Fine pieces caught In the Nets

Last year was rich in films of all kinds. In the Caught in the Nets section, you’ll find titles that may not compete for the Golden Kingfisher but are certainly worth your attention.

For fans of romantic, bizarre, and dark humour, we have the perfect line-up. You’ll find complete newcomers as well as famous comebacks. For instance, Lavi a.k.a. Jakub Štáfek is back, along with Vyšehrad Dvje! Football takes centre stage in Petr Kolečko’s new comedy, Kouzlo derby, where fates of several characters intertwine due to their shared love which culminates at a decisive match. For the third time we meet Tomáš Vorel’s heroes - after The Can and Prague Cans comes The Job. Once the last graffiti is sprayed, we’re in for a relentless ride with Martin Pohl through a North Bohemian ghetto, where freshly graduated office clerk Marek is thrown into the corporate grinder, only to be spat out onto the local drug scene - will he survive, or will he end up Na plech? Or Pod parou, like the four friends who decide to test the theory that our bodies function better while keeping a low level of alcohol intoxication. Director Rudolf Biermann has moved Thomas Vinterberg’s award-winning Danish drama, Another Round, to Moravia, casting to the lead roles Hana Vagnerová, Judit Pecháček, Zuzana Bydžovská, and Alžběta Ferencová. Will they manage? And if not – there is Tony’s Plan! But perhaps not quite as good as he hoped. The black comedy by director Barbora Kočičková is also her feature debut. The magical Srnky grant one wish to Štěpán Kozub. But what would a conductor wish for after ending up on the streets because his prosthetic eyelids clap too loudly when he blinks? Probably something different from master violin-maker Ondřej Vetchý, who sees a Sea of Hope even in a puddle, but as his life nears its end, he begins to long for one last great love. Quite different problems are faced by the aristocratic Cimburk-Kolovrátník family, who are to be united by marriage with the ordinary Novák family. Jak se nám to mohlo stát!?, they ask after their new relatives decide to get DNA tests. Starring Miroslav Donutil, Bolek Polívka, Jitka Čvančarová, and Eva Leinweberová.

Genre diversity was added this year by Jan Haluza with his High School Heist. He takes you to a grammar school full of mysterious rooms, romantic relationships, and bully gangs straight out of a gangster film. And what about 40 Reels, a mosaic of forty short scenes mixing comedy, drama, and documentary! In Pavel Berkovič’s directorial debut, you’ll see Josef Abrhám, Eliška Křenková, Kryštof Hádek, Václav Marhoul, Tomáš Klus, Veronika Khek Kubařová, and many more. An ambitious biopic with a rare artistic vision is brought by internationally acclaimed director, Agnieszka Holland. Franz is not only a portrait of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, but it conjures Kafka in a collage of dreams, letters, and memories.

Fans of documentaries will also find a wide variety to choose from. The Czech Film Project asked twenty-nine directors the same question in a single room of the Hotel Thermal: What is “Czech” in Czech cinema? What did they answer? Dajori follows the Roma Huček family living in Varnsdorf, not shying away from quarrels, aggression, but also love and tragicomedy. Doctor on a Trip takes three participants on a special psychedelic therapy session in the Amazon rainforest as part of medical research. And Scent Evidence maps the stories of people who were wrongfully convicted based on an unreliable forensic method, the shortcomings of which have been pointed out by a number of experts.