Kateřina Kristelová

This documentary study of the mechanisms that turn the gears of the tabloids is conducted by the unique figure Pavel Novotný. This editor-in-chief of one of the most widely read Czech media outlets of the time, providing news from the world of show business and human misfortune, gets straight to the point. Readership is a fetish, an absolute alibi for all invasions of privacy and every transgression of good ethics. Seen up close, the whole cluster of disreputable reports looks like a staged tableau. Before the eager eyes of an anxious public, celebrities willingly or unwillingly perform acts that the scrutiny of the all-powerful tabloid workers attributes racy significance to.

Stationmaster Miloš, a lonely trumpet player nearing fifty, watches life pass him by as he mourns alone at a funeral and pines secretly for Tereza, the charming nurse who boards his afternoon train. Desperate for courage, his bandmates enter him into a televised Christmas talent show, “Vánoční hvězda”, and, in the glow of the stage lights, Miloš finally finds love.