- Occupation
Producer - Country
Slovak Republic
Belišová Jana
Cigarettes and Songs
In an evangelical church in Eastern Slovakia, something extraordinary is happening. A group of Roma gypsies and Slovaks have come together to make music and are recording a CD of ancient Roma songs in new compositions. Bela cannot speak about the loss of his wife and children, but pours out his emotions in a moving song. Irena has left her husband Emil and her children behind in their tiny home, happy to have a few days to focus on the songs which have forever been a part of her life. Their Slovak colleagues have had no experience with the Roma before, who, like in so many other countries, are continually persecuted. They soon warm to their humour and humility, in a stirring film about the unifying, therapeutic power of music.
Bells of Happiness
Mariena and Roman are cousins. They share one passion which has little to do with their everyday life - admiration of singer stars Karel Gott and Dara Rolins. They collect and exchange newspaper clips from tabloids, they rehearse songs from the repertoire of their idols and borrow their identities, although they switch gender roles. One day they decide to sing their favorite hit “Zvonky šťastia“ and send it to Karel and Dara with their own video on a DVD. In this project they are accompanied by filmmakers Marek Šulík and Jana Bučka. Thus arises a mutual play in which the roles of protagonists and film-makers are exchanged, swapping the worlds of media stars and simple people from socially weaker classes.
In an evangelical church in Eastern Slovakia, something extraordinary is happening. A group of Roma gypsies and Slovaks have come together to make music and are recording a CD of ancient Roma songs in new compositions. Bela cannot speak about the loss of his wife and children, but pours out his emotions in a moving song. Irena has left her husband Emil and her children behind in their tiny home, happy to have a few days to focus on the songs which have forever been a part of her life. Their Slovak colleagues have had no experience with the Roma before, who, like in so many other countries, are continually persecuted. They soon warm to their humour and humility, in a stirring film about the unifying, therapeutic power of music.
Bells of Happiness
Mariena and Roman are cousins. They share one passion which has little to do with their everyday life - admiration of singer stars Karel Gott and Dara Rolins. They collect and exchange newspaper clips from tabloids, they rehearse songs from the repertoire of their idols and borrow their identities, although they switch gender roles. One day they decide to sing their favorite hit “Zvonky šťastia“ and send it to Karel and Dara with their own video on a DVD. In this project they are accompanied by filmmakers Marek Šulík and Jana Bučka. Thus arises a mutual play in which the roles of protagonists and film-makers are exchanged, swapping the worlds of media stars and simple people from socially weaker classes.
Jana Belišová, 1965
Ethnographer, music producer, publisher and film producer. Jana Belišová collects old, traditional gypsy songs for scientific and cultural purposes.
Cigarettes and Songs - “Cigarety a pesničky” (2010, The prize for the best documentary film, Seefest Los Angles 2012, the main prize GRAND PRIX, Arts&Film festival Telč),