- Occupation
Director - Country
Czech Republic
Ryšavý Martin
Who Will Teach Me Half a Character?
The documentary is about good ideas of uncle Ho, respect for teachers and a return to one's homeland... Or travelling through Vietnam in the footsteps of Czechoslovak-Vietnamese friendship. Who Will Teach Me a Half of a Character follows in the footsteps of former Czechoslovak-Vietnamese cooperation and seeks to sum up its importance in the lives of several Vietnamese citizens. The film also reports on contemporary Vietnam through the experiences of local people who are not separated from Czechs by a language barrier.
Siberia - Soul at a Museum
The film is about the national revival in small Siberian ethnic communities that are threatened by extinction or assimilation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Communist ideology, members of these communities attempt to revive their half-forgotten traditions, which at times leads to rather absurd situations.
Afonka Does Not Want to Herd Reindeer Anymore
A feature documentary film by Martin Ryšavý. The film draws a portrait of the difficult life of the Siberian Evens. While Afanasy (Afonka) Konstantinov would often like to end the difficult nomadic life and settle down, his great-aunt Maria Yegorovna Kolesova wants her relatives to maintain the traditional lifestyle of their ancestors. Trapped between vague ideas about a new life and his love of the mountains and herding, Afonka feels that he will never be exactly like his ancestors.
Malupien
A documentary about the Russian city of Yakutsk in the Far East, seemingly just countless blocks of prefab flats in the middle of taiga - at first sight a gloomy place to live at, yet filled with a human desire to create, which is embodied by Malupien, a castle made of scrapheap at a place called Olšový Spas, built by one of the heroes of the film, expressing his faith in a fairy-tale essence of human existence, pointing out that the way back to childhood is possible by an active creation of its reflection.
Bananas Kids
The main theme is based on comparisons of life stories of several child heroes, or several Vietnamese families settled in the Czech Republic. Whereas the adults spend most of their time working, speak badly Czech and feel homesick, their kids learn Czech at school, become accustomed to Czech environment more quickly, speak Czech better than Vietnamese and have only a weak relation to their country. Vietnamese kids then begin a common part of children collective in the Czech Republic. In general the film mainly shows a life of people from two very different cultures and the pace of assimilation processes with an emphasis on expressing the differences in traditional ways of family common life and comparing value scales.
Country of Dreams
The Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic is now in a very difficult situation.The majority of economic immigrants come to the Czech Republic already withhuge debts for intermediation their journey and extreme expectations as well aswithout any knowledge of local language, environment and the Czech law. All abovementioned often leads to higher vulnerability of these people from the trade withpeople and exploitation point of view apart from the fact that many of them arethus more or less involuntary put on the verge of the law. The film gives a reportabout a very oppressive and often even a situation of a personal tragedy of someof them and adds knowledgeable comments from local Vietnamese settlers and competent people, who are on behalf of the Czech Republic in charge of immigrants.
Bear Islands
In "Bear Islands", director Martin Ryšavý continues his exploration of subjects related to the Sakha Republic, or Yakutia, Russia's Far Eastern Federal District. The film captures the life of residents in the remotest part of the territory, Nizhnekolymsky Ulus. Bear Islands are located in the East Siberian Sea at the mouth of the Kolyma River. The camera follows park rangers who take care of the nature reserve as they travel to an isolated polar station through the vast space where the past meets the present. A portrait of a landscape, its history and people who inhabit it.
The documentary is about good ideas of uncle Ho, respect for teachers and a return to one's homeland... Or travelling through Vietnam in the footsteps of Czechoslovak-Vietnamese friendship. Who Will Teach Me a Half of a Character follows in the footsteps of former Czechoslovak-Vietnamese cooperation and seeks to sum up its importance in the lives of several Vietnamese citizens. The film also reports on contemporary Vietnam through the experiences of local people who are not separated from Czechs by a language barrier.
Siberia - Soul at a Museum
The film is about the national revival in small Siberian ethnic communities that are threatened by extinction or assimilation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Communist ideology, members of these communities attempt to revive their half-forgotten traditions, which at times leads to rather absurd situations.
Afonka Does Not Want to Herd Reindeer Anymore
A feature documentary film by Martin Ryšavý. The film draws a portrait of the difficult life of the Siberian Evens. While Afanasy (Afonka) Konstantinov would often like to end the difficult nomadic life and settle down, his great-aunt Maria Yegorovna Kolesova wants her relatives to maintain the traditional lifestyle of their ancestors. Trapped between vague ideas about a new life and his love of the mountains and herding, Afonka feels that he will never be exactly like his ancestors.
Malupien
A documentary about the Russian city of Yakutsk in the Far East, seemingly just countless blocks of prefab flats in the middle of taiga - at first sight a gloomy place to live at, yet filled with a human desire to create, which is embodied by Malupien, a castle made of scrapheap at a place called Olšový Spas, built by one of the heroes of the film, expressing his faith in a fairy-tale essence of human existence, pointing out that the way back to childhood is possible by an active creation of its reflection.
Bananas Kids
The main theme is based on comparisons of life stories of several child heroes, or several Vietnamese families settled in the Czech Republic. Whereas the adults spend most of their time working, speak badly Czech and feel homesick, their kids learn Czech at school, become accustomed to Czech environment more quickly, speak Czech better than Vietnamese and have only a weak relation to their country. Vietnamese kids then begin a common part of children collective in the Czech Republic. In general the film mainly shows a life of people from two very different cultures and the pace of assimilation processes with an emphasis on expressing the differences in traditional ways of family common life and comparing value scales.
Country of Dreams
The Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic is now in a very difficult situation.The majority of economic immigrants come to the Czech Republic already withhuge debts for intermediation their journey and extreme expectations as well aswithout any knowledge of local language, environment and the Czech law. All abovementioned often leads to higher vulnerability of these people from the trade withpeople and exploitation point of view apart from the fact that many of them arethus more or less involuntary put on the verge of the law. The film gives a reportabout a very oppressive and often even a situation of a personal tragedy of someof them and adds knowledgeable comments from local Vietnamese settlers and competent people, who are on behalf of the Czech Republic in charge of immigrants.
Bear Islands
In "Bear Islands", director Martin Ryšavý continues his exploration of subjects related to the Sakha Republic, or Yakutia, Russia's Far Eastern Federal District. The film captures the life of residents in the remotest part of the territory, Nizhnekolymsky Ulus. Bear Islands are located in the East Siberian Sea at the mouth of the Kolyma River. The camera follows park rangers who take care of the nature reserve as they travel to an isolated polar station through the vast space where the past meets the present. A portrait of a landscape, its history and people who inhabit it.
Martin Ryšavý (1967) is a Czech novelist, screenwriter and director. Author of several documentary films, e.g., Afoňka Does Not Want to Herd Reindeer Anymore, (2004, Best Documentary Film Award, Jihlava IDFF), Who Will Teach Me Half a Character? (2006); Malupien (2008); Banana Kids (2009); Country of Dreams (2009, Pavel Koutecký Award 2010); Bear Islands (2010).
Docu Talents from the East 2010 - 2010
Afoňka Doesn't Want to Herd Reindeeer Anymore - Best Documentary, Jihlava IDFF, 2004