Ester Krumbachová

Marian (1996)

Told via flashback, this raw, emotional drama chronicles the events that led a 22-year-old Czech Gypsy to prison. Marian was born to an alcoholic father and a terrible mother. As a result he is sent to a government orphanage where he is labelled a problem ...

What Is to Be Done? A Journey from Prague to Ceský Krumlov, or How I Formed a New Government (1996)

Quite a few years have passed since November 1989. Czechoslovakia has been divided up and, in the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus's right-wing government is in power. Karel Vachek follows on from his film New Hyperion, thus continuing his series of comprehen ...

Ecce Constantia (1992)

The Last Butterfly (1991)

Stage mime Antoine Moreau is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for the children of Terezin, a "model" concentration camp, to convince the Red Cross observers that the camp is truly what it seems. Reluctant at first, Moreau slowly learns the ...

Ark of Fools (1990)

Set in a bleak, filth-ridden provincial hospital, a disillusioned doctor begins to find the philosophical ramblings of a mental patient more stimulating than the company of "sane" society. As their relationship deepens amidst the grimy and decaying wards, ...

Království za kytaru (1990)

A 16-year-old young man, a budding rock enthusiast, spots a beautiful guitar but soon finds he doesn't have enough money. In vain, he asks his parents to help him. Eventually he tries to raise the necessary funds on his own. This is a not very believable n ...

Guilt (1990)

The film is set in the 1840s. A charming village girl, Rozina, falls in love with a farmhand, Martin. However, a local madwoman, who secretly loves Martin, reveals the location of their meetings to Rozina's father, who banishes Martin and marries Rozina to ...

Ustláno na čekankách (1985)

The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun (1984)

A bachelor named Faun with a Don Juan complex, seized with a hypochondriac's fear of the ineluctable approach of death, enters a race against time's passage. Faun's sexual love is imbued with the narcissistic vanity of a self-satisfied bacchant who even to ...

The Brave Blacksmith (1984)

Young blacksmith Mikeš sets out into the world for an adventure, accompanied by the miller's assistant Matěj and the boy Ondra. On their journey to rescue three enchanted princesses, the young men encounter a mischievous old hag, magic, and traps set by ...

Shoe Show (1984)

While the humans are away, the shoes in a cobbler's workshop engage in a number of activities, including flirting, kidnapping and a gunfight. ...

Strata (1983)

The story means to develop through an uncovering of layers - strata. As writer Krumbachova stated: "With nature as a prison, an impassable barrier ... where every action is physically and psychically limited by the environment ... people are reduced to fra ...

Povídka Malostranská (1981)

A young man studying law finds a place to stay with a young conductor, thinking that he will find an idyllic Lesser Town atmosphere here and will be able to prepare for his exams in peace. The house is inhabited by distinctive characters. The owner, who so ...

The Little Mermaid (1976)

The little mermaid rescues a prince from drowning and falls in love with him. To be with him, she makes a deal with the evil sorceress: her beautiful voice against a life on land. ...

Days of Betrayal (1973)

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the a ...

The Secret of a Great Narrator (1972)

The life of the famous French writer Alexander Dumas the Elder. Screenwriter Jaroslav Dietl did not hide his admiration for this literary giant, and in addition to the screenplay he also wrote a three-part TV play about Dumas (starring Vladimír Menšík). ...

Inn At the Flying Dragon (1972)

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's tale, "Inn at the Flying Dragon," brings dark fantasy, ghostly apparitions, and mysteries to the TV screen. It's part of his well-known collection, "The Dark Mirror," published a century ago, yet still captivating readers today. B ...

Straw Hat (1972)

Slacker Maurice Fadinar wasted his whole inheritance and the only way out of this situation, as it seems, to marry Helen Nonankur - daughter of a wealthy farmer. At the last meeting with his mistress in a nearby forest Fadinar's horse eats straw hat which ...

Jeden ze soubojů (1972)

Miláček (1972)

Kam slunce nechodí... (1971)

Sometimes a person faces a difficult decision. Morality is on one scale, money is on the other. A theoretically easy equation for an honest man. But being poor as a church mouse and breaking your allegiance to help your loved ones is a dilemma. If I sell m ...

Dogs and People (1971)

The first short story "Naked in the Thorns" tells the story of a man whose clothes were taken away by a dog during his bath in the river. In the second short story "Games of Love", a retired professor paints a biblical scene of Susan and the old man. In th ...

Dlouhý podzimní den (1971)

Jumping Over Puddles (1971)

This Czechoslovakian children's film takes place during the last days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. ...

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

Valerie, a Czechoslovakian teenager living with her grandmother, is blossoming into womanhood, but that transformation proves secondary to the effects she experiences when she puts on a pair of magic earrings. Now seeing the world around her in a different ...

Killing the Devil (1970)

A lonely woman gets more than she bargained for when she begins wooing Mr Devil, an insatiable glutton who turns out to be the boyfriend from Hell. ...

Fruit of Paradise (1970)

An experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of the loss of innocence. ...

Aesop (1970)

This film brings us back to show us the life of the famous ancient sage Aesop, who helped people with his wisdom in their struggle for freedom and happiness. ...

Witchhammer (1970)

In the 1600s, an overzealous clergy hauls innocent women in front of tribunals, forces them to confess to imaginary witchery, and engages in brutal torture and persecution of their subjects. ...

The Ear (1970)

Government bureaucrat Ludvik becomes suspicious after several colleagues disappear and he overhears something strange at a cocktail party. Returning home with his wife, Anna, he finds their house under surveillance and spends a fraught night worrying about ...

All My Good Countrymen (1969)

The lives of 7 friends in a small Czech town from 1945 to some time after 1958. ...

The Thirteenth Chamber (1969)

Twelve-year old Kosta, a little boy of an overactive imagination, makes friends with equally sensitive eleven-year old Blanka. Fantasy leads the two children to the forgotten attic in the house of Blanka's parents. For them, this is the forbidden "thirteen ...

Čas slunce a růží (1968)

Karel Gott and his band sing songs in a natural Slovak scenery, without accompanying words or connecting story. ...

Necklace of Melancholy (1968)

A musical portrait of the legendary Marta Kubišová, filmed just before the August 1968 invasion restricted her artistic activities. ...

A Man Who Rose in Price (1968)

Mr. Benda, a married father of two children, works for a company that liquidates old banknotes. After one drunken party, he is visited by a painter who tattooed his back in drunkenness the previous night. The image tattooed on Benda's back is considered th ...

Bedtime Story (1968)

Comedy based on short Sean O'Casey play. John Jo Mulligan finds himself in a situation with which his pious conscience cannot cope. He has spent a night with the cunning seductress Angela. Full of remorse and dreading the ruin of his reputation, he tries t ...

Ta naše písnička česká (1967)

The Haszler songs of Prague, so popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have not aged. They are still sung in pubs and on construction sites, in short, everywhere. They also have their place in the love stories from old Prague, so bea ...

Martyrs of Love (1967)

Three loosely-connected tales that represent different aspects of love: temptation, dreams, and adventure. ...

Hotel for Strangers (1967)

A gifted poet checks into a Gothic hotel in hopes of meeting the woman with whom he has long been enamored. He is surrounded by a variety of offbeat characters like the hefty homosexual cook, shadowy clerks, snooty waiters, and valets prone to violence. He ...

Romance for Bugle (1967)

A lyrical story about first love, death and disappointment, based on a poem of the same title. ...

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower (1967)

Shortish forty-year old Ludvík Podzimek, lute and flute player in a Prague orchestra, is far from being an attractive man. He is nevertheless generally considered a great 'Don Juan'. Women take up with him out of a certain motherly compassion and Ludvík' ...

Daisies (1966)

Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them. ...

The Party and the Guests (1966)

A group of the bourgeois head for a prominent figure's birthday party. As they venture through the woods and have a picnic, they're suddenly surrounded by some suspicious strangers. ...

Carriage to Vienna (1966)

A WW2 story of a young Austrian soldier running from the Russian army and a woman whom he forces to come along in order to save his wounded mate. ...

Nobody Will Laugh (1966)

A successful art historian who has trouble telling people difficult truths, finds himself in an inescapable situation when a small lie quickly gets out of hand. ...

Long Live the Republic (1965)

Oldrich is the runt of his village, beaten by his father, bullied by the other boys. But he has imagination on his side, and a wiry toughness they can't defeat. The village is in turmoil, because the Nazi occupiers have just retreated and the Red Army is a ...

The Fifth Horseman Is Fear (1965)

In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, a doctor-turned-warehouse employee reluctantly agrees to treat a gravely wounded political fugitive, putting himself and everyone living in his building complex in danger. ...

If a Thousand Clarinets (1965)

A military base. An awkward soldier. A statue of Bach. And suddenly all guns in the area change into music instruments. Great mystery is immediately found by TV station. And soon the military base becomes a stage for huge TV show. ...

The Dear Departed (1964)

When Jan Werich wakes up as his seemingly deceased grandfather, he discovers that all the survivors are only interested in his property. That's why he decides to get married. ...

Diamonds of the Night (1964)

Two Jewish boys escape from a train transporting them from one concentration camp to another. Beyond themes of war and anti-Nazism, the film concerns itself with man's struggle to preserve human dignity. ...

Revue pro banjo (1964)

Songs about eternal love, American vagabonds, cowboys and desperadoes, with the romance of railways and trains speeding into the distance are recorded as film songs, and so, for example, in the well-known standard Franck and Johnny you will see M. Kopecký ...

Půjčovna talentů (1964)

Uspořená libra (1963)

Kočár nejsvětější svátosti (1963)

Jan Werich, as the Spanish viceroy in Lima, Peru, at the end of the eighteenth century, is not only afflicted with gout but also doubts about the fidelity of his mistress, an actress of the local theatre, with whom he intends to settle his scores very firm ...

Ikarie XB 1 (1963)

The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB 1 embarks on a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limi ...

The King of Kings (1963)

During his work assignment in Tamani Kingdom, Czech worker Lojza saves a local man from dying in the desert. Two years later, it turns out the saved man was also the Taman king; and he has decided to name Lojza, a communist, his royal heir. ...

Transport from Paradise (1963)

Czechoslovakian Zbynek Brynych directs this psychological drama set in World War II Terezin ghetto. A dark, visual portrayal of the trials and tribulations the Theresienstadt people faced on a daily basis presented in a series of memorable stories. Their h ...

Life Without a Guitar (1963)

A group of jolly young people work in the Prague Tesla factory, also spending most of their leisure time together. One of them, guitar player Zdenek, begins to shun his friends' company. He has fallen in love with Vera, who does not belong to the group. Th ...

Harlémská tragedie (1963)

A comedy about two women and two marriages. A young woman lives in a Harlem apartment with a fire escape and is beaten by her husband. However, she is happy because she always gets a gift from him. Her neighbor envies her because her husband is quiet, neve ...

Man in Outer Space (1962)

An upholsterer who is preparing a rocket for takeoff accidentally jettisons himself into space and returns to Earth 500 years later with an alien companion who wishes to learn more about the human race. ...

Ztracená revue (1961)

The music and dance revue about the clown and the girl from the poster takes place in the streets of Prague, in the quiet corners of the Old Town, Lesser Town and Hradčany with the famous motifs of the Gothic gargoyles of St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Cas ...

CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel (2018)

An epic exploration of the Czechoslovak New Wave cinema of the 1960s and 70s, structured around a series of conversations with one of its most acclaimed exponents - Closely Observed Trains director Jiří Menzel. ...

Searching for Ester (2005)

Ester Krumbachová - a costume designer, screenwriter, director; one of the boldest personalities of the Czech New Wave. She worked in theatre, she was a writer and an illustrator. She co-created films such as O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Sedmikrásky (19 ...