The discovery of a book of spells enables two young girls to save a house inhabited by their two beloved aunts Ema and Lída. Young Petra and Veronika are huge animal lovers and their aunts are rearing a dog named Míša and a horse called Toník in their garden. But the house is threatened by a new construction project. One option for saving this island of tranquility is to transform a small lime tree into an older, and thus protected, tree. The girls manage to hone their skills at casting spells, transforming dog Toník into a bronze statue... They fare better in their battle with the greedy Mrs. Boháčková and her annoying brood of children. This modern fairytale film full of magic is directed by Drahomíra Králová and was released in 1990. Lucie Čechová plays Veronika; the young actress also starred in two other Králová-directed films, namely Potkal jsem ho v zoo (I Have Met Him at the ZOO, 1994) and Artuš, Merlin a Prchlíci (Arthur, Merlin and the Prchlics, 1995). The band of aunties is portrayed by actresses Dana Syslová and Marie Tomášová, whose return to the screen in the role of Ema follows an eight-year absence as a “blacklisted” actress.
Two schoolmates since first grade, Petra and Veronika, live on a housing estate with their parents. They love animals and try to help aunt Ema who lives in a small house with her sister Lída, a horse called Toník and Mía the dog. The house has a yard, a well, an outhouse and a big garden. Lída learns from the cleaning lady Boháčková that the house is going to be pulled down. The teacher Frantiek who woes Ema finds out at the construction office that the house could be saved if an old and protected tree grew in the garden. Petra finds an old book in the papers put aside for recycling. She thinks that it is a cookbook and tries to make a meal from one recipe. But it turns out that the "cookbook" is a sorcerer's book through which people and things can be made larger and smaller, changed into other creatures but also the live horse Toník can be turned into a bronze sculpture. At school, the girls meet the evil Mrs Boháčková, her lying son Marcel and her spoiled daughter Ilonka. The magical powers, however, punish Boháčková. When she seizes the magic potion of the little witches assuming that the bottle contains wine, she and the rest of her family turn into toadstools. The girls succeed in turning a small linden tree in the garden of the aunts Ema and Lída into a big spreading tree, and the house can thus be preserved. The wedding of Frantiek and Ema is then celebrated under the linden. The girls want to give the aunt the sorcerer's book as a gift, but the book is seized by Ilonka Boháčková who is the only one from the family who remained in her human form.
Veronika
Petra
teta Ema
teta Lída, listonoška
učitel František
Voice by Lenka Termerová
matka Veroniky
otec Veroniky
matka Petry
otec Petry
uklízečka Boháčková
Boháček
Ilonka, dcera Boháčkových
Marcel, syn Boháčkových
Hanka, sestra Veroniky
Voice by Miriam Kantorková
majitelka psa Gábi
ředitelka školy
závozník
řidič
jeřábník
pokladní
Michal
policista
policista
strážmistr
starší učitelka
mladá učitelka
Lucie Minaříková, Magda Vodičková
Jaroslav Pospíšil, Josef Večerek, Miloslav Dvořák
Roman Kincl
Jaroslav Tomsa, Rudolf Bareš
Michal Fairaizl (fotograf), Josef Staněk (práce se zvířaty)
FISYO (Music Conducted by Mario Klemens), Orchestr P. Nikla (Music Conducted by Mario Klemens)
Song Composer Jaroslav Uhlíř
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Svěrák
Singer dětský sbor Sedmihlásek
Song Composer lidová píseň
Singer dětský sbor SedmihlásekRudolf Pellar
Čarodějky z předměstí
Čarodějky z předměstí
Witches from Suburbia
Nechte to koňovi
film
featuretheatrical distribution
children, comedy
Czechoslovakia
1990
1990
premiere 1 June 1991 /suitable for youths/
4. tvůrčí skupina, Marcela Pittermannová (vedoucí 4. tvůrčí skupiny), Jan Janda (vedoucí produkce 4. tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
81 min
35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: Mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti Tel Aviv
1993
Tel Aviv / Israel
Festival: 18. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti Frankfurt nad Mohanem
1992
Frankfurt nad Mohanem / Federal Republic of Germany
Exhibition: 8. berlínské dny dětského filmu Berlín
1992
Berlín / Federal Republic of Germany
Festival: 18. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti Frankfurt nad Mohanem
1992
Frankfurt nad Mohanem / Federal Republic of Germany
Exhibition: 23. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti Ostrov
1991
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 31. festival filmů pro děti Zlín
1991
Zlín / Czechoslovakia
Tereza Fliegerová
Exhibition: 23. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti Ostrov
1991
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Lucie Čechová
Festival: 31. festival filmů pro děti Zlín
1991
Zlín / Czechoslovakia
Lucie Čechová
Exhibition: 23. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti Ostrov
1991
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Tereza Fliegerová
Festival: 31. festival filmů pro děti Zlín
1991
Zlín / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 7. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti a mládež Isfahán
1991
Isfahán / Iran
Tereza Fliegerová
Exhibition: 23. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti Ostrov
1991
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 7. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti a mládež Isfahán
1991
Isfahán / Iran
Lucie Čechová