- Occupation
Producer - Country
Czech Republic
Šustová Galina
Two documentary films about disease, fear and hope – Reflection (dir. Evald Schorm, 1965) and Remembering (dir. Ivan Vojnár, 2007) – which chime together, in spite of being divided for more than 40 years. This documentary film brings together Evald Schorm and Ivan Vojnár. Schorm's film Zrcadlení inspired Vojnár's film poll that refers back to the search for lost ideals and the personal and social fight against fear. Is physical pain and disease a metaphor for a more general affliction? Schorm's Zrcadlení (1964) shifted the cinéma vérité style closer to a film essay, without aspiring to capture the sociological implications of the subject. Through questions about happiness which he posed to hospital patients, the director turns to the viewer and confronts human existence with the natural flow of time. Jan Špáta's authentic photography with its poetic compositions supplies a new thematic layer to the film; the protagonists often remain outside the camera's view, which helps to add general validity to very personal statements. Ivan Vojnár's project Rozpomínání revisits the hospital environment yet the questions have a clear sociological aspect - the director changes Schorm's "how to live" from its philosophical and figurative meaning into the everyday struggle with social and political realities. The range of respondents is very broad to include all social and age groups. The topics focus on the life in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 21st century; in addition to questions regarding general values, happiness, sympathy or wealth, Vojnár asks about politics, Czech national character or attitudes to minorities. Authentic, mostly work environments of the protagonists also play an important part in the film.
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.
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