OCTOBER 23-25

The five films (made during the ’90s by directors in their 30s) in the “Festival of New Czech Cinema” run the gamut stylistically, but at their core they’re similarly concerned with life’s absurdities. Petr Zelenka’s Mnaga Happy End (pictured, Friday at 8:15 p.m., Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with the director present at both screenings) is a silly low-budget Spinal Tap-like faux documentary on the brief career of an alternative band put together by a big German label. The Ride (Saturday at 9:15 p.m., Sunday at 8 p.m.) is a sometimes charming, often clumsy, version of the American indie Gen X road movie in which two young men aimlessly travel southern Bohemia in a convertible. Indian Summer (Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m., Sunday at 2:45 p.m.), the debut feature from Sasa Gedeon, is a coming-of-age story about a shy girl on vacation with her cousin that’s atmospheric, often poetic, and as visually memorable as a bathtub full of apples. Based on the bestseller by Michael Viewegh, Those Wonderful Years That Sucked (Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 1 & 4:15 p.m.) is the colorful tale of a family that leaves Prague after the 1968 Soviet invasion to find that small-town life requires not only lip service to the Party but a hefty sense of humor. Also on the bill is Marian (Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 6 p.m.), which examines the fate of a neglected Romany boy. At the American Film Institute Theater, Kennedy Center. $6.50. (202) 416-7815. (John Dugan)