The Man on the Bridge

This episode from the Czech Journal series examines how a military spirit is slowly returning to our society. Attempts to renew military training or compulsory military service and in general to prepare the nation for the next big war go hand in hand with society’s fear of the Russians, the Muslims, or whatever other “enemies”. This observational flight over the machine gun nest of Czech militarism becomes a grotesque, unsettling military parade. It can be considered not only to be a message about how easily people allow themselves to be manipulated into a state of paranoia by the media, but also a warning against the possibility that extremism will become a part of the regular school curriculum.

Documentary about Mario Bava's film "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" and its impact on the Giallo genre.

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.

Showing his own original footage of Prague Spring, director Evald Schorm describes the atmosphere these days in 1968.

A film about the contrasts between Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria in 1968. A film that reveals the mechanisms of censorship and propaganda during communism. A film about how information about events in Czechoslovakia was distorted in Bulgaria.

Dominik Hašek, Olympic gold medalist and two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender, looks back on his life growing up in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia. His longest-tenured NHL team, the Buffalo Sabres, walk Hašek through his past to see how his love of hockey and the political and cultural influences of growing up in Pardubice molded him into one of the greatest goalies the sport has ever seen.

A video discussion about Lucio Fulci's classic Giallo "Don't Torture a Duckling".

A video essay about 1972 Giallo "Don't Torture a Duckling", focusing on accusations of misogyny against director Lucio Fulci.

In this visual essay, author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas reflects on the recurring theme or perception in Dario Argento's filmography.

In its "velvet revolution" of 1989, the people of Czechoslovakia toppled its communist dictatorship and embraced democracy and capitalism. By January 1993, the country had peacefully split in two. In the early 1990s, thousands of American college graduates began flocking to Prague, where they could postpone entering the "real world," and live cheaply in a beautiful undiscovered European city. Throughout that decade more and more tourists crossed the statue-lined Charles Bridge in search of old world beauty previously hidden by communist isolation. But what of the people who cross the Charles Bridge on their way to work every morning? Who are the Czechs? What is their history? What is their future? My Prague Spring is an award-winning film that vividly humanizes a resilient people who have survived a tumultuous history. In the spring of 1990, a Czech-American filmmaker spent four months living with his Czech relatives, and opened an intimate window into an uncertain world.

An interview with film critic Kat Ellinger who discusses the themes of Dario Argento's giallo "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and its relations to Fredric Brown's novel "The Screaming Mimi."

An interview with actress Florinda Bolkan about her performances in the films "Don't Torture a Duckling" and "Lizard in a Woman's Skin".