The heroine of this social melodrama, set in a desolate region “where people were born with solitude in their hearts”, is the naive orphan Nina, who stumbles upon an escaped prisoner intent on seeing his dying mother one last time. With its classic story and advanced technical quality, this low-budget picture was a hit with audiences both at home and abroad. Its success was due in part to the involvement of Der starke Vierer (the strong four), one of the most distinctive creative teams to come out of early Czechoslovak cinema: director and actor Karel Lamač, cameraman Otto Heller, actress Anny Ondra and, later on, scripter Václav Wasserman. White Paradise will be screened at the festival with live musical accompaniment.