Fourth edition of Czech Joy in the Spotlight is once again organized by Czech Film Fund / Czech Film Center and Ji.hlava International Documentarty Film Festival (24. - 29. 10. 2019). The presentation and short previews of 10 brand new Czech documentaries will be held for Industry pass holders on Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM in the Industry Zone, Lighthouse, Masarykovo náměstí.
PROJECTS
FREM
directed by: Viera Čákanyová
produced by: Hypermarket Film
CZ, SK 2019 / 73 min
A documentary essay, a requiem for the vanishing species of Homo sapiens. Through the stories of three protagonists, the film maps the situation before the turning point, the last period when we are still human - in the old, nostalgic sense of the word. What are the attributes that characterize us and what are the motivations of people who want to change them and take them to the next level?
I WANT YOU IF YOU DARE
directed by: Dagmar Smržová
produced by: moloko film
CZ 2019 / 84 min
A film about disabled women and their desires. The story is spiced by the extrovert nature of the heroines and the controversial situations they are captured in. The main character, Jana, 27, has DMO and can’t move. She’s been searching for intimate assistants on the Internet for a long time, wanting to experience love making and have at least a sense of normal life. Her mother, instead of stepping out of a vicious circle of unsuccessful relationships and addictions, seeks help for herself, Jane and her second daughter, blind Katherine, in dark powers and tarot cards.
KINGS OF SUMAVA
directed by: Kris Kelly
produced by: Bionaut
CZ, IR 2019 / 70 min
An animated documentary feature film tells the remarkable story of Josef Hasil, an ordinary man who became a legend. This is a never-before-told tale of adventure and espionage, of heroism and moral choices that explores the struggle of one man against an authoritarian regime and the sacrifices he had to make.
KIRUNA - A BRAND NEW WORLD
directed by: Greta Stocklassa
produced by: Analog Vision
CZ 2019 / 87 min
Apocalyptic depiction of an area literally engulfed by the mining industry is presented in this documentary that observes the eponymous northern Swedish city, part of which was abandoned due to activities in the nearby iron mine. The mining company’s management decided not to halt profitable mining activities and instead made the decision to move the residents of the threatened district. Using footage shot in the city inside the Arctic Circle and directly in the mines, the director has uncovered subtle film imagery, and using the stories of three protagonists now living in a bizarre inter-time, imaginatively addresses the topics of resettlement, tradition, and respect for a particular location.
NEVER HAPPENED
directed by: Barbora Berezňáková
produced by: Leon Productions (SK), Frame Films (CZ)
SK, CZ 2019 / 82 min
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Slovakia was ruled by charismatic and autocratic Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. In 1995, the president’s son, Michal Kováč Junior, was abducted; it soon became clear that the abduction was probably ordered by the highest government circles. Oskar Fegyveres, who worked for the Slovak Information Service back then and who participated in the abduction by order of his superiors, testified to the police about the role of the secret service in the case. Since he did not feel safe, he fled abroad. He communicated with his family through his friend Robo Remiáš. Less than a year after the abduction, Robo died under unclear circumstances in a car explosion...
SOLO
directed by: Artemio Benki
produced by: Artcam Films
CZ, FR, AR, AT 2019 / 84 min
Martín P. is a young Argentinean piano virtuoso and composer, who has been since his breakdown four years ago a patient of El Borda, the largest and the most notable but also controversial psychiatric hospital in Latin America. The child prodigy and the most promising talent of his generation is now trying to find a way how to overcome his mental disease and come back to life outside the walls of the asylum and on the concert stages, while working on his new composition Enfermaria. Solo tells unique, yet universal story about the obsession with perfection and creation, narrating the evolution of a human being who draws his strength from his own fragility.
THE SOUND IS INNOCENT
directed by: Johana Ožvold
produced by: Cinémotif Films
CZ, FR, SK 2019 / 68
The Sound Is Innocent is a playful and poetic journey through the history of the electronic sound. The music is a game. And for creating the electronic music the main tool and toy is an instrument. Our guide in this musical playground is Johana, music composer and director of this film. For her, electronic music allows a wide range of free artistic expression. But how to find a direction in this seemingly endless space? She decides to set off on an odyssey to find out some advices. Johana escapes into the dreamlike space beyond time, the world of imagination. It is a recording studio; an almost mythical space where we visit contemporary representatives of different music movements and approaches towards a musical instrument.
COMMUNISM AND THE NET OR THE END OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
directed by: Karel Vachek
produced by: Background Films
CZ 2019 / 335 min
A new film essay by Karel Vachek is a collage composed of staged passages of utopian and contemporary literature, his own memories as well as tableaux of world events. Apart from Vachek, actors also present texts and become opponents, partners, an ancient chorus and a modern voice band reciting amongst the hundreds of books in libraries. And to boot, music plays and jollity is the order of the day.
According to Vachek the next revolution will take place on the internet and bureaucrats will only carry out tasks which have been approved by citizens in referendums. And it will be no idyllic stroll. Even the French Revolution was horrific. But nonetheless - thanks to it we became citizens.
TWO ROADS
directed by: Radovan Síbrt
produced by: PINK
CZ 2019 / 80 min
What would you do with your life, if you knew that you have a limited time ahead of you? Much shorter than an average life? Members of The Tap Tap - a music band made up of physically disabled - or rather crippled as they would call themselves - students of Jedlička Institute in Prague have a pretty clear idea. They want to live and enjoy every single minute of it. The Tap Tap orchestra shows how to confront difficulties and obstacles. And above all, how to have fun in your life. The members of the band are strong personalities with a direct attitude to life. They drink, smoke, curse, love, as long as they enjoy it. The film explores the spirit of survival and the wild lust for life against all the odds.
VIDEO VIVA, VIVA VIDEO
directed by: Adéla Komrzý
produced by: UPP
CZ 2019 / 85 min
The film happens to be directed by the granddaughter of Radek Pilař, well known creator of beloved Czech children animated series such as Rumcajs and somewhat less known as a pioneer of video art in Czechoslovakia. The documentary brushes the dust off of those old VHS tapes to get a glimpse of early electronic images in our country and uncover the yet unmapped history of pre-revolution Czech video art. Decades later they all “videists” still share their enthusiasm, obsessive curiosity, and futuristic visions about the use of new technologies for artistic expression.
