Pavel Zajíc

Dreaming of creating a Czech musical theater, not recognized in his homeland, Josef Navratil, under the pseudonym of Iosif Ratili, one day comes on tour to Georgia.

Several of the works of writer Bohumil Říha have been filmed. This novel by the pro-regime writer also inspired a children’s film, which was directed in 1981 by the experienced family filmmaker Václav Gajer. The story takes place in 1947 and it is based on the popular model of the relationship between a human hero and an indomitable animal protagonist. The tale of the freedom necessary for life, is, of course, beholden to the standards of the time: the Hucul horse that heals an old villager, has remained in the small village in Šumava after the Soviet soldiers have left. This is a pleasing movie that engages with the acting performance of Zdeněk Řehoř and the depiction of the indisputable beauty of the Šumava landscape as shot by cameraman Jan Němeček.

Piesočná potvorka (lit. The Sand Creature) is a 1985 Czech television miniseries based on Edith Nesbit's 1904 children's novel Five Children and It. The four Majer children—Janka, Braň, Cyril and Vladek—spend holidays together at a cottage, with their aunt Marta, who takes care of them in their parents' absence. One day, the older children decide to dig in an old sandbox and find an ancient wonder: Brontofusika, a prehistoric creature that can grant wishes. So Janka wishes that everyone would be as beautiful as the heroes from a fairy tale. It happens. No one recognizes the children in this disguise, not even their own aunt, which brings a lot of funny but also unpleasant situations. But the magic only works until sunset!