Films 2021
THE MAN WITH HARE EARS / Muž so zajačími ušami SK 2020 | Comedy/Drama | 104 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Awards: Best Director Warsaw IFF
Festivals: Warsaw IFF
The opening feature film The Man with Hare Ears, a dramedy by the Slovak director Martin Šulík is a story of a self-centred writer Josef who thinks that nothing can surprise him anymore. One evening, though, his phone rings and he finds himself caught up in a series of events that turn his world upside-down. He acquires an unexpected ability – extraordinary hearing as a result of a new pair of rabbit ears. Now he can hear not only what people say, but also what they are thinking about. And suddenly he learns what his family and friends think of him.
The Australian premiere of the new Slovak-Czech delightful comedy is the tenth film by one of the most prominent contemporary Slovak filmmakers Martin Šulík with Miroslav Krobot in the lead.
SHORT FILM: CONCRETE JUNGLE /Betonová džungle | CZ 2019 | Animation | 7:30 min
ENJOY A FREE BECHEROVKA COCKTAIL ON ARRIVAL
WED 24 MARCH 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR Martin Šulík
LANGUAGE Slovak/Czech
English subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Miroslav Krobot
Táňa Pauhofová
Zuzana Kronerová
Oldřich Kaiser
Alexandra Borbély
Zuzana Mauréry
CHARLATAN /Šarlatán
CZ/IE/PL/SK 2020 | Biopic | 118 min
Awards: Best Director EFA 2020 |14 Czech Lion Nominations
Festivals: Berlin IFF
The historical drama Charlatan by the renowned Polish director Agnieszka Holland is inspired by the true story of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek who dedicated his life to treating the sick using medicinal plants. He was forced to choose between his calling and his conscience throughout the war and the turmoil of the 20th century.
Mikolášek found fame and fortune treating celebrities in the 1920s and 30s, as well as the Nazi and Communist eras with his uncanny knack for “urinary diagnosis”. Like the century he lived in, his fascinating personal tale is full of twists and is a reflection on the price a person pays for single mindedly following their calling.
SHORT FILM: Trust me / Ver mi | SK 2019 | Animation | 6 min
THU 25 MARCH 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR Agnieszka Holland
LANGUAGE Czech
English subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Ivan Trojan
Josef Trojan
Juraj Loj
Jaroslava Pokorná
Martin Myšička
SCUMBAG / Sviňa
SK 2020 | Drama/Thriller | 104 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
FESTIVALS: Warsaw IFF
A box office hit, Scumbag is a political thriller inspired by real life events. The story takes place in a small picturesque European country where anything goes. Drugged girls become the playthings of influential men from the underworld and the top echelons of politics. Fortunes can be made from government contracts and blackmail is just another type of business. Power is the best way to protect your people from the police and the courts. If you have power, you can do anything. In this country some will do well. Very well. And sticking your nose into other people’s business can be fatal. Life is sometimes cheap and death is just another commodity.
SHORT FILM: THE PIT / Jáma | CZ 2019 | Animation | 8:50 min
FRI 26 MARCH 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR Mariana Čengel Solčanská, Rudolf Bierman
LANGUAGE Slovak
English subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Jozef Vajda
Marko Igonda
Daniel Heriban
Diana Móorová
Andrej Remeník
Gabriela Marcinková
PRINCESS CURSED IN TIME / Princezna zakletá v čase
CZ 2020 | Fairy Tale/Fantasy | 115 min
Princess Elen wakes up on her birthday knowing she must either kill the evil witch who cursed her or find her true love. If she doesn´t manage either, the kingdom will be destroyed by a dark storm, as has already happened many times before. The princess has got one last chance to save herself and the kingdom. Will she be able to persuade her friends, break the strong spells and defeat the powerful witch? Maybe destroying the witch is not the only thing she must do and the princess will have to sacrifice much more!
SHORT FILM: Chestnut Boy / Gaštanko | SK 2019 | Animation | 9 min
SAT 27 MARCH 13:30 PM
DIRECTOR Petr Kubík LANGUAGE Czech
English subtitles
AGE No restriction
CAST Natalia Germani
Eliška Křenková
Marek Lambora
Simona Zmrzlá
Martin Dejdar
Roman Zach
SHADOW COUNTRY / Krajina ve stínu
CZ 2020 | Drama/History | 135 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Awards: 15 Czech Lion Nominations
Festivals: London FF
Bohdan Sláma’s striking black and white epic Shadow Country is a unique account of life in the Czech-Austrian border village of Schwarzwald from the 1930s through WWII to the 1950s, a time which saw a small community of decent people sacrificed to political ideology. The Austrian and Czech villagers must choose their allegiances, some which will have dire consequences.
This 2020 historical drama features compelling performances from Magdaléna Borová as the “black widow” who marries a German and Csongor Kassai as the Czech who loses his Jewish wife.
SHORT FILM: LUNATE / Lunate |SK 2020 | Animation | 5:21 min
SAT 27 MARCH 16:00 PM
DIRECTOR Bohdam Sláma LANGUAGE Czech/Slovak/German
English subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Magdaléna Borová
Stanislav Majer
Csongor Kassai
Barbora Poláková
Pavel Nový
Petra Špalková
DRONEMAN / Modelář
CZ/SK/SL | 2020 | Thriller | 110 min
Awards: 7 Czech Lion Nominations
Festivals: Warsaw IFF
Droneman is a 2020 Czech psychological thriller film directed by Petr Zelenka. Chemist and drone navigator Pavel (Kryštof Hádek) has a strong sense of justice and wants to fix the wrongs in the world while his businessman friend and part time rapper Plech (Jiří Mádl) dreams of big money and a comfortable life. Pavel enjoys working with the drones, but he realises that life around him is no longer satisfying – there is a lot of tension among people, but no one has taken any action or even seen the bigger picture. So, Pavel sets out to “do the right thing”. He aims straight for the top, choosing to eliminate Dick Cheney, the controversial American politician and businessman, on his upcoming visit to Prague. The question is – will he succeed?
SHORT FILM: ON THE HILL / On the Hill | SK 2020 | Animation | 8:50 min
SAT 27 MARCH 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR Petr Zelenka LANGUAGE Czech
English subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Kryštof Hádek
Jiří Mádl
Veronika Khek Kubařová
Richard Stanke
Zuzana Fialová
Helena Dvořáková
NIGHT RIDERS / Noční jazdci
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1981 | Adventure/Drama | 92 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Shortly after World War I and the creation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, two war veterans face off against each other in a small village bordering Poland in the north of Slovakia. One has the backing of the whole, albeit poor village, while the other has the law on his side. It results in a conflict that reaches its climax in the closing shoot out. But instead of the Wild West, the gunshots ring out at the Slovak-Polish border. Michal Dočolomanský as the horse smuggler and Radoslav Brzobohatý as the customs officer from Prague meet in Holly's Night Riders in a western style confrontation set in the insecure years of the newly founded Czechoslovak Republic.
A not to be missed screening of the film by the renowned Slovak director in the newly released SFI digitally restored version.
SHORT FILM: Hide ‘N Seek / Schovka |CZ 2019 | Animation | 7 min
SUN 28 MARCH 3:30 PM
DIRECTOR Martin Hollý LANGUAGE Slovak/Czech
English Subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Radoslav Brzobohatý
Michal Dočolomanský
Soňa Valentová
Leopold Haverl
Petr Čepek
Jiří Krampol
Pavel Zedníček
Ivan Palúch
FAR TOO PERSONAL / Príliš osobná známosť
CZ/SK 2020 | Comedy/Drama | 107 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Natalia is 30 years old, lives alone, works at a design studio, has a best friend called Simona who is freshly divorced and likes her life as it is. Simona tries to move on with her life and live alone as her son has decided to live with his father while Natalia finds love in a relationship with a widower, his little daughter and grandmother Eva who has a heart bigger than the sea. Three women, three faces of love, three stories of joy, pain, happiness and sorrow. A charming and touching film that once again shows that love comes in as many formats as there are people in the world
SHORT FILM: WAY OF SYLVIE / Podle Sylvie CZ 2019 | Animation | 12 min
SUN 28 MARCH 7:00 PM
DIRECTOR Marta Ferencová LANGUAGE Czech
English Subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Petra Hřebíčková
Tatiana Dyková
Eliška Balzerová
Ľuboš Kostelný
Marián Mitaš,
Branislav Trifunovič
SPECIAL SCREENING | SOKOL SYDNEY
(Frenchs Forest, 16 Grattan Crescent)
VIDEO KINGS | Králi videa
SK/CZ 2020 | Documentary | 82 min
AWARDS: Czech Film Critics Award Nomination | Best Documentary
From the Artactive and Blackout production companies comes a documentary that will take you back to a time when videos from the West were illegally imported into Czechoslovakia, layered over with fast, dodgy dubbing and then bought and sold on the black market in order to be screened at home en masse. A very entertaining, nostalgic look not only at this phenomenon of the 80s and 90s but behind the scenes recollections from the then pirates, dubbers, distributors and all the others involved in this “home grown” industry and how they remembered the time.
SAT 20 MARCH 18:30 PM
DIRECTOR Lukáš Bulava LANGUAGE Czech
English Subtitles
AGE 15+ or accompanied by an adult
CAST Petr Svoboda
František Fuka
Ondřej Neff,
Dana Hábová
Roman Holý
Zdeněk Troška
Jiří Zídek
Lukrecius Chang
Václav Šimáček
Ondřej Hejma
Josef Šedý