Year: 2023 2022 2021 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

The plot of the film is set up during World War II in the Slovak State. A mild-mannered Slovak carpenter Tóno Brtko is offered the chance to take over the sewing notions store of an old, little Jewish woman Rozália Lautmannová, as a part of the enactment of an Aryanization in the town. Under the pressure of his wife and high-ranking brother-in-law, he agrees. The business is not profitable; Brtko does not, however, give up on the store and pretends he aryanizates. The old woman takes care of Tóno as if he was her own son and he helps her as much as he can. One day, the town's entire Jewish population gets a garnishment for transport. Except for Mrs. Lautmanová.

Cast: Ida Kamińska, Jozef Kroner, František Zvarík, Hana Slivková, Martin Hollý Sr
Production Barrandov Film Studios (CS)

JÁN KADÁR (1918)
Director and scriptwriter. In 1949, he made his debut feature film Katka (1949). In 1952 he started to collaborate with the Czech film director Elmar Klos. During this long-term co-operation, they made eight fiction films together at the Barranndov Film Studios. The Shop on Main Street was the first Czechoslovakian film awarded an Oscar for a Foreign Language Film by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Since, 1968, he lived and worked in USA and Canada, where he continued with film and TV directing. His film Lies My Father Told Me (1975) received the Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Film.

The film is presented on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its premiere.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1975, Lies My Father Told Me
1970, The Angel Levine
1969, Adrift (co-dir.)
1965, The Shop on the High Street (co-dir.)
1964, Accused (co-dir.)
1963, Death Is Called Engelchen (co-dir.)
1958, Three Wishes (co-dir.)
1957, There at the Terminal (co-dir.)
1955, Music from Mars (co-dir.)
1952, Hijacking (co-dir.)
1949, Cathy

ELMAR KLOS (1910)
Director and scriptwriter. In 1950s, he started collaboration with the Slovak director Ján Kadár. Together they made eight films. Their most significant film The Shop on the High Street received an Oscar for the Best Foreign Film by the AMPAS. Their co-operation was interrupted by the arrival of normalization, when Ján Kadár decided to emigrate to USA. Elmar Klos was politically persecuted and was fired from FAMU and Czechoslovak State Film.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1989, Bison (co-dir.)
1969, Adrift (co-dir.)
1965, The Shop on the High Street (co-dir.)
1964, Accused (co-dir.)
1963, Death Is Called Engelchen (co-dir.)
1958, Three Wishes (co-dir.)
1957, There at the Terminal (co-dir.)
1955, Music from Mars (co-dir.)
1952, Hijacking (co-dir.)