Anna Melíšková

Five short stories: The Master and the Twentieth Disciple; Every Week is Sunday; It's Boniface's Fault; The Raggedy Song; The Spider's Web.

A "fairly ordinary and mundane" working day in various operations of large steel mills...

The Prague Research Institute of Air Engineering is to prepare a proposal to reduce dust in Ostrava, especially in the area where the new power plant is to be built. That is why engineers Vojtěch Spára and Jiří Zástěra will travel to Ostrava. Eva Frágnerová, a hygienist, will strongly oppose the power plant project near the housing estate.

It all starts when two men arrive at the asylum. Mr. Houdek, who goes to see little Honzik Slavata, the illegitimate child of his colleague, whom he wants to adopt, and young Standa Hurych, who takes up a position as a driver. The pretty nurse Magda mistakes Standa for his father and is angered by his reaction. However, when Mrs. Houdková insists that the adoption will not take place until the child's true father is known, Standa offers to help Magda track down the father. He immediately sets about the difficult task.

Several bittersweet stories set in a Prague apartment building.

Hairdresser Žofka Stárková desires fame perhaps more than other girls. The petty plans of her fiancé František do not satisfy her wild imagination. Žofka suddenly gains popularity when, while on her way to get an autograph, she discovers the dead body of the famous tenor Helbich and is arrested on suspicion of murder. Helbich actually committed suicide because he lost his voice. After being released from prison, Žofka receives an offer for the lead role in a forthcoming film. The dubious fame confuses her. She leaves her parents' modest apartment and quits her hairdressing business. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that she has no talent for acting, and the desperate director has the film edited in such a way that Žofka practically disappears from it...

Leopold Kohák married a rich widow a long time ago and now has nothing to do compared to his energetic wife. He's growing old and troubled by the fact that he betrayed his first love Emča and his beloved river Sázava where he spent his childhood and youth. A visit from an old friend Lebeda brings it all back to him. After a nervous breakdown Leopold secretly visits his home instead of going to the spa. A wandering tramp suggest Leopold should bathe in the magical waters of the Sázava, and slowly his youth returns to him.

Pavel, a young student living in Prague in 1942, hides a Jewish girl in his apartment building's attic. Amidst the brutality of the occupying German army, love blossoms between the two. He is her only link to the outside world. Then the two are discovered by Pavel's mother, who forces the residents of the apartment building to decide whether Hana can remain.

The conflicts in one pilot's fractured marriage come to a head just as Soviet jets are introduced to international airliners. Naive psychological drama is embraced here with naive admiration for the most advanced aviation technology.

A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jasny is divided into four separate segments. In the first skit, a young child's impressions are observed as his newborn baby sister becomes a part of the family. In the second, a young woman falls in love for the first time one summer, and in the third, a tough, older peasant woman battles against the farming cooperatives. Finally, in the last segment, everything comes full circle as a woman who is about to become a grandmother dies while her daughter-in-law has not yet given birth.

In the past, most of the wood from the mountain forests was transported to the sawmills by river. The rafters were gradually replaced by trucks and railways, but they still remember the days of their glory and the romance of water travel. Two experienced old swimmers, Váň and Šindelář, managed to push for a return to the old way, at least for one trip. They got a group of like-minded enthusiasts and rafts made of logs can set off down the river...

When the yacht of her former lover Mario Tudor arrives in Split, widowed Countess de Milesi, plagued by financial troubles, is hell-bent on selling him a fake copy of an expensive painting.

A sometimes humorous, sometimes more serious look at the hustle and bustle of a house in Lesser Town with a diverse array of tenants living there, and often petty quarrels that break out between them. Behind the facade of the house in Lesser Town "U dvou slunců" (Two Suns) there is life. The Bavors live here, eternal slaves to the grocery store. The Ebros, who need to marry their daughter off at a good price. The bachelor Dr. Loukota and other interesting Nerudov characters.

A story about the conditions in Bohemia in the second half of the nineteenth century, when small-town officials, such as Hrdlička, succumbed to the predators of the emerging large financial and industrial bourgeoisie, represented by Jestřáb.

At the annual festival in Strážnice, long-time rivals - cooperative members from the neighboring municipalities of Dubnice and Bojanova - met. This time, the people of Dubnice are leading both in selling sausages and in the artistic forum. Despite the protests of the accounting cooperative Ambrože, the youth from Bojanova establish a singing and dancing group, led by teacher Bartoš, whom Ambrože's daughter Eva loves. However, they go all the way to Dubnice to practice so that the irritable Ambrož does not know about it. This is the reason for the rift between Eva and Bartoš. They only reconciled after the defeat of the Bojanova group in the regional round of the competition. It turns out that neither Bojanova nor Dubnice alone can build an artistically strong group, but if they unite, they have hope for success in the next year of Strážnice.

Farmers get away from their arguments by embarking on a religious pilgrimage, enjoy a picnic en route, and on their return decide to form a cooperative.

The biographical film about the prematurely deceased violin virtuoso Josef Slavík takes place entirely like a haunting dream, in the mind of a feverish artist who remembers how he amazed Paganini himself with his playing.

A significant event in the life of the Ostrava assemblers. Private matters take a backseat as preparations are being made to fit the high-rise chimney with an extension for burning kycht gases. The challenging installation is to be carried out by helicopter and the first attempts have not been successful...

Shortly before the end of World War II, a small town is home to a portly miller who bears an uncanny resemblance to the tall Nazi leader. Of course, the two men will be confused, especially when the Czech patriot dresses up in an enemy uniform - he will cause confusion not only among the Germans, but also among the Czech collaborators.

The mother is trying to prevent the break-up of a marriage of many years. She knows about her husband's infidelity, but fears his leaving the family with the teenage children. But the crisis seems inevitable...