recorded songs for the CD afterPhurikane in the local Lutheran church. It is a kind of "making of", a documentary that brings a new dimension of reality, humor, absurdity to this music. In addition to an intense experience of traditional, but less known to the public, Romani original music, the film also brings the social context of the singers' lives and an intimate picture of the emotional world of the Roma. It is a real, vivid and at the same time positive picture of the Romani minority.

A country awakens from a deep winter sleep. An incomprehensible and absurd world slowly unfolds before the camera, imbued with strangeness, even though we are familiar with its sounds, rhythms and colours.

The shouted teacher Dušička is not having the best time of his life. He is going through a crisis with his girlfriend who wants to own him. He has problems at school, forcing him to change the way he teaches. He worries about his neighbors, who impose middle-class principles on him. And to top it all off, he finds a live horse at his home for Christmas. The situation is all the more absurd because he lives in an apartment on the second floor of an apartment building. Dušička has no idea how the white man got to him, who he might be, and he has no idea how to get rid of him. But the presence of the circus clown becomes not only a source of bizarrely comical situations, but also a catalyst for his relationships. Dušička recognizes the true face of the people who surround him. Because in a heated situation, everyone loses their masks. He begins to understand that his environment forces him to make compromises that are against him.

Vignettes of life in the village Kryvorivnya in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, where once the novel "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" was written and later filmed and where, to this day, the passage of time has its own pace.

An intimate meditation on exile and home, Prysia’s Garden portrays the quiet life of aging Ukrainian refugee Prysia through the detailed photographic lens of first-generation Ukrainian-American Lida Suchy. By confronting Prysia’s story, Lida reflects upon her own roots, looking to understand what makes a new place a home.

A love letter told through still photographs

A film about homes on both sides of an ocean.

Oľga Ondreičková is one of the exceptional figures of the first generation of Slovak architects. Her work is characterized by pragmatism, simplicity, and monumentality. Her husband is architect Pavel Ondreička, with whom she collaborated on several projects, as well as on the design of furniture, interiors, and artistic decorations. At the height of her career, Oľga Ondreičková led her own project team, which was rare for a woman at that time.