Exclusive premieres and previews. You'll see!

Films that are yet to premiere in Czech cinemas and on TV screens can be seen exclusively at Finále Plzeň, which takes place between 20 and 25 September. The opening film by Veronika Lišková, Year of the Widow, will have its world premiere here, as will the Czech-Austrian drama by Tereza Kotyk, Nebelkind: The End of Silence; documentary Juráček Is My Destiny by documentary filmmaker Olga Sommerová; and the biographical film, Smetana, produced by Czech Television. Other premiere and preview screenings will be offered in the competition, First Catch, Czech Traces, German Cinema, ZOOM: the Baltics and Special Feature sections.

„I'm delighted about how many premieres and previews we manage to get into our programme each year, and that our visitors can be the first to see new films and series. It's a testament to the high credibility the Festival has among filmmakers. I am pleased that filmmakers and audiences alike have such confidence in us and keep returning,” says the Festival Director, Eva Veruňková Košařová.

Films in the Competition sections

In the Feature Live Action or Animated Films Competition section, the Festival will show in preview Kristina Dufková's film, Living Large, which had its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival and was already seen by Czech audiences at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. In Czech premiere, you can see the subtle film, After Party, a debut of Vojtěch Strakatý, which represents the voice of the young generation and reflects the fears it faces. The film was included in the Orrizonti Extra section at one of the most important international festivals, Venice.

This year’s opening film, Year of the Widow, will have its world premiere at Finále., Veronika Lišková, an award-winning documentary director, and her co-writer, Eugen Liška, were inspired in their feature debut by the diary entries of Zuzana Pokorná. In them, she described the shock of losing a loved one and the exhausting struggle with bureaucracy that the bereaved often face. The director, together with Pavla Beretová in the lead role, sensitively without pathos and clichés, show the heroine's inner world and together with her guide us through the different stages of mourning.

Another preview is the film From March to May by debuting director Martin Repka. Compared to traditional family dramas exploring dysfunctional relationships between family members, this film presents an intimate portrait of a family whose relationships are imbued with mutual love, respect and warmth, and their inner spiritual richness. The film won a Special Jury Mention at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it competed in the Proxima section.

The Documentary Films Competition section will offer two previews. Director Klára Tasovská's portrait of the internationally acclaimed photographer, Libuše Jarcovjáková, in I'm Not Everything I Want to Be received an enthusiastic response at the Berlinale premiere.

The Other One by director Marie-Magdalena Kochová captures the invisible life of healthy siblings in families caring for children with special needs. Inspired by her own experience, she hopes to spark a society-wide discussion.

In the Student Short Film Competition section, we will present the world premiere of The Lodge, directed by Eliška Přádová, who returns to Finále Plzeň after two years with another dive into the mind of a young woman in a psychologically stressful situation. After athlete Viktoria, this time she focuses on twenty-year-old Stázka, who goes with a group of former classmates to celebrate the New Year at a mountain cottage, far from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Another Czech premiere is Weeds - a film by Pola Kazak, which was this year's Czech representative at the Cannes IFF, confirming the strong tradition of contemporary Czech animation. This was not the director’s first success - she has already won an award at the Bilbao IFF with her student film, Toro!.

First Catch

The First Catch section includes 15 remarkable works this year. Little Man returns to the cinema screen after nine years, but he's grown up. Radek Beran's new puppet adventure, Big Man, is a film for the whole family.

The Festival will show in preview Jan Hřebejk's new social comedy, State of Emergency, about a jealous reporter (played by Ondřej Vetchý) and how difficult it is to spot misinformation today.

In Tereza Kotyk's Nebelkind: The End of Silence, an Austrian-Czech co-production, we follow the story of Hanna, an Austrian wolf breeder who, when one of her wolves escapes, follows it across the border into the Czech Republic, unexpectedly returning to the place from which her family was forcibly displaced after 1945. The director was inspired by her own family's life story and cast Klára Melíšková, Elizaveta Maximová and Karel Roden, among others, in the main roles.

Viktor Tauš adapted for the screen the extraordinary theatre production, The American, inspired by a true story, and refined it into an aesthetically impressive audio-visual delight - with the help of Martin Douba's camera, Alois Fišárek's editing and Jan Kadlec's set design, among others.

In the preview or premiere you can also enjoy documentaries that open up interesting topics from various fields. Documentary Czechoslovak Architecture 58-89 directed by Jan Zajíček and based on a theme by Vladimir 518, provides literally a new view on some well-known buildings from the second half of the 20th century, the appearance of which has been taken for granted. The documentary premiered, and impressed the audience, at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Other fresh documentary catches include Identity - a story of Czech graphic design by Kateřina Mikulcová and Petr Smělík, based on the popular Czech Television series, which will have its world premiere at Finále; and Juráček Is My Destiny by documentary filmmaker Olga Sommerová (traditionally in collaboration with Olga Malířová Špátová), which is a portrait of an era, a relationship and creative work. In it, the director follows the life story of Czech-German journalist and writer, Dani Horáková, a signatory of Charter 77, and her marriage to Pavel Juráček, a prominent film director of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

The short film, Bomb, is the first feature film by documentary filmmaker Vít Klusák. The main roles are played by Klára Melíšková, Alžběta Malá, Miloslav König, as well as a number of actors from the Dialog Theatre in Pilsen. The director plays out a situation that there is a bomb at the Pilsen Christmas market. And it is not pure fiction - Klusák combines it with documentary elements he likes using in his films...

Ahead of its premiere on Czech Television in 2025, viewers can enjoy the biographical film, Smetana, on the big screen with Václav Neužil in the title role of the prominent Czech composer and conductor, whose bicentenary will be celebrated this year.

Or the new project of director Tomáš Bařina, Mr. Actor's Stumbles, in which enthusiastic students (Zdeněk Piškula, Simona Lewandowska) try to organise an ambitious but amateur regional festival. And everything kind of falls apart with the arrival of the main star, famous actor Bořivoj Vojan, played by Tomáš Töpfer.

We will also show in the world premiere the first two episodes of Surrogates, a forthcoming Prima TV series. In the story by writer and director Alice Nellis, Jana Plodková and Kryštof Hádek portray a childless married couple who, in their desire for a family, decide to resort to the complicated process of surrogacy.

The short period drama, The Compatriot, directed by Pavel Sýkora and Viktor Horák, was selected for the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences competition, known as the Student Oscar. This year, The Compatriot is the only Czech entry and the first ever feature film from the Film Academy of Miroslav Ondříček in Písek (FAMO) to make it this far. The film was selected from a total of 2,683 entries and made it to the final seven.

The short documentary, Water in Africa, takes viewers in the form of a travel film to the African savannahs, endless deserts, mountain ranges and below the ocean surface to offer a unique perspective on the issue of drinking water, the permanent provision of which is a privilege and not a given. The festival will present it in a world premiere.

Before the second season of The King of the Šumava appears on Voyo, part of it will be shown at Finále. After David Ondříček, the direction was taken over by Damián Vondrášek who made his name two years previously with his award-winning series, Five Years. The King of Šumava was inspired by the true story of Josef Hasil, which several filmmakers before that attempted to make into a film, including Karel Kachyňa and Kristina Vlachová.

Another upcoming new series by Voyo Originál will be offered in preview – a part of the series The Welldirected by Tereza Kopáčová. David Švehlík, Johana Matoušková and Filip Červenka star in this tragic story of 1968 of the Jelínek family from Vonoklasy, Central Bohemia.

Czech Traces

The Czech Traces section presents films in which Czech filmmakers have participated in various ways. These include films made in co-productions, films made in the Czech Republic and films in which Czech filmmakers participated in various ways. In this section in Czech premiere you will see the meditative anthropological documentary, The Ice That Still Supports Us, which will transport you to the land of snow and frost. It was co-produced by Estonia, Czechia, Lithuania and Finland and was shot on 16mm film. And in preview the historical film by Iveta Grófová, The Hungarian Dressmaker, which takes place in Bratislava during World War II. The film was screened in the main competition section at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

German Cinema

A selection of outstanding German feature and short films can be found in the German Cinema section. You can see 7 titles in the Czech premiere. "In the short film section, we would like to highlight the sensitive documentary, Waking Up in Silence, about child refugees from Ukraine, created by author duo, Miay Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi; film Don't Let Go, which explores the dynamics of partner relationships and moral questions; In the End We’re All Music - a story of three different generations set in the microcosm of a swimming pool, and Thursday, which examines intergenerational relationships, the inability to communicate and the expectations that often burden these relationships. Feature films Arthur & Dianadirected by Sara Summa; Hannes Schilling's debut from the journalistic environment, Good News; and documentary We Call Her Hanka by Grit Lemke, which is the first ever film about the Lusatian Serbian people," says artistic director, Lenka Tyrpáková.

ZOOM: The Baltics

Baltic cinema definitely has a lot to offer. Festival-goers can enjoy four short films in Czech premiere. From Latvian film production it is the retro-futuristic dystopia, Limo, and film Resistance Is Futile, which opens up a debate on mental health. The Lithuanian contribution is the film Cherries. Film Sauna Day will then take you to Estonia. Both of these films premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Special Feature

The Festival has been cooperating for a long time with the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. Not only do its students design prizes for the UWB Student Jury, but the programme regularly includes films from their studio in the Special Feature - Sutnar Presents section.

This year's premieres will include short animation films Cage by Veronika Chocenská; Guys Have a Problemby Vojta Haken and Freedom by Jesse Falta.