Czech Competition

This year, the Czech Competition has brought together some exceptionally interesting films that focus on the inner struggles of their protagonists.

Investigativní novinářka Pavla Holcová sedí na židli uprostřed tmavé kanceláře. Vedle ní je stůl s papíry a za ní knihovna s šanony. / Investigative journalist Pavla Holcová sits on a chair in the middle of a dark office. Next to her is a desk with papers and behind her a bookcase with binders.

In the intimately told story presented in After the Silence Was Broken, we follow a young drama student who, after having started the initiative You Don’t! Have To Endure It, collided with the limits of activism as well as her own limitations. The visually mesmerising documentary The Visitors then presents us with the story of an anthropologist in Svalbard, Norway, through which we gain an understanding of the strong need to find a place to call home.

An inner yearning for justice might just be the driving force required to activate an entire society. The protagonist of Pongo Calling was so moved by Miloš Zeman’s offensive statement about Roma that he decided to show reality in a different way on social media and became the voice of the Roma community. But the truth can also cost us our lives. Respected investigative journalists Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová became prey for the mafia in Slovakia and paid the ultimate price. The documentary The Killing of a Journalist examines this case in detail.

Of course, there are also purely personal issues linked to coming to terms with oneself. Are we happy with ourselves? With our bodies? Our relationships and our family backgrounds? In A Happy Man, Marvin undergoes a transition. The existential need to become who he feels himself to be compelled him to step out of the crowd and, together with his family, embark on a journey that is still viewed with disdain in the Czech Republic. The different forms of love that director Jana Počtová explores in the last part of her trilogy about relationships may also trigger controversies. But here too, it applies that we should be authentic and, if possible, live Happily Ever After.

Films in category Czech Competition

Film

A Happy Man

In this longitudinal observation, director and social anthropologist Soňa G. Lutherová presents an intimate portrait of a family in which one of the parents is transitioning.

Film

After the Silence Was Broken

The film is an intimate portrait of Marie-Luisa Purkrábková, co-founder of You Don’t! Have to Endure It, which draws attention to sexual harassment and abuse of power in Czech art schools.

Film

BLIX NOT BOMBS

Today Hans Blix is enjoying a peaceful retirement. But at the beginning of the millennium, he played a crucial role in the war on terror. In an interview with director Greta Stocklassa, he reflects on his career and the legacy he will leave for future generations.

Film

Happily Ever After

How many people does it take to love, and what forms can a relationship take? Jana Počtová's longitudinal film is a mosaic of six stories whose protagonists have decided to set their own partnership boundaries.

Film

Keeping the Faith

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has affected the lives of the film's four protagonists. Each of them is trying to cope with the incurable disease by filling their remaining time in the most meaningful way.

Film

Pongo Calling

“Humiliation is part of the life of most Romani,” says Štefan Pongo, explaining why he and his family moved to the United Kingdom 15 years ago. He now leads a happy life with his wife and children, working as a truck driver. However, he cannot remain indifferent to continued discrimination against Romani.

Film

Stop Time

This documentary about five Czech women and men traces the months when life came to a standstill because of the covid-19 pandemic. How did actress Vanda Hybnerová, singer-songwriter Radůza, theologian Tomáš Halík, ski resort operator David Chmelař, and café owner Havel Parkán cope with the situation?

Film

The Killing of a Journalist

In February 2018, three gunshots in a house in Velka Macha ended the lives of a young couple. Their bodies were not discovered until four days later. Soon after, the names Kuciak and Kushnirova became symbols of the largest protests in Slovakia since 1989.

Film

The Visitors

Zdenka, an anthropologist, moved to Svalbard with her family. Although she came to Norway to explore the polar community, she is also trying to fit in. But this proves even tougher than the local climatic conditions.

Other Thematic Categories

Ve skupince lidí ve vesnici v Africe stojí uprostřed žena s dítětem. Má béžové šaty a volně přehozenou oranžovou látku. Dítě drží na sobě a kojí ho. / In a group of people in a village in Africa, a woman and her child stand in the middle. She is wearing a beige dress and a loosely draped orange cloth. She is holding the baby and breastfeeding it.

Competitive Film Category

International Competition

The International Competition traditionally offers the newest and most hotly anticipated films that combine powerful themes with original cinematography.

Za vysokým plotem, nad kterým vede ochranný drát z žiletek, stojí dav mužů s tmavou pletí. Křičí a zvedají ruce nad hlavu. / A crowd of dark-skinned men stand behind a high fence with razor wire running over it. They shout and raise their hands above their heads.

Competitive Film Category

Right to Know

The competitive Right to Know section offers audiences stories about fundamental human rights violations that should not go unnoticed. The category provides space to films about inspiring activists who are battling to improve conditions in their countries.

Competitive Film Category

Czech Competition

This year, the Czech Competition has brought together some exceptionally interesting films that focus on the inner struggles of their protagonists.

Zády k nám stojí na terase dvě osoby, které se drží za ruce. Koukají před sebe na rozpixelovanou krajinu. / Two people are standing on the terrace with their backs to us, holding hands. They are looking at the scattered landscape in front of them.

Competitive Film Category

One World Interactive

This is the first year that the One World Interactive category will be a competitive section. Additionally, it is moving to the Lucerna Gallery, where the individual installations have been designed by artists Mia Milgrom and Max van Olffen. Six interactive projects and four 360° films transport us to realities found in the chilling present, the near future, and little-known human experiences.

Ukrajinští vojáci stojí na troskách rozbombardovaného domu. Jeden z nich odnáší pryč malé dítě. / Ukrainian soldiers stand on the ruins of a bombed-out house. One of them is carrying away a small child.

Thematic Film Category

Ukraine

On 24 February 2022, the world changed. Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine and unleashed an open war under the propagandistic label of “a special military operation”. More than a year later, the war is still going on. One World has put together a special category to look at the roots of the situation in Ukraine through the means of five films, and presents raw eyewitness accounts directly from the Ukrainian war front.

Uprostřed tmavé místnosti plné starých kabelů svítí oltář s Madonou a dítětem. Na něj kouká postava s kuklou celá v černém. Červeně jí svítí oči. / In the middle of a dark room full of old cables, an altar with a Madonna and a Child is lit up. A hooded figure in all black looks on. Her eyes glow red.

Thematic Film Category

New Gods

Faith gives people strength and helps them feel safe, whatever the object of that faith is. What the word conveys goes far beyond the religious meaning we probably think of most often in this context. In the New Gods category, we reflect on both the new and the old idols that people look up to today.

U kuchyňského stolu sedí hubený bílý muž pouze v trenkách, ve škobku má nohu, kterou mu klečící žena omývá. Na stole jsou svíčky a cigarety, v pozadí svítí televite. Na lednici je nápis Ježíš tě miluje. / A thin white man sits at the kitchen table in only his shorts, his leg in a slipper, which a kneeling woman washes. There are candles and cigarettes on the table, and a TV is on in the background. On the refrigerator is a sign that reads Jesus loves you.

Thematic Film Category

Relationships

There are very few things that can be viewed from as many different angles as interpersonal relationships. The protagonist of the film Too Close experiences the influence surrounding relationships have on her family as she tries to find peace for herself and her children. Not only does she have to deal with the constantly nitpicking villagers, but her ex-husband, who was previously convicted of sexually abusing her daughter, is stealthily sneaking back into her life.

Žena stojí sama zády ke kameře a kouká do dálky na rýžové pole a kopce. / A woman stands alone with her back to the camera, looking into the distance at a green rice field and hills.

Thematic Film Category

Female Power

Women’s rights are human rights. However, even in the twenty-first century, they are suppressed by the social system, traditions, and legislative paragraphs. The protagonists of the films in this category have decided to confront injustice and fight for the rights of the next generation of women, often at the cost of their own safety.

Uprostřed je starý ošuntělý billboard s nápisem ledovec. V pozadí jsou kopce a pláně islandské krajiny. / In the middle is a shabby old billboard with the word glacier on it. In the background are the hills and plains of the Icelandic landscape.

Thematic Film Category

Sustainability

Our planet is under increasing pressure from civilisation, and climate change is one of the biggest issues of our time – unless we start living more sustainably, neither we nor future generations will have a bright future. This is why for many years One World has been bringing together the themes of ecology and sustainability into one larger programming section.

Mladý africký chlapec s čelovkou na hlavě se na laně spouští do hluboké černé díry pro vodu. /A young African boy with a headlamp on his head descends on a rope into a deep black hole for water.

Thematic Film Category

Uprooted

A selection of films from countries in Africa, as well as Latin America and Asia, charts the hardships of local inhabitants. How did many of them find themselves in a situation where they are not free to make decisions for themselves, have internal struggles related to the search for their own identity, and have to witness ongoing exploitation?

Dva chlapci se sklání k rybářské sítí a koukají, co ulovili. Stojí u potoku na zelené louce kousek od lesa. Svítí slunce. / Two boys leaning against a fishing net to see what they have caught. They are standing by a stream in a green meadow near the forest. The sun is shining and the sky is blue.

Thematic Film Category

Docs for Kids

One World also remembers to cater for its youngest audience members. In the Docs for Kids category, it presents films that give children the opportunity to learn about the stories of their peers from around the world.

Tři mladé ženy si fotí tzv selfie. Usmívají se, za nimi svítí neony a billboardy města. / Three young women are taking selfies. They are smiling, with the neon and billboards of the city lit up behind them.

Thematic Film Category

Social Media

What do a recruiter for Islamic State, a teenage Instagram star, and an amateur porn actress have in common? The films in the Social Media category reveal the surprising nuances of the word “influencer”, and the everyday reality of life surrounded by social networks.