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ADELHEID
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Our Price: $29.95
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In this powerful drama from Frantisek Vlacil (Marketa Lazarova), a former Czech soldier falls in love with Adelheid, a German, in the aftermath of WWII.
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ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN
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Our Price: $29.95
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One of the wonders of the Czech New Wave, this Cannes Jury Prize-winning film weaves magical, very funny stories about a small Moravian village in 1948.
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AND GIVE MY LOVE TO THE SWALLOWS
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Our Price: $29.95
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Acclaimed Czech New Wave filmmaker Jaromil Jires (The Joke, Valerie & Her Week of Wonders) directs the true story of Maruska Kuderikova, a young Moravian girl who joined the Czech Resistance during World War II and was arrested by the Nazis for her work. Kuderikova chronicled her experience as a prisoner in her diary, and Jires transforms her story into an uplifting tale of sacrifice for the sake of a better life and future. "A powerful and moving work" (International Film Guide). In Czech with English subtitles. Jaromil Jires---Czechoslovakia---1972---87 mins.
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AUTUMN SPRING
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Our Price: $24.98
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The late, great Vlastimil Brodsky (Larks on a String) made his final screen appearance in this bittersweet comedy about one man's rejection of old age. Brodsky plays an elderly con man who refuses to grow up and act responsibly, instead spending his days playing innocent pranks. As his shenanigans increase, his family finds him increasingly harder to live with. In Czech with English subtitles. Vladimir Michalek---Czech Republic---2001---95 mins.
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BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (KRASKA V NESNAZICH)
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Our Price: $29.95
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In this steamy melodrama from Czech director Jan Hrebejk, a beautiful young mother, Marcela (Anna Geislerova), is forced to move herself and the kids in with her mother and vile stepfather (Jiri Schmitzer). Floods have ruined Marcela's tiny home and her husband has been put away for stealing a car to make ends meet. The plot takes a turn when the owner of said car, a wealthy foreigner (Josef Abrham), meets Marcela and whisks her and the kids away to Tuscany. Her sexual and financial needs are met, but at what cost? Based loosely on a Robert Graves poem. Winner of a Special Prize of the Jury at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. In Czech with English subtitles.
Jan Hrebejk---Czech Republic---2006---110 mins.
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BORN INTO SHIT
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Our Price: $24.98
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In this improbable Czech dramedy, three members of one family keep a lot of secrets. Dad acts the part of an underemployed veteran, but is really an assassin, mom is a bible-thumper with a soft spot for a homeless lesbian, and son is torn up about coming out of the closet. Po hlave do prdele tells the story of the fateful day these three big cats get let out of the bag. As the marketing campaign suggested, "It's Crash meets In Bruges and Juno...in Prague!" In Czech with English subtitles.
Marcel Bystron---Czech Republic---2006---90 mins.
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CAPRICIOUS SUMMER
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Our Price: $29.95
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Three middle-aged friends in a sleepy, second-class resort town are thrown into a state of sexual longing and frustration when a tightrope walker arrives with his beautiful young assistant. Director Jiri Menzel (Closely Watched Trains) also plays the tightrope walker in this gentle, wistful comedy. "Menzel's evocation of place and mood, of soft summer days threatened by winter, of regret for lost youth and opportunity, of hope for things to come, is perfection" (Tom Milne, Time Out). Capricious Summer won the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In Czech with Jiri Menzel---Czechoslovakia---1967---74 mins.
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CITIZEN VACLAV HAVEL GOES ON VACATION
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Our Price: $24.95
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Before he became president of the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel--playwright, essayist, intellectual--was a leading dissident, repeatedly jailed by the communist government. This extraordinary documentary by Jan and Adam Novak recreates (with irony) a little-known episode in Havel's rebellious life: the decision to test the limits of the secret police by taking an extended "vacation" to visit his friends across Czechoslovakia. The result is a riveting, often humorous journey into the soul of a brave individual who faces totalitarianism with an open heart. In English.
Jan Novak/Adam Novak---USA---2006---77 mins.
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CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
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Our Price: $29.95
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An ironic, funny film about a young man on his first job in a small town railroad station, trying to get sexually initiated (in hilarious scenes), who, unwittingly, becomes a tragic hero. Offbeat but tender, Closely Watched Trains is a comedy about frustration, eroticism and adventure. Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Picture. With Vaclav Neckar and Jitka Bendova. In Czech with English subtitles. Jiri Menzel---Czechoslovakia---1966---93 mins.
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COMMUNISM WAS NO PARTY: AN EXCLUSIVE FACETS 2-PACK - UPC 736899131326
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Our Price: $39.95
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Facets pairs two stunning dramas that depict life under Stalin's Communism. The Joke is a dark and ironic film about a young man sentenced to hard labor for a joke. In The Shoe, three Soviet patrolmen discover a woman's shoe on the Latvian border and an official search for the infiltrator begins.
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CREMATOR, THE
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Our Price: $19.98
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In Juraj Herz's darkly expressionistic horror film from 1968, a cremator is convinced he can save all mankind by turning the world into a giant crematorium.
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CZECH CHILLERS
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Our Price: $39.95
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A pairing of two cult classics from the dark days of Communism in Czechoslovakia, when directors turned to fantasy and horror to spin metaphorical tales of girls bewitched by evil forces and innocent victims tortured by inquisitors. In Jaromil Jires' surreal and sexual horror film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970, 77 mins.), a young girl's world is turned upside-down after receiving a pair of arcane earrings. Soon, vampires and carnal priests disrupt the girl's slumber, ravaging her innocence and awakening the woman within. Then from director Otakar Vavra comes Witches' Hammer (1970, 103 mins.), a riveting and often disturbing dramatization of the deadly witch hunts that plagued Czechoslovakia in the late 17th century. A ruthless inquisitor is called out of retirement by the church to investigate allegations of heresy. Driven by greed and bloodlust, he finds cause to accuse anyone he wishes of witchcraft. In Czech with English subtitles. Jaromil Jires/Otakar Vavra---Czechoslovakia---1970---180 mins.
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CZECH DREAM
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Our Price: $19.98
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Part of a series produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, FX's 30 Days) aimed at examining issues of social relevance and importance to society and the world today, Czech Dreams chronicles the adventures of two film students who set out to document the influence of Western consumerism on Czech society. They start promoting the opening of a new superstore--and to great effect--thanks to a marketing campaign that includes catchy jingles, fancy flyers, and giant billboards. The only problem is that the store doesn 't exist. "Like Jackass directed by Lars Von Trier" (BBC). Vit Klusak/Filip Remunda---Czech Republic---2004---90 mins.
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CZECH MATE: THE FILMS OF JAROMIL JIRES - AN EXCLUSIVE FACETS 2-PACK
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Our Price: $39.95
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Jaromil Jires was a leading voice in the Czech New Wave, but conflicts with Communist censors ultimately affected his career. This set features two of the director's early works, which earned international praise but branded him as a subversive in the eyes of authorities: ...And Give My Love to the Swallows and The Joke.
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CZECH NEW WAVE SET (DVD)
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Our Price: $49.95
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Two key films from the Czech New Wave. In Daisies (Vera Chytilova, 1966, 74 mins.), two uninhibited young women (both named Marie) turn against the numbing state of society in a madcap flurry of pranks and material destruction. Beneath the outrageous surface of this avant-garde comedy is a defiant feminist statement and an acknowledgement of the desperation that goes hand-in-hand with rebellion--a state of mind represented by one girl's attempted suicide. The film so unsettled Czech government officials that its release was held up for a year. The Joke (Jaromil Jires, 1968, 80 mins.), based on a novel by Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being) is dark and ironic film shot during the Prague Spring of 1968. After ending a postcard with a humorous reference to Trotsky, a young man is sentenced to years of hard labor for his joke. Upon his release, he sets out to take revenge by seducing the wife of the Communist Party official who turned him in. The film and book were subsequently banned in Czechoslovakia. Vera Chytilova/Jaromil Jires---Czechoslovakia---1966/1968---154 mins.
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DAISIES
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Our Price: $29.95
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In this key film from the Czech New Wave, two uninhibited young women turn against their numbing society in a flurry of pranks and material destruction.
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DISTANT JOURNEY
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Our Price: $29.95
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Banned for decades, this rediscovered classic of Holocaust Cinema was shot only three years after the war ended, making it one of the first films to deal with the Holocaust. The film follows the struggles of Dr. Hannah Kaufman and her family from the time of the Nazi Occupation of Prague to her experiences in the transit camp of Theresienstadt (modern Terezin). Director Alfred Radok skillfully weaves together documentary-style footage with expressionist dramatic sequences to convey both the reality of history and the nightmare of its impact. "Portrays [its subject] more realistically than any film I have seen, including Schindler's List" (Films in Review). In Czech with English Subtitles---Czechoslovakia---1949---98 mins.
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DIVIDED WE FALL
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Our Price: $29.95
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In German-occupied Czechoslovakia, a young couple provides shelter to a Jewish neighbor, taking extreme and sometimes comical measures to protect him and themselves. Petr Jarchovsky, with director Jan Hrebejk, adapted his own novel for this Oscar-nominated feature that won the Czech Film and Television Awards for Best Film, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. "Mr. Hrebejk and Mr. Jarchovsky, working in the rich Czech tradition of absurdist humanism, construct a universe booby-trapped with impossible choices and ethical puzzles" (A.O. Scott, New York Times). Czech with English subtitles. Jan Hrebejk---Czech Republic---2000---122 mins.
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EAR, THE
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Our Price: $59.95
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In this moody, claustrophobic study of marital discord and intense paranoia, a provincial bureaucrat (Radoslav Brzobohaty) and his unhappy wife (Jirina Bohdalova) grow frightened after learning that one of the husband's superiors has been arrested. Fearing a purge, the couple moves tentatively through their home, developing a complex system to communicate their misery under the threat of surveillance. "A surprisingly commercial thriller that tangles with dark undercurrents, a movie ripe for rediscovery" (Sam Adams, Philadelphia City Paper). In Czech with English subtitles. Karel Kachyna---Czechoslovakia---1970---91 mins.
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ECLIPSE SERIES 32: PEARLS OF THE CZECH NEW WAVE
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Our Price: $69.95
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From Criterion: "Of all the cinematic New Waves that broke over the world in the 1960s, the one in Czechoslovakia was among the most fruitful, fascinating, and radical. With a wicked sense of humor and a healthy streak of surrealism, a group of fearless directors--including eventual Oscar winners Milos Forman and Jan Kadar--began to use film to speak out about the hypocrisy and absurdity of the Communist state. A defining work was the 1966 omnibus film Pearls of the Deep (1966, 107 mins.), which introduced five of the movement's greatest voices: Vera Chytilova, Jaromil Jires, Jiri Menzel, Jan Nemec, and Evald Schorm. This series presents that title, along with five other crucial works:" Daisies (Vera Chytilova, 1966, 76 mins.); A Report on the Party and Guests (Jan Nemec, 1966, 70 mins.); Return of the Prodigal Son (Evald Schorm, 1967, 103 mins.); Capricious Summer (Jiri Menzel, 1968, 76 mins.); and The Joke (Jaromil Jires, 1969, 81 mins.) In Czech with English subtitles.
Czechoslovakia---1966-1969---513 mins.
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