- Country
Czech Republic
Růžičková Alice
Otto Placht - Jungle Painter
Otto Placht (*1962) is a Czech painter who lives and works in Peru in the "suburbs" of the Amazon jungle near the town of Pucallpa on the upper banks of the river Ucayali. He married Monica, a local woman from the Shipibo tribe. They have two children and live in a home Otto had built on the Indian territory in a village called San Francisco. His pictures, painted on mosquito-net mainly by colours made from bark, lianas, and fruit of local plants, reflect not only the everyday fight for survival of his family in the discomfort of the tropics but also his interest in shamanism and his experiences and visions caused by the herbal drug of ayahuasca. The film was made on colour and black and white 16 mm film and renders first of all Otto's life in Peru - his family life in the Indian village, traditional manufacturing of Indian pottery, shaman rituals surrounding the use of ayahuasca, Otto's effort to find a place to establish a center for art-therapy in Peru, aerial shots of the jungle near the Peruvian-Brazilian border, exotic shots from Pucallpa which was founded only 30 years ago by explorers and businessmen who cultivate and exploit the jungle. In this film, one can see Otto's artistic expression and hear a range of his opinions on the Amazon, on environmental issues, and his European tradition.
Exprmntl KBH
This documentary film by Alice Růžičková and Martin Čihák is a portrait of three expatriates who left Czechoslovakia and settled in Copenhagen where they fully enjoy the benefits of Danish welfare system. Martin Klapper, a globe-trotter, is author of experimental films with powerful visual imagery, using the hand-made and found footage methods. In this documentary we will see excerpts from his film collages, which he accompanied by sounds of children's toys and amplified objects. Jindřich Biskup is involved in the genre of improvised music, playing predominantly on percussion, plastic cups and fun-fair balloons. He escaped to Denmark on a Russian ship named Kalinin. His main attributes in this movie are a bicycle, an inflatable frog, and a kaleidoscope. Jura Vavrušák's main asset is his eloquence, and his attitude towards life (six wives, time in prison, or home-brewed liquor prepared in a pressure cooker). The painful journey from Ostrava to Denmark took him nine years - through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Malta... EXPRMNTL KBH will take us to their flats, creative laboratories, and to locations not favoured by tourists - to deserted beaches, garbage cans, to passageways and the back streets. This documentary came into being laboriously and painstakingly over the period of three years, at first self-financed by the filmmakers. The authors attempted to capture the authenticity of life and creative spontaneity for such a long time that they eventually also became part of the emerging film.
Netopýrolog
Portrait of a scientist - Vladimír Hanák who has been studying bats all his life. Teh film, with partial animation, about knowledge, journeying, development and ambivalance. - Department od documentary productio, FAMU - 2nd year.
On People and Dogs
A report from a dog training ground. FAMU, Department od Documentary Film (1st year)
Descendants of the Famous - The Frič Family
A film about a family which, from the era of the National Revival, had always had great influence on the life of the Czech nation. The Frič family were among the most popular figures of society during the last century. They produced revolutionaries, a scientist, a traveller and writers. Which path will their descendants choose...? - The film was produced by Česká televize without the cooperation of FAMU as a 3rd-year film - Department of documentary film, FAMU.
Positive Negativ
A film about a journey to the heart of the film splice.
Otto Placht (*1962) is a Czech painter who lives and works in Peru in the "suburbs" of the Amazon jungle near the town of Pucallpa on the upper banks of the river Ucayali. He married Monica, a local woman from the Shipibo tribe. They have two children and live in a home Otto had built on the Indian territory in a village called San Francisco. His pictures, painted on mosquito-net mainly by colours made from bark, lianas, and fruit of local plants, reflect not only the everyday fight for survival of his family in the discomfort of the tropics but also his interest in shamanism and his experiences and visions caused by the herbal drug of ayahuasca. The film was made on colour and black and white 16 mm film and renders first of all Otto's life in Peru - his family life in the Indian village, traditional manufacturing of Indian pottery, shaman rituals surrounding the use of ayahuasca, Otto's effort to find a place to establish a center for art-therapy in Peru, aerial shots of the jungle near the Peruvian-Brazilian border, exotic shots from Pucallpa which was founded only 30 years ago by explorers and businessmen who cultivate and exploit the jungle. In this film, one can see Otto's artistic expression and hear a range of his opinions on the Amazon, on environmental issues, and his European tradition.
Exprmntl KBH
This documentary film by Alice Růžičková and Martin Čihák is a portrait of three expatriates who left Czechoslovakia and settled in Copenhagen where they fully enjoy the benefits of Danish welfare system. Martin Klapper, a globe-trotter, is author of experimental films with powerful visual imagery, using the hand-made and found footage methods. In this documentary we will see excerpts from his film collages, which he accompanied by sounds of children's toys and amplified objects. Jindřich Biskup is involved in the genre of improvised music, playing predominantly on percussion, plastic cups and fun-fair balloons. He escaped to Denmark on a Russian ship named Kalinin. His main attributes in this movie are a bicycle, an inflatable frog, and a kaleidoscope. Jura Vavrušák's main asset is his eloquence, and his attitude towards life (six wives, time in prison, or home-brewed liquor prepared in a pressure cooker). The painful journey from Ostrava to Denmark took him nine years - through Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Malta... EXPRMNTL KBH will take us to their flats, creative laboratories, and to locations not favoured by tourists - to deserted beaches, garbage cans, to passageways and the back streets. This documentary came into being laboriously and painstakingly over the period of three years, at first self-financed by the filmmakers. The authors attempted to capture the authenticity of life and creative spontaneity for such a long time that they eventually also became part of the emerging film.
Netopýrolog
Portrait of a scientist - Vladimír Hanák who has been studying bats all his life. Teh film, with partial animation, about knowledge, journeying, development and ambivalance. - Department od documentary productio, FAMU - 2nd year.
On People and Dogs
A report from a dog training ground. FAMU, Department od Documentary Film (1st year)
Descendants of the Famous - The Frič Family
A film about a family which, from the era of the National Revival, had always had great influence on the life of the Czech nation. The Frič family were among the most popular figures of society during the last century. They produced revolutionaries, a scientist, a traveller and writers. Which path will their descendants choose...? - The film was produced by Česká televize without the cooperation of FAMU as a 3rd-year film - Department of documentary film, FAMU.
Positive Negativ
A film about a journey to the heart of the film splice.
RNDr. MgA. Alice Růžičková
Filmmaker, teacher, projector operator
Born June 10, 1966 in Prague. In 1991 she graduated from the Faculty of Science, Charles University with a teaching degree in biology-mathematics and zoology-entomology. After brief activities in non-professional film (Pouť, Škola hrou, Pošťák) and maternity leave, she began studies at the Documentary Department at FAMU (1994-2001). Since 1996 - develops creative and experimental film projects with cinematographer and editor Martin Čihák (hand-made film „60 Clocks“, Netopýrolog), films for Czech TV (Fričův rod, Králíkův seznam, Žiletky Zdeňka Tyce, Amatérský film, Michael Rittstein, Originální Videojournal, Archiv FAMU) as well as self-produced films (Pozitivní negativ, Biostruktury, Otto Placht – malíř džungle, EXPRMNTL KBH). 2001 - cooperation with Martin Blažíček's expanded cinema V_LTRA; training course “projector operator for 35/16mm film and new projection technologies“, worked in the Slovanský dům Multiplex. Co-director of jingles for the RESPECT music festival and for the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival for which she prepared the opening performance for five projectors in 2002. Her texts about creative film and interviews with Czech documentary and experimental filmmakers are published in Čas od času and Cinepur. A shorter version of her thesis “Originální Videojournal – pokus o samizdatovou televizi“ (2001) was published in the journal Alternativní kultura. External lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University. Since 1999, lecturer at FAMU and tutor of freshman workshop, deputy head of the Documentary Department; since 2003, Subdean for Admissions at FAMU.
Education: 1984-1991: Faculty of Science, Charles University with a teaching degree in biology-mathematics and zoology-entomology (RNDr.)
1994-2001: FAMU Praha, Documentary Department (MgA.) 2002: Kinotechnika Praha, Klánovice – training course projector operator 35/16mm film and new projection technologies
Experience:
1989-1990: ZŠ Londýnská 34, Prague, teacher – biology, mathematics
1993-1999: Faculty of Science, Charles University, Institute of Applied Mathematics and Information Technology, Prague, academic staff
1991-1994: maternity leave
1996-2004: documentary and experimental projects in cooperation with Martin Čihák
1997: co-author of Martin Klapper's hand-made film “Sixty Clocks“, Copenhagen, Denmark
Since 1998: Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, external lecturer
Since 1999: FAMU, Documentary Department, Prague, external lecturer
2000-2003: Ster Century, Multiplex Slovanský dům, Prague, projector operator
2001: co-author of “Units“ by Martin Blažíček's V_LTRA (expanded cinema)
Since 2001: projector operator at the Jihlava IDFF
2002-2003: opening performance for four 16mm projectors at the Jihlava IDFF
2002-2003: FAMU, Documentary Dpt., Prague – deputy head, freshman workshop tutor
Since 2002: Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, external lecturer
Since 2003: FAMU, Subdean for Admissions, workshop tutor
2003: Academia film Olomouc, course lecturer: “Grafy, šrafy“
2007: Academia film Olomouc, course lecturer: “Počátky a vývoj českého populárně-vědeckého filmu“
Selected Filmography:
1992: Pouť (8´, S-8 mm film), non-professional film
1993: Škola hrou (27´, Umatic), non-professional film
1994: Pošťák (6´, 16 mm film), non-professional film
1995: O lidech a psech (8´, 16mm film), FAMU film exercise
1996: Netopýrolog (24´, 16 mm film), Czech TV
1996-8: 15 reports for “60” (Betacam), Czech TV
1997: Fričův rod (30´, Betacam), Czech TV – Potomci slavných
1997: Žiletky Zdeňka Tyce (59´, Betacam), Czech TV – Zblízka
1997: Králíkův seznam (59´, Betacam), Czech TV – Zblízka
1997-8: Pozitivní negativ (18´, 16 mm film), self-produced
1997-8: Biostruktury (8´, 16 mm film), self-produced
1998: Amatérský film (59´, Betacam), Czech TV– Zblízka
1998: Biograf u Františka (20´, Betacam), Czech TV – Ego
1998: Michael Rittstein (59´, Betacam), Czech TV – Zblízka
1998: Věra Vacková-Žahourková (28´, Betacam), Czech TV – Seniorklub
1998: Originální Videojournal (59´, Betacam), Czech TV – Zblízka
1999: Otto Placht – malíř džungle (58´, 16 mm film), Czech TV
1999-2002: jingles for the RESPECT music festival, Prague
2000: 4 reports for Salon (Betacam), Czech TV
2000: Archiv FAMU (58´, Betacam), Czech TV
2001: EXPRMNTL KBH (38´, 16 mm film), co-produced with Czech TV
2002-3: jingles and polyecran performances for the Jihlava IDFF
2004: report for „Minuty z Jihlavy do hlavy“