Sobková Veronika

Love, Record Player, Fall
A documentary film Love, record player, fall (or freedom, privacy and risk from the point of view of people with mental disabilities) directed by Veronika Sobková focuses on three life topics of people with mental disabilities, the three most important regarding the human rights: the freedom of movement and decision, inviolability of privacy and handling the risks in everyday life of people with mental disabilities. She is exploring them through questioning, deep reflections of experts and real situations. She is also using the shots and pictures in an interesting manner, so they serve as a picture metaphor for the concepts.

Exactly
Can you do what others do, although you are disabled? You can eat, drink, work, live, love, fly. Can you do what you want? Yes, exactly. You can make your choice. Be fine, unprejudiced! Your limitations will be just a few. You can yet have a good life with mental disabilities. You can do what you want. Exactly!

The Legend about Kisch
A documentary essay about the life and work of Czech-German-Jewish author and journalist Egon Ervín Kisch. In exploring Kisch's complicated personality, the film also deals with the paradoxes of the first half of the twentieth century.

It Is Still Me
A documentary about creative ways of growing old.

On the Outside
This long-form observation compares the situation of prisoners sentenced for life with the situation of those who leave their prison cells after several years. What does a man do after years spent wating to get out? How does he cope with the fact that everything is different from what he imagined? What choices will he make? Will the situation be at least a little similar to what he expected? And what decisions are left for a prisoner sentenced for life? This film follows twists and turns in the lives of its protagonists. Based on the prisoner's stories, the film also ponders the universal issue of how to best deal with time and freedom.

I See It That Way
A cycle of documentary films following the often complicated stories of children. 1. Jáchym D: Břetislav Rychlík, 2009 At the start of summer holidays in 2005 school pupil Jáchym Rejžek was hit by a car. He was in a coma for over a month. He stopped speaking. He gradually started to speak and his memory came back. He went through a number of operations which he’s still feeling the effects from. After returning to school a shocking situation arose. He was bullied. The story of psychic bullying, manipulation by a collective of children and a struggle to return to a normal life. 2. Michaela a Liliana (Michaela and Liliana) D: Veronika Sobková, 2009 A documentary on the sisters Michaela and Liliana living in an SOS Children village in Brno. A story of children's joy of life that isn't even destroyed by tragic events. 3. Filip (Filip) D: Monika Rychlíková, 2009 The world through the eyes of an eight-year-old Romany who realises the power of education and, despite the complicated social environment at home, pursues his goal. 4. Stázka D: Adéla Sirotková, 2009 Stázka likes bike riding, skiing and even rock climbing. Her eyes are full of adventure and a longing for knowledge. But her eyes are empty... Stázka is blind. 5. Jája (Jája) D: Theodora Remundová, 2009 From the life of eight-year-old Jája – skateboarder, spray-painter and rapper from Český Krumlov or ”Český Krumlov is the Best – AHA, AHA, AHAAHAAHA!” 6. Káťa (Káťa) D: Adrian Kukal, 2009 A documentary on the Russian teenage girl Katya, who at the start of adolescence had to move to a different country and deal with the cultural and language barriers. The story of a child’s courage and unceasing joy from life that couldn't be diminished even under trying circumstances. 7. Lucie (Lucie) D: Monika Rychlíková, 2009 From the life of thirteen-year-old Lucie-the Magician or Abracadabra! 8. Amia (Amia) D: Břetislav Rychlík, 2010 Six-year-old Amia lives with her parents and younger brother Schiva on a farm amidst the solitude of the mountainous Šumava region. She is surrounded by nature and helps her parents look after the farm animals. She would like to be a mare or a fairy.

Veronika Sobkova (born as Matouskova in Prague in 1973) graduated in documentary filmmaking at Prague Film Academy FAMU (1994 – 2000) and did her Master degree in Social Work at Charles University in Prague. 1994 - 2003: journalist for public Czech Radio 1 + 2 and Czech Radio Vltava. 1998 - 2005: freelance director of different programmes for Czech TV. 2005-7: commissioning editor for documentaries in public Czech TV (windows “Actual documentary” and “Family series”).

Veronika directed in past twelve years 15 regular docs (some of them were awarded), for ex.: I Am That Darkness, The Earth (58 min., beta, Czech TV, 2003; about young Jewish poet J. Orten who lived in Prague in 1940s). It Is Still Me (28 min., dvcam, 2005, supported by EU; about active ageing and different approaches of seniors to life). Taking And Giving (27 min., beta, 2006, produced for St. Medical Institute; about proceeds and expenditures of energy, about giving and taking in relationships).