Don’t write offfilms from theCzech Republicjust becauseyou’ve never heardof them or findthe characters’names a mouthful .

I STILL remember the first Czech film I watched, back in the late 1990s. It was an immensely poignant story about a grumpy old bachelor whose life is radically changed after he unwillingly accepts a young Russian boy into his life. Apart from the excellent acting, the film showed a triumph of the human spirit under the repressive conditions of Soviet rule. The film was Kolya, which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.