Jan Sverak is one of Czech Republic's most noted filmmakers and a darn good actor too, and his father Zdeněk Svěrák is a Czech actor, humorist and scriptwriter and one of the most popular Czech cultural personalities. The two have formed one of Czech's most dynamic writing-directing partnerships, together producing astounding films, and even garnering an Academy Award.

Three films from this dynamic duo will be screened:

1. Elementary School (Obecná škola)
Date & Time: Fri 21 Oct 2005 (8pm)

This film was written by Zdenek and directed by son Jan, and was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the 1992 Academy Awards. This charming movie takes place in an all-male school in the suburbs of Prague following the end of World War II.

Eda and his schoolmates have a reputation for disruptive behaviour, but are soon subdued by the new teacher Igor Hnízdo. Igor is half-dictator, half-hero, although in truth a bit of a charlatan, and he fabricates a heroic past involving countless military campaigns, which alongside his philandering ways with the female population, makes him a role model for Eda and his school friends. Starring Jan Tríska, Zdenek Sverák, Libuše Šafránková and Rudolf Hrušínský.

2. Kolya (Kolja)
Date & Time: Sat 22 Oct 2005 (5pm)

This beautiful and highly-acclaimed Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film is a heartwarming comedy set against the background of accelerating political change in Prague on the eve of the Velvet Revolution (1989). The story revolves around a down-at-heel Czech musician Louka (played by Zdenek himself) whose life is thrown into turmoil when he agrees, for financial reasons, to a marriage of convenience with a young Russian woman. She disappears and saddles him with her 5-year-old son, Kolya.

Set against the architecturally impressive backdrop of a modern Prague and its more crumbly rural environs, the friendship between the two of them develops at a gentle pace and with touching humour. Essentially this is a tale of new beginnings: Louka, who has so far lived only for his music and who has never had a family of his own, experiences a rejuvenation of his soul and also a rebirth, even as a new country is rising out of the ashes of the old socialist dictatorship. Kolya opens Louka to experiences and emotions he never believed possible, and at age 55 he discovers new meaning in an isolated existence. Starring Zdenek Sverák, Andrej Chalimon, Libuše Šafránková and Ondrej Vetchý.

3. Dark Blue World (Tmavomodrý Svet)
Date & Time: Sat 22 Oct 2005 (7pm)

It is 1950 and the height of the Cold War in Communist-ruled postwar Czechoslovakia. Ex-RAF Czech pilot Franta Sláma is confined to a labour camp, labelled as an 'enemy of the people', because he had flown for the RAF during the war. The new Communist regime deems him contaminated by the Western ideals of democracy and freedom and as such a potential threat to the state, fearing that these heroes would once again fight for freedom.

Flashback to 1939, just before Europe faces total war. Franta congratulates his protégé, fresh-faced trainee pilot Karel Vojtíšek, for passing his flying test. Soon afterwards, Franta and Karel escape Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and reach England, where they join the RAF. Both men fall in love with the same woman, Susan. For Karel, Susan is his first love and the men's friendship is tested to the limit. Starring Ondrej Vetchý, Kryštof Hádek, Tara Fitzgerald and Oldrich Kaiser.