Eduard Grečner

The Truth Is All There Is

Eduard Grečner. Film director, dramaturge, publicist and poet. A talented fi lmmaker with precise artistic goals which, due to circumstances and the times, he was not always able to realise. Refl ections on the ideological and aesthetic starting points he consecutively followed during his creative career, [as well as] on the meaning and mission of art and the principles that art should never abandon. [It is] about reality limiting the freedom of artistic expression, confl icts with power and the consequences that Eduard Grečner – a human being and an artist – decided to face without ever compromising his own views and conscience, because the truth is all there is.

CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel

An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaimed exponents - Closely Observed Trains director Jiří Menzel.

Martin Slivka: The Man Who Planted Trees

A tribute to Martin Slivka, one of the most important personalities of Slovak cinematography and culture. He was the creator of Slovak documentary ethnographic film, director, screenwriter, dramaturgist, film theoretician, pedagogue, author and ethnograph, but mainly – exceptional person. This documentary is not only a remembrance of maestro Slivka through words of his close friends and colleagues, but also an attempt to slightly uncover the secret of his rich life and work.

The Barnabás Kos Case

In this bitingly satirical film Peter Slovan, a continuous source of trouble for the film functionaries of the socialist Slovakia, tackles an evergreen topic – the corruptive effects of power. Barnabáš Kos, a triangle player at a symphonic orchestra, is suddenly promoted to serve as the head of the said institution, even though both he and his superiors deem him completely unfit for the task. Encouraged in equal parts by this unexpected recognition and the servile praise of his colleagues, Kos’s modesty starts to gradually vanish. The erstwhile bashful and aloof percussionist quickly becomes aware of the advantages of his new office, and begins to realise his increasingly ludicrous artistic ambitions. Ultimately, the submissive marionette turns into a source of public humiliation, and his astonishing career finds an abrupt end. Orchestra serves here as a microcosm that grotesquely reflects the absurd and tragicomic mechanisms of the paranoid apparatus of power.

The Boxer and Death

Concentration camp commander Kraft finds out that prisoner Kominek is a former professional boxer. Overnight, the prisoner is made Kraft's exercise partner and unwillingly rises to a privileged position at the camp. His anger over the death of his friend and co-prisoner leads to open revolt. The film brings a new view of human degradation during fascism by a tragic story of one man whose only chance for survival is to accept the rules of an unequal game.

Koliba: Forgotten Glory of Slovak Film Studios

A documentary on how American films are made well at the renowned Studio Koliba, Slovakia and also the harsh and cruel view of why films do not go well in SR.