Directed by: Clio Barnard
United Kingdom, 2021, 95 min

Ali, a charismatic joker who keeps his sorrow carefully locked away, encounters Ava, a likeable woman bearing her heart on her sleeve and a trauma from her distant past. The sparks fly and a romance is born. An enchanting film full of irresistible humour that doesn’t try to paste over reality as it tells its story of love, the quest for reassurance, and the importance of Bob Dylan. The audience hit of this year’s festival in Cannes.

Directed by: Levan Koguashvili
Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria, USA, Monaco, 2021, 95 min

When former wrestling champion Kakhi learns that his son Soso has gotten himself into difficulties, he travels from Georgia to New York to help him… Profoundly melancholic, infused with tragicomic moments, and characterized by a sense of understanding for its protagonists, Koguashvili’s film captures the bond between a father and his adult son, an ancient bond in which the older man will always feel the need to protect his blood, no matter what the circumstances.

Directed by: David Sís
Czech Republic, USA, France, 2021, 96 min

“Do you know what I’ve always wanted to find out, brother? Where do you get your ideas for your drawings?” director David Sís asks his older brother Petr at the beginning of the film. He doesn’t get an answer right away, but perhaps it can be found in this documentary that, with great care, traces the highly successful career of a talented and multifaceted artist whose work crosses generational and geographic boundaries.

Directed by: Michaela Pavlátová
Czech Republic, France, Slovak Republic, 2021, 81 min

Getting married is always a big step, but for Helena it marks a fundamental change in her life. She leaves Prague behind and moves with Nazir to Kabul, where she becomes part of a family she has never met. The new world brings much joy, but also difficulties that a European married to an Afghan man must overcome.

Directed by: Jan Němec
Czechoslovakia, 1966, 71 min

Countless parables exist on power and its devastating impact, but only rarely does the focus include the opposing side: not just the victims but also the henchmen, opportunists, informers, lame cowards and, simply, people who lack their own opinions. Never had they been so precisely identified until Jan Němec made this film.

Directed by: Šimon Šafránek
Czech Republic, 2021, 50 min

Using never-before-seen archival footage, Czech Television’s online documentary series RapStory traces thirty years of rap music in the Czech Republic, exploring important events in the history of this music that aims directly for the heart. All of it told exclusively by the people who were there and who managed to build up a subculture that tells us about today’s society more than any other.

Directed by: Jan Šikl
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2021, 100 min

Documentary filmmaker Jan Šikl has spent many years seeking out and collecting private film archives. In this way, he came across several hours of footage showing the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Exactly fifty-three years later, on August 21, 2021, historical memory awakens from a long slumber with this reconstruction of the occupation, a cinematic adventure of a truly archeological nature.

Directed by: Elisabeth Vogler
France, 2021, 90 min

One day, one city, one continuous shot. Experience Paris in the summer, where life keeps going, even during the pandemic. A city filled with summer love, important life decisions, and unexpected games of chess.

Directed by: Michal Blaško
Czech Republic, France, 2022, 68 min

Nurse Hana Kučerová never smiles and she treats her patients poorly. When a patient dies under suspicious circumstances, the public, the media, the police, and her colleagues are clear as to who is guilty.... A mini-series inspired by real events that doesn’t try to place blame, but instead seeks to identify the difference between truth and mere semblance. The first part of the trilogy will be screened at KVIFF in its exclusive world premiere.

Directed by: David Ondříček
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2021, 131 min

David Ondříček’s fascinating drama presents the life of the famous Czech endurance runner and Olympic champion Emil Zátopek, a man who, with impressive nonchalance, pushed the boundaries of human possibilities and took his place alongside other greats who transformed athletic competitions into unforgettable stories.