Ludmila Venclíková

The Little Shepherd Boy from the Valley

In 1947 by the Beskid mountains, the traces of war still linger, destroyed tanks dispersed throughout the farmland creating an eerie backdrop. This film follows a ten-year-old boy and the strange visions he encounters, his world of fantasy exacerbated with ample time, space, and a lack of companionship or guidance. We see the adults that influence and dominate his life, for better or for worse. Surreal and packed with an excellent study of human emotions and motivations compounded by their rural, isolated vacuum of a town, this is a timeless and severely underrated film from a brilliant Czech director.

Visitors from the Galaxy

Robert is a SF writer, who realizes that he can make his thoughts material. Because of that, a group of aliens arrives to Earth. Their leader is Andra, who shows affection for Robert, which does not please his girlfriend, Biba. A monster, Mumu, has arrived together with the visitors from space.

The Medal

The trenches of World War I provide for a captivating backdrop to the drama of Corporal Hoferik. In his devotion to the Habsburg Monarchy, he fanatically carries out his military orders, but he ultimately suffers the Empire's disfavor.

Transport from Paradise

Czechoslovakian Zbynek Brynych directs this psychological drama set in World War II Terezin ghetto. A dark, visual portrayal of the trials and tribulations the Theresienstadt people faced on a daily basis presented in a series of memorable stories. Their hopes and dreams unfold against the perpetual threat of deportation (or worse) by the Nazis. Based on the novel "Night and Hope" by Arnost Lustig.

The Night Guest

When a man stops at a motel one evening in 1961, his tormenting behavior drives one of the people present at the motel to remember his experiences in a concentration camp during WWII.

August Sunday

This lyrical comedy story takes place in two hot days in the small South Bohemian village. On the shore of a small pond, summer guests and local youth meet. As is typical of the works of Hrubín, it is a conflict of youth and age, life and death, represented by the medical student Zuzana and her beloved Jirka.

Great Solitude

In southern Moravia, in the native village of Velka Samota, a ministry official returns from Prague to lift the declining JZD he helped establish.