Jan Hrebejk

The screenplay (Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder inspired a theatre production by Dusan David Parízek. The screenplay and the production in turn inspired the film ODPAD MESTO SMRT (Waste, City, and Death) by Jan Hrebejk. Romi (Gabriela Mícová), a prostitute, is anything but successful at her job: she is of far too gentle a nature for her clients. The more obstinately she is pushed to the streets by her pimp Franz (Stanislav Majer), the closer she is to a complete breakdown. One day Romi is addressed by a property speculator referring to himself as a “wealthy Jew” (Martin Finger). He does not demand any sexual services of her. Read More »

Renowned psychiatrist Pavel Josek is singled out to receive a “Memory of the Nation” medal, however, it transpires that this reputedly morally irreproachable dissident once collaborated with state security agencies, informing on a former friend of his wife, Borek, and ultimately being responsible for the latter’s forced emigration. Josek’s family and close friends try to come to terms with these new facts.

*Czech official submission to 83rd Academy Award’s Foreign Language category (2011)Read More »

Quote:
In World War II Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, a childless couple, Josef and Marie Cizek, can only watch while the Jewish family of their employers, the Wieners, are first removed from their own home to a spare room in their house by the Nazis, then removed to the far off facility of Thierenstadt. Years later, young David Wiener, the sole surviving member of that family has managed to escape and make it to the Cizeks. Although fully aware of the extreme danger of harbouring a Jew in the Third Reich, the Cizek’s can not permit themselves to leave David to certain death and agree to hide him. However, this decision leads to terrible danger of discovery by the Nazis and especially their friend and Nazi collaborator, Horst Prohazka, who is attracted to Marie. With desperate cleverness and luck, the Cizeks struggle to keep the secret, even when Horst begins to suspect. In doing so, they find themselves making unorthodox choices and learning about the true nature of the people around them.Read More »

Marital fidelity can wear you down, and Ondra (Hynek Čermák) and Vitek (Jiří Langmajer) are certainly suffering from a case of serious fatigue. Working side by side and living next door to each other, it doesn’t take long before these two long-married middle-aged pals start comparing sex notes, and it’s plain to see their latest scores have fallen far below what they would have hoped. Luckily, a surprise holiday on a tropical island rekindles their interest in their wives — only they don’t exactly lust after their designated partners. With no one to divert their attention, their roaming eyes inevitably settle on the wrong spouse, and pretty soon they’ve established their own little Holy Quaternity. The new film from Jan Hřebejk, director of the Academy Award®–nominated Divided We Fall, is an observant and audacious look at the measures some couples will take to revive desire. Ondra and Vitek’s irrepressible joie de vivre makes it impossible to pass judgment, even when the two couples break their own rules by fooling around behind each other’s backs. Parents to two sets of hormonally charged teenagers who endlessly circle each other in a clumsy pre-coital ritual — Vitek has two girls, Ondra two boys — the adults soon put their kids to shame by secretly straddling the fence that divides their communal front yard.Read More »