Pavel Plešák

This rather unusual documentary film is made by a group of mentally handicapped participants of the film workshop run by Inventura, an association for the integration of mentally handicapped people into society through art. They are coached by Ivo Bystričan, author and director of the film. Pecking Order is inspired by the protracted government crisis in 2012, the escalation of corruption cases and ongoing civil protests. Mentally handicapped filmmakers are trying to find their own solutions to the crisis of governance. They are trying to find a new model of the functioning of government also into communities of a variety of animals. The crew conducts a dialogue with leading ethologist and sociobiologist Daniel Frynta of the Faculty of Science, and Mark Spinka of the Research Institute of Animal Production in Uhříněves.

Each year, thousands of tuned-up vehicles head to huge events for car tuning enthusiasts held at disused military airports, in camping resorts or parking lots. Here you'll find both old wrecks and expensive gems. Tuner car shows offer countless ways to celebrate car fetish, coarse sex, alcohol and dumb entertainment. What compels so many Czechs, mostly from the countryside, to dedicate hundreds of hours to their cars and to undergo a bumpy car ride across the country in a low rider that clatters over the deep tracks dug in Czech highways?

This documentary film follows the theater project Maringotka - Othello Is Black. In the summer of 2012, the travelling theater with a horse and caravan visits the Sluknov region for some 30 performances of Shakespeare's play. The film captures students of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts confronted with the reality of a socially and ethnically excluded area.

A tragicomic documentary about three French retirees who guard the legacy of Czechoslovakia of Masaryk's time. Three French seniors have found the meaning of life in keeping alive the memory of a country that no longer exists. André Poirot from Darney is the director of a local museum of Czechoslovakia. The museum is visited by five people a month. Vaclav Eugene Faucher takes care of the uniform and memory of his father who led a French military mission during the first republic. Pierre Sputil became a mayor of Sokol de Paris because he has a knack for cooking Czech meals.

Emigration through the eyes of children. The life stories of people who fled from their countries for economical reasons or because of various kinds of discrimination have been richly described. However, how does emigration influence the lives of those who have not fled voluntarily but were fully dependent on their parents? How are such crucial moments perceived by children who appeared in a foreign country out of the blue and not of their own accord? The transition to the new and unknown environment, usually an absolutely unexpected one, necessarily brings about traumas that must be overcome later. The sudden change in the lives of these children frequently led to long-term feelings of confusion and rootlessness. Ripped from the security of childhood, they were forced to grow up overnight. In the documentary, the children of emigrants are portrayed as victims of the regime their parents were fleeing from. This radical change has influenced their lives. How have they coped with it? How do they judge their parents who have exposed them to such situations? The documentary deals with egoism and forgiveness, the question of fault and responsibility of the parents and the society as well as with the ability to cope with such a past.