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Panelstory, aneb jak se rodí sídliště

PanelStory, or How a Housing Development Is Born | Geschichte der Wände oder Wie eine Siedlung entsteht
Berlinale Classics 2026
© Czech Audiovisual Fund
Life is a construction site for the tenants of the only partially finished prefab housing development in Prague. Between the buildings, young mothers struggle to push their prams through mounds of mud. And things are not any better inside. Here, a corpulent man is stuck because the door will not open; there, no water comes out of the taps, but a conversation in the neighbouring apartment can be heard clear as day through the pipes. And there is no way out of the boiler room because the door has no handle …
Věra Chytilová’s film depicts one day in that construction chaos through the eyes of a handful of people of various ages who have to deal with the hodgepodge of permanently makeshift solutions in what was conceived as a “garden city”. In 2002, the director said: “It’s not a critical reaction to the regime; it’s more actually a view of human behaviour.” Nonetheless, her amusing social satire was held back by the authorities and not shown in Czechoslovakia until 1981. The digitisation was undertaken from the original picture negative and sound held at the Národní filmový archiv in Prague.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Věra Chytilová (Director, Screenplay), Eva Kačírková (Screenplay)
with Lukáš Bech, Antonín Vaňha, Eva Kačírková, Oldřich Navrátil, Jiří Kodet, Bronislav Poloczek, Daniela Šrajerová, Milan Klásek, Ladislav Potměšil, Hana Hejduková Czechoslovakia 1979 Czech 100' Colour World premiere of the digitally restored version

With

  • Lukáš Bech
  • Antonín Vaňha
  • Eva Kačírková
  • Oldřich Navrátil
  • Jiří Kodet
  • Bronislav Poloczek
  • Daniela Šrajerová
  • Milan Klásek
  • Ladislav Potměšil
  • Hana Hejduková

Crew

Director Věra Chytilová
Screenplay Eva Kačírková, Věra Chytilová
Cinematography Jaromír Šofr
Editing Jiří Brožek
Music Jiří Šust
Sound Design Jiří Hora
Production Design Stanislav Krejča
Costumes Jana Břežková
Make-Up František Pilný
Producer Miroslav Smrček

Additional information

DCP: Národní filmový archiv, Prague

Photos