Films 2026
FATHER / Otec
2025 SK, CZ, PL | Drama | 102 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Awards: BBest Film Winner at Stockholm FF, Best International Feature Film Winner at Zurich FF
Festivals: Camerimage, Stockholm FF, Venice FF, Warsaw IFF, Zurich FF, Vancouver IFF, Reykjavík IFF
Father is a stark psychological drama centred on a mistake shattering the life of a devoted father, shaking his marriage and isolating him in guilt. When he and his wife come to see that this was not a personal failure, but something rooted deep in the architecture of the human mind, a fragile path toward forgiveness begins to emerge. Even with this understanding, the question remains: can love survive what no heart was built to endure?
Director Tereza Nvotová approaches the story with restraint, allowing unease to build through silence and observation. The film offers a penetrating look at the cost of emotional repression, questioning traditional notions of strength and responsibility. It is a deeply human portrait of loss, responsibility and vulnerability, presenting grief as a long and uncertain process rather than a journey with clear stages.
6:30 PM ENJOY A FREE BECHEROVKA COCKTAIL ON ARRIVAL
WED 25 March 6:30PM
DIRECTOR Tereza Nvotová
LANGUAGE Slovak | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Milan Ondrík
Dominika Morávková
Peter Bebjak
Anna Geislerová
Ingrid Timková
Jana Bittnerová
FRANZ / Franz
2025 CZ, PL, DE, FR, TR | Biography / Drama / History | 127 min
Awards: Best Film Winner, Best Actor & Best Cinematography Feature Film Winner, Best Make-up Winner
Festivals: Camerimage FF, Polish FF, San Sebastián IFF
‘Franz’ is an intimate biographical drama that offers a human portrait of writer Franz Kafka, focusing on the man behind the literary legacy. Rather than following a traditional biopic structure, the film explores Kafka’s inner world, shaped by strained family relationships, insecurity and a persistent sense of alienation. Set in early 20th century Central Europe, the story places Kafka within a period marked by political tension and questions of identity, language and belonging. His struggles with authority, intimacy and self-expression unfold alongside his need to write, portrayed not as a path to recognition but as a fragile means of survival.
Director Agnieszka Holland approaches the subject with psychological depth and restraint, avoiding grand gestures in favour of nuance. The film presents Kafka not as a distant cultural icon, but as a deeply conflicted individual, inviting audiences to reconsider his life through a personal and emotionally grounded lens.
SHORT FILM: BETTER MAN / Lepší člověk | 2025 CZ | Animation | 6:05 | Dir: Eliška Jirásková
THU 26 March 6:30PM
DIRECTOR Agnieszka Holland
LANGUAGE German, Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Idan Weiss,
Peter Kurth,
Jenovéfa Boková,
Ivan Trojan,
Sandra Korzeniak,
Katharina Stark,
Sebastian Schwarz…
SUGAR CANDY / Cukrkandl
2025 CZ | Adventure / Family | 115 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
AWARDS: International FF for Children and Young Audience SCHLiNGEL
Sugar Candy is a family adventure set at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the small town of Medov, known for its sweets factory and colourful local legends. When young doctor Anička inherits her mysterious uncle’s villa - complete with a greenhouse and a dental surgery - she arrives determined to help the town, especially its children. But locals believe the house is haunted, and few are willing to cross its threshold. As Anička tries to win the town’s trust, she discovers that fear is not the only obstacle… With the help of a group of children and an unexpected find from her uncle’s greenhouse, Anička sets out to challenge the status quo and prove that care, courage and common sense can beat superstition and power. Blending humour, mystery and old-school fairytale atmosphere, the film offers an uplifting story about standing up for what’s right, even when an entire town tells you to go away.
Pavel Jandourek’s modern fairy tale is rooted in classic storytelling traditions, where mystery and playfulness coexist with clear moral stakes. By viewing the world through the eyes of children, the film carries a quietly optimistic message about trust, responsibility and community.
SHORT FILM: STONE OF DESTINY / Kámen osudu | 2025 CZ | Animation | 11:00 | Dir: Julie Černá
FRI 27 March 6:30PM
DIRECTOR Pavel Jandourek
LANGUAGE Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 12+
CAST Tereza Ramba,
Marek Adamczyk,
Tomáš Weber,
Jiří Dvořák,
Vica Kerekes,
Maroš Kramár,
Jiří Lábus…
TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN / Pohádky po babičce
2025 CZ, SK, SI, FR | Animation / Family | 71 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Awards: Best Animated Film Winner and Best Screenplay Winner at Slovene FF
Festivals: Annecy IAFF, Munich / Slovene FF
Tales from the Magic Garden is an animated feature built around stories shared between a grandmother and her grandchildren. Through a series of interconnected fairy tales, the film creates a gentle narrative space shaped by memory, imagination and emotional warmth. Each story explores themes such as kindness, loss, courage and growing up, using a visual style inspired by classic illustration and animation traditions. Designed for children but resonant for adults, the 3-fairy tales offer a calm and reflective viewing experience, celebrating the enduring power of stories to connect generations.
Directors Patrik Pašš Jr., Jean-Claude Rozec and David Súkup put a strong emphasis on atmosphere, visual imagination and emotional continuity. Rather than relying on dramatic conflict, their storytelling favours gentle pacing and carefully crafted imagery, allowing each tale to unfold with warmth and clarity.
SAT 28 March 1:30PM
DIRECTOR Patrik Pašš Jr., Jean-Claude Rozec, David Súkup
LANGUAGE Czech, English | English Subtitles
AGE G
CAST Mikuláš Čížek,
Arnošt Goldflam,
Žofie Hánová,
Zuzana Krónerová,
Alex Mojžíš…
CARAVAN / Karavan
2025 CZ, SK, IT | Drama | 100 min
Caravan is an acclaimed road-movie drama that follows Ester, a single mother caring for her disabled teenage son David. After years shaped by routine and responsibility, Ester sets out on a spontaneous journey through southern Italy in a stolen caravan seeking freedom and self-discovery, hoping that distance from her everyday life might offer clarity and relief. As the journey unfolds, the film observes the shifting dynamics between mother and son as they navigate unfamiliar places and situations. Moments of tenderness alternate with frustration and exhaustion, revealing how deeply care can define - and limit - personal identity. Encounters along the way gently challenge Ester’s sense of duty and self-sacrifice.
Director Zuzana Kirchnerová approaches the story with sensitivity and restraint, avoiding sentimentality. The film presents an honest portrait of motherhood as both devotion and burden, exploring the difficult balance between responsibility for others and the need to preserve oneself.
SHORT FILM: WOLFIE / Vlček | 2025 CZ | Animation | 13:12 | Dir: Philippe Kastner
SAT 28 March 3:45PM
DIRECTOR Zuzana Kirchnerová
LANGUAGE Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Anna Geislerová,
David Vostrčil,
Juliana Brutovská-Olhová,
Jana Plodková,
Mario Russo…
PERLA / Perla
2025 AT, SK | Drama | 108 min
Awards: Winner: International Film Critic’s Award Winner (Art Film Festival), Best Film Winner (Romy Gala), Best Austrian Film Winner (Vienalle), Most Popular Film Winner (Diagonale)
Festivals: Art Film Festival Košice, Jerusalem / Munich / Stockholm / Taipei FF, KVIFF, Romy Gala, IFF Rotterdam, Vienalle
Perla is a restrained drama about identity, exile and the lasting effects of political displacement. Set in the early 1980s, the film follows Perla, a Slovak dissident artist living in Vienna. Her carefully built life is unsettled when she is forced by her estranged partner to return to communist Czechoslovakia. The journey back reopens unresolved relationships and memories shaped by life under an oppressive regime. As Perla moves through places that feel both familiar and distant, the film captures the tension of belonging to two worlds while fully belonging to neither. Encounters with people from her past reveal the personal cost of decisions made under political pressure, as Perla begins to make rash decisions that jeopardize her future with her daughter.
Director Alexandra Makarová tells the story with sensitivity and restraint, favouring introspection over confrontation. Perla offers a nuanced reflection on freedom, responsibility and self-determination, presenting exile as an ongoing emotional state rather than a single moment of departure.
SAT 28 March 6:30PM
DIRECTOR Alexandra Makarová
LANGUAGE German, Slovak | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Rebeka Poláková,
Simon Schwarz,
Hilde Dalik,
Noel Czuczor,
Zuzana Konečná,
Ingrid Timková,
František Beleš…
CERNAK / Černák (Miki 2)
2025 SK | Crime / Thriller | 109 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Černák - one of the most-watched Slovak films ever based on real events, breaking opening records, continues the story inspired by the real-life figure of Mikuláš ‘Miki’ Černák. A boy from Telgárt, has become the respected head of a mafia group. But that's not enough for Černák. He wants to rule all of Slovakia. To become the boss of all bosses. But the road to the top is lined with traitors and corpses. And Černák underestimated the most powerful mafia that ever-ruled Slovakia - politicians and their secret service.
No one can escape the consequences of their actions, not even Miki. "In the film ČERNÁK, the close cooperation between politicians and the underworld is in full swing," says film producer Zuzana Mistríková. "Stolen (pardon, privatized) Slovakia is being traded in full swing, the secret service behaves like the mafia, and the beauty of how 'one hand washes the other' in Slovakia is revealed in all its glory - without any moral inhibitions or scruples. Just like today."
Rather than glorifying its protagonist, director Jakub Kroner presents crime as inseparable from the broader social climate of the era. The film offers a sober reflection on power and accountability, highlighting how the legacy of this turbulent period continues to cast a long shadow over contemporary Slovak society.
SHORT FILM: KITCHEN / Kuchyň | 2024 CZ | Fiction | 13:10 | Dir: Valér Futej
SAT 28 March 9:00PM
DIRECTOR Jakub Kroner
LANGUAGE Slovak | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Milan Ondrík
Dušan Cinkota
Gregor Hološka
Anna Javorková
Rebeka Poláková
Miroslav Hanuš
JADWIGA THE WITCH / Jadwiga, čarodějnice z Beskyd 2025 CZ | Mystery | 103 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Are there people who practice black magic? Can magic have a real effect? And if so, what is the defence against it?
Jadwiga the Witch is a dark folklore-inspired drama set in the Beskydy Mountains, drawing on regional myths to explore fear, superstition and collective guilt. Investigator Pavel is one of the most successful in his field. He lives in Slovakia. After twenty years, he returns to the Czech Republic, on the border between the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, to re-examine the only case in his career that he failed to solve. It is a case of poisoning but known among the people as the case of the Beskydy witches.
At the centre of the story is Jadwiga, a marginalised woman whose unconventional knowledge and isolated life make her an easy target for suspicion within a tightly bound rural community. As unexplained events disturb the fragile balance of village life, fear quickly turns into accusation.
The film examines how myths are created and sustained, revealing how social anxiety and prejudice can escalate into violence. The surrounding landscape plays an essential role, reinforcing the sense of isolation and unease that permeates the story. Legends often reveal more about those who create them than about the figures they condemn.
SHORT FILM: BEETROOT / Řepa | 2025 CZ | Animation | 12:58 | Dir: David Šourek, Jáchym Štulíř
SUN 29 March 1PM
DIRECTORS Petr Turoň
LANGUAGE Slovak, Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Veronika Bellová,
Petr Buchta,
Miroslav Čížek,
Tomáš Dastlík,
Michal Feriancek,
Zuzana Páleníková,
Petr Turoň…
BROKEN VOICES / Sbormistr
2025 CZ, SK | Drama / Thriller | 106 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Awards: Best Actress Special Mention Winner (IFFKV)
Festivals: International Film Festival Karlovy Vary, CineFest, Warsaw International Film Festival
Broken Voices is a tense psychological drama set in the closed world of a prestigious girls’ choir. The film retells the notorious sex scandal that rocked the Bambini di Praga girls’ choir, rechristened Canticella here. Thirteen-year-old Karolína is a gifted singer whose life becomes increasingly shaped by the authority of the choir’s charismatic conductor. What first appears to be a disciplined environment focused on artistic excellence gradually reveals itself as a space governed by fear, pressure and silence. As Karolína grows older, loyalty to the group begins to clash with her growing awareness of personal boundaries. The film carefully observes the relationships between the girls and the conductor, exploring a darker subtext wherein the girls’ motives and feelings are implied but never explicitly confirmed thus exposing how harmful behaviour can be normalised within rigid hierarchies. Questioning authority carries consequences, while conformity is quietly rewarded.
Ondřej Provazník’s film isn’t only a story about a single institution, but a broader reflection on power, responsibility and the difficulty of speaking out. With understated performances and a controlled atmosphere, the film offers a sobering look at how ideals of discipline and success can mask deeper ethical failures.
SUN 29 March 3:30PM
DIRECTOR Ondřej Provazník
LANGUAGE Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 15+
CAST Petra Bílková,
Marek Cisovský,
Kateřina Falbrová,
Lucie Ingrová,
Martina Jindrová,
Anna Kameníková…
DREAM TEAM / Dream Team
2026 CZ, SK | Comedy, Sport | 127 min
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
A sharp Czech dramedy Dream Team (based on a true story that took place at the Paralympics in Sydney) is built around an absurd plan that spirals into a moral minefield. Marek is an unsuccessful basketball coach whose life centres on his disabled teenage son, who dreams of competing at the Paralympics. When Marek realises, he has neither the resources nor the network to form a legitimate team, he makes a desperate decision: he recruits able-bodied players and convinces them to fake disabilities so his son can finally take part. What begins as a “harmless” shortcut quickly becomes harder to control. Training sessions turn into a balancing act of deception, improvised rules and mounting pressure, while Marek’s role as a father blurs uncomfortably with his need to succeed. The players, each motivated by their own reasons, discover that pretending to live someone else’s reality comes with consequences they did not anticipate.
Director Jonáš Karásek careful balances humour and unease, allowing the absurdity of the situation to expose deeper ethical questions. Rather than offering easy judgments, the film observes how good intentions can slide into manipulation when ambition takes over. The film invites audiences to reflect on dignity, responsibility and the limits of parental love, while maintaining a light touch that never loses sight of its human core.
SHORT FILM: POLIO / Polio | 2025 CZ | Animation | 5:09 | Dir: Klára Kubenková
6PM - ENJOY A GLASS OF WINE / BEER ON ARRIVAL
SUN 29 March 6:30PM
DIRECTOR Jonáš Karásek
LANGUAGE Czech | English Subtitles
AGE 12+
CAST Bekim Aziri,
Robin Ferro,
Martin Hofmann,
Miroslav Krobot,
Jakub Prachař,
Petra Polnisová,
Sara Sandeva…