Štingl Pavel

Painting in the Dark
A portrait of the blind athlete and artist Pavla Francová-Valníčková.

Description of a Struggle
An interview with sculptor Jaroslav Róna on seeking the right formy for the writer Franz Kafka monument. The film was shot using a time-lapse method over the course of the years.

Peace to Their Souls
Shot as a historical documentary, this feature-length film almost exclusively casts non-actors. It takes the viewer through nearly a century of life in Paseky nad Jizerou, a village situated in the foothills of Northern Bohemia's Giant Mountains. Stories drawn from family chronicles, reminiscences by the older generation, and pub legends were shot on the same locations where they originally occurred. Locals appear in many small parts; they are the descendants of those who lived through the events in the region made famous by Karel Václav Rais's novel Remote Patriots. Tales taken from the famous local pub mingle with the traditional spiritualism of the foothills to create a mosaic that reflects the collective memory of the village. Lofty patriotic ideals are followed by the harsh reality of the pub. Charming performances by local amateurs are the highlight in the two hours of fun and nostalgia set in the rugged but beautiful mountains where life can be equally rough.

What Language Does the Lord Speak…?
The documentary portrait presents a mountain farmer from Velká Úpa who was shot. The story of Friedrich Kneifel's family mirrors the collective fates of the Sudeten Germans from eastern Krkonoše.

The Second Life of Lidice
The documentary strives for a new approach to the bequest of the 1942 tragedy. It is a follow-up to the remarkable documentary "A Silent Village", made by British director Humphrey Jennings.

A Story About a Bad Dream
A documentary film based on the memoirs of Eva Erbenová.

Story of Survivors from Patria
A documentary film which describes the destiny of Jewish refugees in the occupied Europe of 1940. After a miserable voyage through the warring world, their ship reached the Palestinian coast. However, the colonial government refused to accept them so they made an attempt at destroying the ship which was supposed to transport them to another place. In 1998 it was awarded the FIAT/IFTA prize.

Greetings from the Land Where Yesterday Meant Tomorrow
The film describes the conditions in the streets of Moscow.

Suchá Hora
A stylized documentary film tracking the changes in the remotest Slovak village at the very edge of the Orava Region at the Slovak-Polish border. The film's subject can be traced through nearly all of Eastern Europe. It could be referred to as "images from the fringes of an integrated continent". The film is a follow-up to a 20-year-old documentary film about a mountain village which, in the course of a single generation, underwent changes that took generations in most regions of former Czechoslovakia. The local ethnic community is very distinct - sometimes even considered to be a separate nationality of the so-called Goral people - and has strong ties not only to Slovakia but also to Poland and the Czech Republic. To a large extent, the gradual decline of specific folklore points to the loss of identity, which is also the main message of this forthcoming documentary film.

Return of Sequestered Patriots

The Extinct World of Karel Pecka
A profile of Czech poet and novelist Karel Pecka.

Boris Rösner´s Theatre of Crazy Dramas
A portrait of the renowned Czech actor Boris Rösner (25.1.1951 - 31.5.2006) with a clip of a study of the play Frederick.

The Baluty Ghetto
I discovered the Baluty district three years ago, almost by chance. It looks much like in surviving wartime photographs. Today, the devastated houses are inhabited by a highly unusual social group which differs distinctly from the remaining population of Lodz... as if the borders of the ghetto still existed. Our film illustrates human misery and the horror of a landscape touched by horror through the survivors' wartime stories.

Chaos
Documentary film made from previous footage is a collective reflection of crisis in Czech Television at the end of 2000 and early 2001.

Stone and Knowledge/650 anni Universitatis Carolinae
Documentary on the history of Charles University produced for the 650th anniversary of its foundation.

The Diary of Mr Pfitzner
Documentary about the life and times of Josef Pfitzner, a professor at the former German university in Prague and deputy mayor of Prague during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Sad Returns
A document in which the life journeys of certain individuals who have returned from exile come together - not only a portrait of a large group of Czech living in two homes but also their reflection of our current domestic situation and inter-personal relations.

William Shakespeare from the Arapaho Tribe
Documentary film from Native American reservations in Arizona and Wyoming, USA.

School Days Love
A documentary about a realtionship that had to wait thirty years to be fulfilled.

Three Friends
Three portraits of three incredible lives joined by the chance survival of Nazi concetration camp hell. The rebirth of the three women became an unforgettable bond for each of them, even though fate keeps them far apart from one another, even though they were separetad by continental frontiers and political regimes.

The World According to Klepl
A humorous portrait of actor bohumil Klepl whose colourful range of theatre roles is nothing more than a quest to find his own life story and vice-versa. This charming life tragedian thus compensates for his troubles by creating illusions of geniuses "on the stages of the world".

Lend Half an Ear, People
A music documentary about the Czech-Moravian Music Society, a band which inspires listeners with its folklore but also shapes it for today's audience.

Four Pair of Shoes
A lenghty documentary portrait of prof. Jan Wiener, a descendant of the famous Jewis family who emigrated several times during his life. He fled a war-torn Europe during the Second World War and returned as an RAF serviceman, he was sent into forced labour for five years during the fifities, he then worked cutting down trees, during the 1960s he left for the USA where he taught history, he looked after buffalo and and finally became a university professor of history. At the age of 77, he works as a mountain guide and has still retained his proverbial sence of humour.

A Golden Triangle in the Heart of Europe
The extremely unsufficient legislation of the European pharmaceutical market has enabled the greatest supplies of precursors (base material for the production of drugs) to infiltrate the USA market. The country of origin is, however, the Czech Republic where the increasing trend for the use of intoxicating materials continues to be grossly underestimated.

Stopover in Saigon
A documentary essay capturing the atmosphere of contemporary Vietnam.

The War Is Over, Let's Forget...?
A document made during the celebrations commemorating the end of the Second World War. It reflects on whether the greatest world war is now part of the past or whether its legacy is still alive.

From Home to Home
A documentary about compatriots living in the South Africa.

World War Inside Us
Thoughts about the consequences of the World War II in connection with the European situation of today on the background of the 5Oth anniversary if the Invasion of Normandy.

Two Homes
A recording of travels through New England and neighbouring states on the east coast of the USA.

Racing Wheels on Powdery Snow
Documentary film about the possibilities of using geothermal energy in the Czech Republic.

Only One Chance with Life
Documentary of the neurosurgical clinic at Prague´s Military Hospital in the Střešovice district.

Mardi Gras in Postřekov, or How One Fool Fools the Rest into Being Fools
Documentary film showing the folk tradition in Postřekov at the Domažlice region (CR).

South Africa Where To?
A documentary about the first multiracial elections in South Africa.

The Paseky Festival
A documentary about the inhabitants of Paseky (also known from the a fanous book as "god-forsaken patriots"), about their attitude to music and about the Paseky Music Summer Festival.

Filemon's Wizards
A funny narration of a young man from the village Kova-Kova in Kazankul and shots describing the world of aborigines from Upper Transvaal and other places in South Africa.

Theatre for the Skilled
Documentary film on two seasons of a traditional Prague puppet theatre. After teatring down the former Central Puppet Theatre on Senovážné square in Prague, the group and puppets were homeless. They wandered through the city until they discovered the old Scaut cinema, where they settled. This venue on Vodičkova street in Prague was as a theatre and thus the new modern puppet theatre Minor was born.

Premieval Theraphy or How?
Documentary film on a division of experimental archaeology that acquaints the viewer with a programme that has existed for roughly a year called the Prague Division of Mammoths which isn´t just full of romantic adventures. It also includes struggles with the pitfalls of the contemporary world.

A Memorial to the Second Resistance of Vladimír Preclík
A film chronicle of the Czech academic sculptor Vladimír Preclík's work on the monument of the Second Resistance, which stands in Klárov in Prague, including author's narrative on personal and proffesional issues.

Indian Morning
With professor Jan Wiener, known from the documentary Four PAirs of Shoes (dir. Pavel Štingl, 1997), we will this time travel through North America, to the places of native American history.

Failure
The story of inconsistent character of the Czechoslovak resistance during the Second World War, wireless operator of the ZINC group Viliam Gerik - "the national traitor", executed by a people´s court after the war.

Cesta k cestě
Almost 250 years ago earl František Antonín Špork and sculptor Matyáš Bernard Braun wanted to realize Calvary, which should have connected Hospital of Kuks with Braun’s Bethlehem. Intention remained unfulfilled. This idea was approached by o.s. Calvary, which was established by academic sculptor Vladimír Preclík five years ago. After many discussions group gained to conclusion, that to imprint traditional legend, which is showing us the crucial stops of Jesus last journey by liturgics language since Francis from Assisi, is no longer actual. Plan evolved into individual reflection of traditional motive. In the project called “Journey of Hope and Misery of Man” were participating our fifteen most significant sculptors - Vojtěch Adamec, Jan Koblasa, Stanislav Hanzík, Marius Kotrba, Jan Hendrych, Elen a Ivan Jilemničtí, Daniel Klose, Václav Fiala, Čestmír Mudruňka, Michal Šarše, Jiří Marek, Jaromíra Němcová, Jiří Kačer.

My Neighbour Killed Heydrich
The story of the last direct witness to remember the participants in the Reinhard Heydrich assassination. An epic about a Moravian farmer persecuted by all regimes of the last century. A life's journey of a 92-year-old farmer who has always been able to support himself and his family on a small plot of land. He was found at fault for his individual courage, an extraordinary man who has always stood apart for his decency and his need to walk down his own path and his own piece of free land.

Eugenic Minds
Eugenics was once considered more groundbreaking than the invention of the wheel. It was supposed to save mankind from serious genetic loads. After World War II, the term almost disappeared from the world’s dictionaries. Science was misused by criminal ideology for the selective criteria of a perfect nation. However, it was not the politicians but the scientists who determined the criteria. Unique archive material will be used to create a fantastic vision of the future which turns into a mass murder. A reflection on the boundaries between science and pseudoscience in the past, present, and future.

Pavel Štingl - Selected Filmography Pavel Štingl graduated from the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU, Prague in 1985 with the film "Learning to Be Fearful". The film follows young physicians as they learn to adopt ethical principles; it received several awards at student film festivals (Berlin, Munich, New York). In 1986 he made a few films for the Documentary Studio at Krátký Film Prague, e.g., "The Dependents of the Dependent Ones" about a summer rehabilitation camp for the children of alcoholics. The film "Take a Flower with You", a demythologizing look behind the scenes of the November 1989 student demonstrations in Prague, and "A Visit to a Wine Bar" depicting the environment of a jail for political prisoners, stemmed from the author's cooperation with the student movement during the so-called Velvet Revolution. The events taking place in Romania in December 1989 were dealt with in a film about the fall of Ceausescu's regime and the bloody Romanian coup d'état entitled "Romania Libera" and later in "Quo Vadis, Romania..?", the latter depicting the post-revolution chaos. The two films were awarded at the Budapest FF in 1990. After a long shoot in Armenia during the initial fights over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, "The Land without Graves" was completed in June 1990 and won the Jury Award at the Hiroshima FF in 1991. Two films were completed after a visit to Albania in 1991, "Albanian Tears of Victory" that explores the events surrounding Albania's first democratic elections (presented at the Lodz IFF), and "The Millionaires of Poverty" about the striking disproportion between the vast cultural and natural potential of the country and its wretched economy. The third film "A Student Love" is a Czech-Albanian love story about young lovers whose marriage was prevented by sudden political upheavals. The Albanian student was sentenced to 25 years in prison for illegally crossing the border and his Czech girlfriend did not see him for the next thirty years. The film was presented at the Amsterdam IFF. In 1992, two films were made in Transcarpathian Ukraine: "Three Kinds of Christmas in Transcarpathia" and "The Country Again with No Name" (awarded at the Strasbourg FF). In 1993 Štingl completed "An Ancient Story?" a portrait of Josefa Slánská, widow of the former Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Rudolf Slánský who was sentenced to death in the 1953 political trial. Using footage shot in Moscow, "Greetings from the Country where Yesterday meant Tomorrow" received the Award at Prix Italia in 1993. In 1993, Štingl established his own production company K2 s.r.o. In 1994 he made "Home From Home" in South Africa, a portrait of Czech emigrants who settled down in South Africa but, following socialist rhetoric from the local government, face the dilemma of yet another emigration. Here he also completed "Philemon's Wizards" about the villagers in Upper Gazankulu. The South African theme continues later in "Quo Vadis, South Africa...?" about the first all-ethnic election, and in "St. Silvester of Good Hope" that captures the traditional carnival in Capetown. In 1994, “The World War in Us", a documentary essay shot during the celebrations marking the 50th Anniversary of D-Day focuses on Czech WWII veterans whose heroic fight has not been acknowledged even 50 years after the war. In 1995 he made "The Golden Triangle in the Heart of Europe" which pointed out serious flaws in the legislation of several European countries that allowed a Czech pharmaceutical company to supply the American black market with ephedrine. In 1996 Czech TV ran the 16-part documentary series “The Way We Were”, personal stories illustrating the political events that took place in the years after WWII. Several episodes are described below: Year 1947: "The Most Beautiful Year". Memories of Prof. Wiener who teaches history the way he experienced it. Year 1955: "A Personal Gift for Stalin". The story of one of the best known Czech tinsmiths living in Vysoké Mýto. He nationalized his own company in 1948; out of respect, he was named the director by the workers. This ideological mistake eventually forced him to leave his native town. Year 1960: "Fires in the Middle of Europe". Memories of the inhabitants of a small village which survived the 1950s without collectivization and political organizations. Later on multiple fires destroyed the village barns. No proper investigation has ever been conducted. Yet everyone knows that the people who ended up in prison did not commit the arson. Year 1962: "A Dustbin for All Time". Tragicomic memories about the Klement Gottwald mausoleum. A story of the horrid monument and the myths surrounding Gottwald. Year 1965: "Watch out, Masonry Falling!" based on the memories of Jarmila Šťastná whose husband tragically died at a time when all building renovations in Prague were stopped due to the nationalization of the housing trust. Chunks of walls were falling down on the street along with balconies or cornices. Year 1989: "For a Happier Present" - memories of an open association of friends who were responsible for the more cheerful part of the Czech dissident movement and who attacked the old regime with irony and ridicule. "Four Pairs of Shoes" is a portrait of Prof. Jan Wiener who comes from a German-speaking Jewish family. During WWII, he was an RAF pilot, in the 1950s he was imprisoned for political reasons. In 1960s he emigrated to the United States on an invitation by Eleanor Roosevelt where he was feeding buffalos and became a history professor. In 1996 Štingl launched two extensive projects. "Three Friends" is a portrait of three women, holocaust survivors. Their lives ran separately but they still remained bonded. Eva was adopted by a Russian army doctor, Marta and her mother emigrated to Israel, Anita works at the Jewish Museum in Prague. "The Story of Patria Survivors" tells the story of Jewish refugees in the occupied Europe in 1940. After a miserable voyage through the warring world, their ship reached the Palestinian coast. However, the colonial government refused to receive them so they attempted to damage the ship to prevent further travel. The resulting explosion took a tragic toll of 300. Using archive footage, the project was completed in 1997. In 1998 it received the FIAT/IFTA Award. In 1998, he released “Stone and Knowledge”, a project designed for the 650th anniversary of the Charles University looks back at the history of the university. “Mr. Pfitzner’s Diary”, completed in 1998, is a portrait of Prof. Josef Pfitzner, deputy mayor of Prague during the Nazi occupation. The feature documentary is not only a portrait of a remarkable personality but also a reflection on the transformation of an intellectual into a fanatic follower of the Nazi ideology and Germany's 'war science'. “Only One Experiment with Life” from 1999 goes back to the subject of Štingl's FAMU graduation film, this time to explore a state-of-the-art neurosurgical department. The need to establish a good patient-doctor relationship remains the same despite all external changes in politics or technology. A travel series from 1999 shows the situation of Native Americans, as well as an attempt to restore traditions that have been suppressed for decades. The documentaries “Indian Summer” and “William Shakespeare from Arapaho Tribe” were shot in New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming. In 2000, Štingl completed “The Lost World of Karel Pecka”. Based on stylized fragments from the autobiographical recollections of the late author, the film explores the lives of political prisoners in the 1950s and 1960s. The documentary fairy tale “A Story About A Bad Dream” (2000) is a loose adaptation Eva Erbenová's memoir that deals with holocaust survival from the perspective of a thirteen-year old girl. The film received the Award at the 2000 Japan Prix. “Failure”, a historical essay about Viliam Gerik, a WWII parachutist who was tried for treason in 1947. The film discusses not only personal freedom and cowardice of an individual but also Czech mentality during the Nazi occupation. The three feature documentaries completed in 2000 received the 2000 Trilobite Award from the Czech Film and Television Association. During the so-called “TV crisis” in 2000, a team of independent film directors made a series of reports that capture political attempts to destabilize the public service Czech TV. The series was turned into the documentary essay “Chaos”. The film was co-directed by: Alice Nellis, Mirek Janek, Roman Vávra, Jiří Chlumský, Petr Nikolaev and Milan Tomsa. “Therapy through Prehistory or How Quido Got Better” from 2001 is a humorous documentary about children’s experimental archaeological team (the director was given the White Mammoth Order). Made in 2000 – 2001, “What Language Does God Speak…?” is a portrait of a mountain farmer from Velká Úpa. The story of Friedrich Kneifel’s family reflects the story of the Sudeten Germans. In 2002, Štingl completed “The Second Life of Lidice” that takes a new approach to the 1942 tragedy. The documentary is a follow-up to a remarkable documentary “A Silent Village” by British director Humphrey Jennings. Its co-author is British journalist David Vaughan. “Painting in the Dark” (2003) is a portrait of blind artist Pavla Francová. In 2000-2004, locals from the Giant Mountains region were making a feature film to chronicle the history of their village. The non-professional feature “Peace to Their Soul” was released in 2005. “Return of Sequestered Patriots” was made during the preparations of the feature film. It is about a theatre play based on the revivalist novel by Karel Václav Rais. In 2006, a new museum was opened in Lidice; the multimedia exhibition “And the Innocent Were Guilty” became the first of its kind in the country. In 2007, Štingl revisited the Tatra Mountains village where he was shooting already in 1992. “Suchá Hora, dědina na konci trati” (Suchá Hora: The Village at the End of the Railway) captures the memories of an extensive local family using amateur reenactments that reflect the history of the region in the last fifty years.

"The Story of Patria“ (1997) - Received the FIAT/IFTA award in 1998. ”About a Nightmare” (2000) - The film was awarded the main prize at the Japan Prix 2000 festival, Trilobit 2000