Martin Hollý

In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.

Jánošík has been topic of many Slovak and Polish legends, books and films. According to the legend, he robbed nobles and gave the loot to the poor. The legend were also known in neighboring Silesia, the Margraviate of Moravia and later spread to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The actual robber had little to do with the modern legend, whose content partly reflects the ubiquitous folk myths of a hero taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, the legend was also shaped in important ways by the activists and writers in the 19th century when Jánošík became the key highwayman character in stories that spread in the north counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (present Slovakia) and among the local Gorals and Polish tourists in the Podhale region north of the Tatras.

A bricklayer, Jozef Haviar, decides to live with his family on the small farm of his father through the difficult years of the economic crisis. But on his return to his father's house he gets into a conflict with his brother. The life-and-death conflict between the two brothers documents the difficult situation of Slovak country life in the 1930s, the time of economic depression.

At the annual festival in Strážnice, long-time rivals - cooperative members from the neighboring municipalities of Dubnice and Bojanova - met. This time, the people of Dubnice are leading both in selling sausages and in the artistic forum. Despite the protests of the accounting cooperative Ambrože, the youth from Bojanova establish a singing and dancing group, led by teacher Bartoš, whom Ambrože's daughter Eva loves. However, they go all the way to Dubnice to practice so that the irritable Ambrož does not know about it. This is the reason for the rift between Eva and Bartoš. They only reconciled after the defeat of the Bojanova group in the regional round of the competition. It turns out that neither Bojanova nor Dubnice alone can build an artistically strong group, but if they unite, they have hope for success in the next year of Strážnice.

Historical satire from the first half of the 19th century, which captures the decay and decline of the landed estate. The impoverished peasants still seem to adhere to the old principles of peasant honor and glory, but the elections will show how easy it is to buy knightly qualities.

Film adaptation of Rudolf Jašík's novel of the same name. The plot of the film is situated in the forties of our century, in the first years of the Second World War. It captures the political and social atmosphere of one of the Slovak towns that lives seemingly in the lee, far from the world and war. Well, appearances are deceiving. Beneath the surface of peaceful, everyday life, a tragic process is taking place, accelerating people's destinies, the disintegration of their characters, but also the maturing of their relationships. The film is the story of Eva and Igor, their love, violently interrupted by political events. In this era of personal and social tragedies, children become adults almost overnight, honest people become victims, and mentally ill people become murderers. The film about the fates of Eva and Igor, the Jewish cartmen Samko and Maxi, and the careerist Flórik presents a believable, convincing picture of the era marked by the expansion of fascism.

The story, set in the context of the construction of long-distance power lines, captures the life and work of a group of fitters who come to a mountain village to electrify the local cooperative. After being transferred to a lower-paid and "demeaning" job, the group's relationships begin to break down. Debut film of Slovakian director Martin Hollý.