Ivan Ostrochovský

Ivan Ostrochovský (born 11 December 1972, Žilina) is a Slovakian film director, screenwriter and producer. He graduated from Bratislava’s Academy of Performing Arts.

Works

The Unbalanced

After a painful divorce, 50-year-old Nadia finally finds a good flat for reasonable price for her and her daughter. Too good to be true, and soon, albeit too late, she comes to understand the reason for the bargain. Her close neighbour in the house is mentally ill Valika who terrorises everyone around her. Piussi’s film creates a string of absurd encounters with increasingly menacing effects, but it is – at its core – a fantastically precise film about humanism, its consequences, its possible limits.

Release Date2023-04-06

Charactersd Publisher

Vote Count1

The Invisible Jan Gogola

A dramaturg is present during the writing of the screenplay, but does not write the film. A dramaturg is present on set, but does not direct the film. A dramaturg sits in on the editing process, but does not edit the film. A dramaturg is also involved in many other activities throughout a film’s production, yet performs none of them directly. In this sense, the dramaturg is invisible. The same could be said of the life of the distinguished Czechoslovak dramaturg Jan Gogola, who influenced countless stories throughout his career—including this documentary itself. His portrait is, in fact, being dramaturgically shaped in real time as the film unfolds.

Release Date2026-05-30

Charactersd Self

Hotel Sunrise

A documentary about the present and the past of Čierna nad Tisou, a border town in the south-east of Slovakia, once the "Golden Gate of Socialism".

Release Date2016-11-18

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Velvet Terrorists

Part documentary, part mockumentary and part stranger-than-fiction lesson in guerilla tactics, Velvet Terrorists is a quirky profile of three very different men and their former attempts to take down the communist regime of Czechoslovakia – by blowing the hell out of it. Having all spent time in prison for their crimes, one-time bombers Stanislav, Frantisek and Vladimir muse on their personal histories, the fall of the regime and their journey into middle age.

Release Date2013-10-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count4

Made in Ash

A grittily realistic tale of prostitution at an Eastern European border town

Release Date2012-09-13

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count7

Chronicle

A country awakens from a deep winter sleep. An incomprehensible and absurd world slowly unfolds before the camera, imbued with strangeness, even though we are familiar with its sounds, rhythms and colours.

Release Date2025-09-18

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Broken Voices

It’s the early 1990s and 13-year-old Valerie, a gifted novice singer, is given the chance to become a member of a world-famous girls’ choir, taking her place alongside her older sister and her other rivals in the ensemble. Everything points to the fact that Valerie’s exceptional talent has caught the attention of the formidable and much admired choirmaster. This highly anticipated psychological drama calls to mind not only the notorious case of Bambini di Praga, but also other devastating situations involving the clash of innocence and abusive authority.

Release Date2025-07-10

DepartmentProduction

JobCo-Producer

Vote Count22

Winter Flies

Mischievously self-assured Mára and somewhat eccentric Heduš set out into the frozen wastes in search of adventure – by car, naturally. After all, Mára’s turning fifteen soon. A road movie about the flies that occasionally buzz around even in winter, and a story that tells of the elusive bond of boyhood friendship and the irrepressible desire to experience something, even if you don't exactly know what.

Release Date2018-09-06

DepartmentProduction

JobCo-Producer

Vote Count19

Only Beautiful Things to Look At

Ingrid works as a gynecologist in a district hospital in Slovakia in the late 1980s. Her marriage is at a standstill, she has an affair with a younger colleague in the hospital, and after work, she sits on the abortion committee where they offer Roma women sterilization after the abortion is approved. Eighteen-year-old Agáta, who grew up in a children’s home, comes to work as a nurse at the hospital. Ingrid unexpectedly becomes close to her.

Release Date2026-07-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

107 Mothers

Lesya has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odesa’s women’s correctional facilities. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, women of all ages, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant women, and women with children too. If not for the color of the uniform, it would sometimes be hard to tell who is who.

Release Date2021-10-14

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenplay

Vote Count21

Punk je hned!

A drug-addicted punk, Kwicka, lives with his companion and son in a dilapidated sublet. His alternative way of life collides with harsh reality when he receives a letter from social services warning that his child will be taken away. Kwicka tries to make things right, but his impulsive behaviour turns his rescue efforts into a free fall.

Release Date2019-03-21

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count4

The Bugaboo

The story begins at the moment when the parents of twelve-year-old Nikca and six-year-old Tomas leave for the weekend, and the children have their apartment to themselves for the very first time. And without supervision! Nikca decides to put her little brother away in his room and invite her friend Gabča over, planning to order pizza, watch a horror movie on video, and just have fun. But watching a forbidden scary film is not meant for them.

Release Date2025-11-13

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count2

FREM

Incomplete thoughts and fragments of dialogue, diverse music interrupted by rushes and glitches, and the seemingly confused, unanchored camera, create a disturbing, philosophical reflection on the limits of anthropocentric thinking.

Release Date2020-09-17

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Grey Zone

A film essay, a personal story, a tribute to the mothers and families of premature babies, at-risk newborns and the vulnerable disadvantaged.

Release Date2024-10-24

DepartmentProduction

JobCo-Producer

5 October

Martin Kollár’s acclaimed cinematography reigns resplendent in the silent story of a man waiting for important surgery. Discovering he's facing the possibility of only having a few months left to live, Ján Kollár embarks on a journey with no destination and only a deadline.

Release Date2016-10-06

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count1

Photophobia

On a cold February morning, 12-year-old Niki and his family arrive at the Kharkiv metro station to take shelter from the terrifying war raging outside. For Niki's family, daylight is synonymous with mortal danger, and the boy is not allowed to leave the station premises, living under the constant glow of their neon lights. While aimlessly wandering around the abandoned cars and full platforms, Niki meets Vika (11), and a new world opens up to him. As their bond strengthens, the children find the courage once again to feel the sun on their faces.

Release Date2023-10-26

DepartmentWriting

JobStory

Vote Count3

Nepela

The film captures a period in the life of figure skater Ondrej Nepela, when in 1972 he returns with a gold medal from the Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, marking the peak of his sporting career. At home, he is greeted not only with fame but also with the realities of the communist regime. Everyone treats him like a celebrity, but the sensitive Ondrej longs above all for an escape from this uncomfortable golden cage. He wants to live freely and in harmony with who he feels he truly is. Yet at the last moment, his promised chance to leave for a professional ice revue is forbidden, and he is ordered to compete in another World Championship. Disappointed, Nepela must find new motivation and also come to terms with the tragic death of his best friend, figure skater Hana Mašková.

Release Date2025-10-30

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count4

Hudobníci

Release Date2014-01-01

DepartmentCamera

JobDirector of Photography

Episode Count1

Varga

Sonia Maletzová's documentary film portrait follows the legend of the Czechoslovak music scene, rock keyboardist Marian Varga (1947-2017), at the end of his life, when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. It captures the great introvert and avid smoker during his last performances, when he slowly began to lose his breath.

Release Date2017-10-27

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Servants

Michal and Juraj, two students of a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, must decide if they'll choose the easier way of collaboration, or if they'll subject themselves to the surveillance of the secret police.

Release Date2020-11-12

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count21

Nina

A 12 year old swimming star becomes the emotional casualty of her parents acrimonious separation, in this powerful coming of age story about youth rebelliously standing up to the cruelties and immaturities of adulthood.

Release Date2017-09-21

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count7

Igor and After

This year’s gallery of artistically inspiring portraits of uncompromising eccentrics (among them The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld, Robert Richardson: The White Devil and A Pint of Ink) features another unobtrusive stand-out in the shape of Igor Luther, a key figure of Slovak and European cinematography. Ivan Ostrochovský’s perspective is rare, dynamic and also meditative, while Luther himself co-authored the project during the last few months of his life. Works such as Juraj Jakubisko’s Birds, Orphans and Fools, Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum and Andrzej Wajda’s Danton, in the persuasive words of their creators, wouldn't have the same timeless energy today if it weren't for Luther's visionary endeavours.

Release Date2026-07-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Ťažká voľba

Release Date2018-01-12

DepartmentWriting

JobIdea

Vote Count1

33 Steps

Thirteen years after Milan Daniel suffered a serious head injury in a racially motivated attack, his assailant is set to be released. What feelings does this moment awaken in a traumatized man who, though he survived, will forever suffer the consequences of that fateful day? Straddling the line between fiction and documentary, the feature debut by Slovak directors Šimon and Anna Domček is an exceptionally cohesive mosaic of fragmentary pieces of everyday life, memories, dreams, and subjective perceptions. Besides exploring the experience of someone seeking to escape the shadows of the past – shadows that weigh heavily on future generations as well – the film also takes an unusual approach to the subject of racial intolerance.

Release Date2026-09-03

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Every Single Minute

The Hanuliaks, a couple from Slovakia, have decided to bring up their son according to Kamevéda, a complex approach to developing the child’s motor abilities and intellect. Unique in its depth of focus, this reflection on child-rearing documents a year in the life of four-year-old Miško, where not a minute is wasted since there is no room for boredom and moments of rest are merely preparation for the next achievement.

Release Date2021-08-26

DepartmentProduction

JobCo-Producer

Richard Müller: Nespoznaný

For 25 years, Richard Müller has been a key figure in the Czech and Slovak music industry. Despite quitting music once, he returned to the stage while battling untreated manic depression and drug use. The documentary offers an intimate look at his artistic journey and personal struggles, amidst constant fan and tabloid attention. Filmed over three years with over 200 hours of footage, it includes home videos shot by Müller. It follows the tradition of Czech artistic documentaries like Amy and Nick Cave: 20,000 Days on Earth, exploring themes of inspiration and loneliness.

Release Date2016-11-17

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count3

Release Date2015-01-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Goat

Peter "Koza" Baláz is a former Olympic boxer. He and his partner, Misa, live in a dilapidated housing estate, constantly struggling to make ends meet. Misa learns that she is expecting a child and decides to terminate her pregnancy. In order to earn some much-needed cash and possibly change Misa's mind. He and his manager Zvonko embark on a "tour", where success is not measured in victories, but in the amount of blows that Koza can take.

Release Date2015-09-10

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Vote Count4

A Sensitive Person

This darkly grotesque drama unfolds on multiple paths. The tangible one, now cruel, now crazy, along which the nomadic actor "Dad Mour", his wife "Mum" and two sons try to return home, but also the imaginary one, even more, tortuous and dusty, on which the often impressive mental youth (or immaturity, a scrooge might say) is welded with life circumstances forcing the protagonist to wise up. An anxious and exuberant cinematic faerie about love, the fear of loneliness and the gaze of sons fixed on their fathers.

Release Date2023-10-12

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Vote Count1

The Story of The Miraculous Virgin

Documentary about Stefan Uher's film.

Release Date2018-08-20

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Man with Hare Ears

Josef is a writer aged sixty, who thinks that nothing can surprise him any more. One evening, though, his phone rings and he finds himself caught up in a series of events that turn his world upside-down. His best friend – also a writer – tries to commit suicide; his young girlfriend Katka tells him she’s pregnant; and the man with hare ears – his alter ego from one of his stories – appears to him in everyday situations.

Release Date2021-07-01

Vote Count3

The Last Self-portrait

Slovak director Marek Kuboš has not shot a film in 13 years. His first film ever – a student exercise at film school – was a self-portrait. The circle is closed, the source of creativity has seemingly dried up. All that is left to do in the last self-portrait is to clean up after oneself, to recapitulate one’s successes and failures, and to bid farewell to one’s protagonists. This introspective meta-documentary is not so much a study of a creative crisis as it is a self-therapeutic process and an attempt at offering a comprehensive profile of the filmmaker at a time of unstable certainties. Appearing in the role of Kuboš’s consultants are essentially all leading Slovak documentary filmmakers.

Release Date2018-09-06