Koliba: Forgotten Glory of Slovak Film Studios

Wild Slovakia with Nigel Marven

Odkazy starého sveta

The Killing of a Journalist

A young investigative journalist and his fiancée are brutally murdered in their home in Slovakia. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in Slovakia since the fall of communism. The story takes an unexpected turn when a source leaks the secret murder case file to the murdered journalist’s colleagues. It includes the computers and encrypted communications of the assassination’s alleged mastermind, a businessman closely connected to the country’s ruling party. Trawling these encrypted messages, journalists discover that their country has been captured by corrupt oligarchs, judges, and law enforcement officials. A reckoning awaits.

Pictures of the Old World

A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolated human experiences.

Ms. President

A time-lapse documentary about Zuzana Čaputová's tenure as President follows her political work, personal dilemmas and the difficult challenges facing Slovak society.

Propeler - subkultúry mládeže

The concept for the film was developed based on sociological research conducted as part of the Youth Subcultures conference in collaboration with the Institute of Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The film’s core value lies in its ability to provide an inside look at selected subcultures, achieving an exceptional level of engagement with their members. The filmmakers managed to break through the participants' initial reluctance to openly discuss their experiences. The documentary directly addresses key aspects of these subcultures, including drugs, faith, and personal beliefs. It focuses on six specific groups: the techno scene, graffiti artists, antifascists, religiously oriented youth, skinheads, and young people inspired by Eastern spirituality. The film includes footage from illegal rave parties, graffiti sessions, and other underground activities. Overall, the documentary serves as an insightful map of Bratislava’s contemporary alternative scene.

Zlatí chlapci: Príbehy slovenského hokeja

Hockey is a nationwide phenomenon in Slovakia. It is more than just a sport. It has become synonymous with success, a unifying element of society. Recently, a generation of hockey players who achieved exceptional success during our independence has been ending their professional careers. They leave behind world championship titles, Stanley Cup victories, statistics, and news reports. A comprehensive view of their path to success has been lacking until now.

Hostel

Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.

Marketa Lazarová

Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.

Invalid

Grumpy handyman Laco loses everything to a group of mobsters. Now wheelchair-bound and with his life spiraling, it's his new friend Gabo, a local Roma who helps Laco see things with a new perspective. Revenge is sweet.

Broken Promise

Slovakia, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. The family of the young Jewish Martin Friedmann gathers to celebrate his bar mitzvah and make a solemn promise that they will all meet again a year later around the same table; but the storms of war and anti-Semitic fanaticism will lead each of them down very different paths.

The Exhibition

The film tells about a small museum, where the economic boom has not yet arrived. It appears as if time has stopped in this national museum, a museum which should serve as a show window for Slovakia. Stuffed animals are covered with dust and the three employees working as caretakers of the huge building look like the museum exhibits themselves.

We Have Never Been Modern

Helena, is about to give birth and face a rosy future in a modern city, as the pregnant wife of an important factory manager. However, all her illusions soon perish, as the dead body of a newborn intersex baby is found in the middle of their factory. Helena needs to find out what happened here for the safety of her own child, but she runs into her own prejudices.

Miki

In the 1990s post-communist Slovakia, former woods worker Miki takes his chances to start doing business at a local level and climb up the ladder to become the biggest mafia boss in the country.