Best Czech documentary movies

Caught in the Net (2020)

Everyone knows something like this is happening. But this is the only experiment to fully demonstrate what excessive openness on the internet means. The filmmaking couple hired youthful-looking (but over 18) actresses to pretend to be prepubescent girls and communicate with strangers who approached them based on their fake accounts. They attracted dozens of men in the first ten days, then hundreds, and finally thousands...

Karel (2021)

Director Olga Malirova Spatova's feature documentary authentically portrays Karel Gott as a phenomenal singer who gives his all to his fans, as a painter, but also as a loving husband and father. A man who was spreading joy with his songs for sixty years, among several generations not only here, but also in Europe, and even worldwide. The singer traces the steps of his life, allows viewers to peek behind the scenes of concerts, and shows also his family life and privacy that he otherwise tries to lovingly and humbly protect.

Trabantem napříč Afrikou (2011)

Attila (2020)

This sports documentary goes behind the scenes in the world of mixed martial arts while chronicling the life story of MMA champion Attila Végh.

Trabantem až na konec světa (2014)

Boys 1970 (2020)

Trabantem Hedvábnou stezkou (2009)

Inside Mosul (2018)

A shock therapy of news coverage from the war front. Documentarist Jana Andert spent eight months with an elite Iraqi Army unit on the front lines of the battle for Mosul, occupied by Islamic State fighters from 2014 to June 2017. An unflinching report from a city in ruins, robbed of its soul by one of the worst catastrophes of modern times.

Wilder Than Wilderness (2018)

Near us, nature takes back what man has stolen. Within the environment of open cast brown coalmines and spoil tips which are the reminder of a lunar landscape, one finds paradoxically a true tale of an impregnable wild countryside.

King Skate (2018)

The first feature-length documentary about the rise of skateboarding in Czechoslovakia presents a gripping tale of the search for freedom in a society stifled by the communist regime. Unique archive shots set to a driving punk soundtrack introduce us to the cult masters of the board and their never-ending party ride through the grey days of Normalization.

One Second Forever (2021)

One second is all it takes to completely turn a life upside down - ONE SECOND FOREVER explores excessive speeding by telling the stories of five motorists who have caused serious and deadly car accidents. A feeling that one cannot even begin to imagine, yet many drivers casually admit to speeding on a regular basis. By recreating the accidents, director Vít Klusák takes the drivers on a journey to confront their guilt and turn it into a message of prevention.

Gorbachev. Heaven (2021)

An immersion into the intimacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. The architect of perestroika and glasnost, who was praised in the West but reviled in his own country, still combative despite his advanced age, loneliness and illness, offers his personal and political testament.

Forman vs. Forman (2019)

A moving account, in his own words, of the personal life and work of the brilliant Czech filmmaker Miloš Forman (1932-2018): his tragic childhood, his major contribution to the cultural movement known as the Czech New Wave, his exile in Paris, his troubled days in New York, his rise to stardom in Hollywood; a complete existence in the service of cinema.

The White World According to Daliborek (2017)

Dalibor K. is an industrial painter, amateur horror maker, the composer of angry songs, painter and a radical neo-Nazi. He is approaching 40, but he is still living with his mother Vera, Aged 63, and is yet to experience the real relationship with a woman. He hates his job, gypsies, Jews, refugees, homosexuals, Merkel, spiders and dentists. He hates his life, but he doesn’t know how to change it.

The Russian Job (2018)

Swedish manager Bo Inge Andersson comes to the Russian city Togliatti to save the struggling automaker factory. He is asked for a revolution, but what he doesn't know is that nothing should change.

Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je… (2021)

Ten, co slaví každý den (2024)

Trabantem tam a zase zpátky (2019)

I'm Not Everything I Want to Be (2024)

After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Libuše Jarcovjáková, a young female photographer, strives to break free from the constraints of Czechoslovak normalization and embarks on a wild journey towards freedom, capturing her experiences on thousands of subjective photographs.

Žlutou žábou do země modrého nebe (2025)

Trabants have traveled the world, now frogs are swimming! Traveler Dan Přibáň returns to cinemas after six years – this time in an amphibious vehicle LuAZ 967 nicknamed the yellow frog, which not only drives, but also swims! Together with him, a Czech-Slovak group of crazy adventurers, including the indestructible Marek Slobodník on a floating motorcycle tricycle, set off on a wild journey. The goal? 18,000 kilometers from Prague to Ulaanbaatar. The means? Used, dangerous and funny machines. The challenges? The pitfalls of exotic countries, bizarre regimes, disappearing rivers, blooming deserts and endless plains where there are no roads – only directions. And Mongolia – the land of blue skies. The least populated country in the world. A country that breaks hearts and fulfills dreams. In the finale, under the dunes of the Gobi Desert, the moved guys discover that it was really worth it and that miracles do happen... But sometimes completely differently than they expected.

Chinaski: Každej ví kulový (2022)

Documentary about the Czech band Chinaski.

Katka (2010)

“You bet on someone in the beginning of the process and then you wait and see what life does with them.” This is how Czech director Helena Trestikova explains her long-term documentaries. Following on from the European Film Academy Award winning RENE (2008), Trestikova brings us KATKA – 14 years in the life of a drug addict. KATKA is an extraordinarily raw and uncensored character portrait of a troubled young woman living on the edge of human existence, desperately searching for love and salvation. Will she find it in the rehab? Will she find it in the arms of the man she loves? Or in the first cry of her long-desired baby? Tagging along with her through the back streets and squalors of Prague, Trestikova gets deep under the skin of a person most of us would cross the road to avoid, and shows us Katka’s profoundly human face. You might be angry with Katka, or your heart may go out to her. One thing is certain – you will never forget her.

Django (2024)

Ještě než zmizí (2021)

Michal David – žít tak, jak se má (2021)

EFKA: The Fastest Girl In The Universe (2024)

New documentary about the career of world-class snowboarder Eva Adamczyková. This inspiring film takes you behind the scenes of her team and shows you where Eva comes from. The last years have been a difficult test for her in both her personal and professional life. In this documentary, you will learn how she coped with them.

Richard Müller: Nespoznaný (2016)

Báječní muži na dvou kolech (2024)

Zákon Helena (2016)

In her latest film, young actress and documentary filmmaker Petra Nesvačilová decided to capture police officer Helena Káhnová, who, together with her colleague, managed to send dozens of people to prison in the Berdych gang case in the 1990s - including Berdych himself. The cumulative punishment was hundreds of years in prison - the policewoman received a reward of CZK 10,000 and a promotion, which was subsequently withdrawn. The director also managed to establish a film relationship with Berdych himself and former members of his gang. What motivates a policewoman to stand up to the mafia and what motivates a young documentary filmmaker to contact the mafia and make a film about it?

The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton (2003)

A gripping documentary about the courage and determination of a young English stockbroker who saved the lives of 669 children. Between March 13 and August 2, 1939, Nicholas Winton organized 8 transports to take children from Prague to new homes in Great Britain, and kept quiet about it until his wife discovered a scrapbook documenting his unique mission in 1988. Winton was a successful 29-year-old stockbroker in London who "had an intuition" about the fate of the Jews when he visited Prague in 1939. He quietly but decisively got down to the business of saving lives. We learn how only two countries, Sweden and Britain, answered his call to harbor the young refugees; how documents had to be forged and how once foster parents signed for the children on delivery, that was the last he saw of them.