Jan Nemec´s new film is the third of loosely connected autobiographical stories (Late Night Talks With Mother, 2001 and Landscape Of My Heart, 2004) that are distinguished by their idiosyncratic style, combining autobiographical elements with dramatised reality. It´s nighttime in Prague, 21 August 1968. Soviet troops and tanks are occupying the city – random attacks, soldiers shooting, bodies lying dead on the sidewalk. With an impromptu crew, the director (Karel Roden) captures some unique evidence – material which is, however, worthless in occupied Prague; it has to be shown to the rest of the world. So, while the Soviets are concocting false reports of heartfelt receptions without military resistance for propaganda purposes, the director sets off on a risky trip across the closed Czech-Austrian border to Vienna. He is accompanied on this journey by the Italian Enrico and his Czech lover, Jana, the most beautiful girl in Prague, a Czech version of Brigitte Bardot: the Ferrari Dino Girl. The film consists of two parts: the reconstructed past, and the unique document of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 that later on became known worldwide as Oratorio For Prague. A personal flashback to the Prague Spring, the incident that changed the destiny of the country for a long twenty-one years after. (LC)
Film details
Productieland
Czech Republic
Jaar
2009
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2009
Lengte
68'
Medium/Formaat
Betacam SP
Taal
Czech
Première status
World premiere
Director
Jan Němec
Producer
Iva Ruszeláková
Screenplay
Jan Němec
Music
Jan Němec
Cinematography
Jiří Maxa
Editing
Michal Lánský
Sound design
Ivo Špalj
Principal cast
Karel Roden, Jan Budař
Production company
Jan Němec - Film, i/o post, Mouse & Cut, Mini Max Films, The Czech Republic State Fund for Support and Development of Cinematography