Widowed Zdena lives a quiet life as a postwoman in a Czech village. When her beloved son Lukáš returns home from France to say goodbye to his dying grandmother, his determination to make her seemingly impossible wish come true leads him to reveal a secret that is hard for the village community to swallow.

Following a trilogy of low-budget generational films (the first of which, Mirrors in the Dark, was shown at CinEast in 2021), director, screenwriter, composer and DJ Šimon Holý makes his first international co-production. Chica checa deals with issues that resonate with millennials, while also seeking to reach their parents, with the ambition of becoming a “coming-out family film”. Holý once again confirms his talent for observation, offering a touching portrait of the relationship between mother and son, with striking performances by the lead actors Pavla Tomicová and Jan Cina.

The film had its world premiere in this year’s Crystal Globe Competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF.