Petr Cepek Movies

A Czech family tries to deal with their own crises as their country struggles through political turmoil between 1968 and 1989 in this gentle, bittersweet comedy. Olga (Ivana Chylkova) is the teenage daughter of a poet from the Ukraine who is trying to find a place for her in the State University. However, a petition that circulated at one time suggests she would not be a fit student, so the writer prepares a petition of his own urging the school to admit her. After several years, the document bears 150 signatures, mostly from friends and family from the Ukraine who make annual shopping trips in their Czech village. Meanwhile, Olga and her friends find themselves growing up against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" campaign. Milan Steindler won the Best Director award at the 1995 Moscow International Film Festival for his work on this film, which was based on a novel by Halina Pawlowska. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jiri Menzel of Closely Watched Trains fame directed the sweet little Czechoslovakian comedy/drama My Sweet Little Village. The life's blood of the titular community is a collective farm. Marian Labuda is the farm's truck driver, and also the partner-protector of Janos Ban, who is the village idiot. Like everyone else in the village, Labuda has watched out for Ban and covered up his mistakes, but in recent weeks the situation has become intolerable and Labuda demands a new partner. As Ban prepares to be relocated to Prague, we cut away to various subplots, all of which lead to the same conclusion: the hapless Ban has always been the "glue" that has held the community together. A contrite Labuda heads for Prague to invite Ban to come back home. Originally titled Vesnicko Ma Stediskova, My Sweet Little Village was a 1986 Academy Award "best foreign-language picture" nominee. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Czechoslovak film re-creates the latter days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Set in a small Czech town in the 1890s, in telling detail, the film shows us the deteriorating community and private life of Stepa (Iva Janzurova). Stepa has syphilis, an incurable, terminal disease. The penultimate indignity the disease heaps upon him is madness. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This futuristic science fiction comedy features an atomic bomb blast that causes women to grow beards and lose the ability to have children. A summit meeting is held at the United Nations, with the proposed solution of building a time machine. The decision is made to travel back in time and murder Einstein, with the hopeful result being that without the noted mathematician's research there will be no atomic bombs. A team of scientists travel back to the early part of the 20th century. They are able to find Einstein, but a female scientist falls in love with him. One scientists ceases to exist because his father is killed due to the invasion of the futuristic survivalists. A second journey back through time converts Einstein into a violinist. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A professor returns to her native land after many years of teaching in Paris. She has authored a book recalling her experiences as a girl during World War II and seeks the help of a local film producer to bring the story to the big screen. A series of flashbacks tells of her experiences and how she was affected by the conflict. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

A gifted poet (Peter Cepek) 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 finally meets the woman of his dreams only to lose her and ultimately meet with tragedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi