Czech Republic,
1983, 43 min
Shown in 1993
CREDITS
- dir
-
Jana Sevcíková
- prod
-
Jana Sevcíková
- cam
-
Miroslav Cvorsjak, Mirek Halada, Martin Vadas
- editor
-
Zdenek Patocka
- source
-
Jana Sevcíková
-
COMMENTS
Jana Sevcíková in person.
OTHER
In a remote corner of Romania lives a community of people of Czech descent (known in Romania as Piemule) still very much attached to their roots, despite the fact that their forbears left Czechoslovakia back in 1823. Among themselves, they compare their existence to that of the pigs and cows with whom they share "this wasteland" cut off from the world. When a teenage boy admits he prefers pop music over waltzes and polkas, no one is sure of what he is talking about. In their bitterness and despair, the people reveal a common notion of guilt—a sense of original sin for which they are being punished for their exile. Made in 1983, but caught in a tide of censorship until 1992, this compassionate, exquisitely photographed film is reminiscent of the work of Slovakia's Dusan Hanak, Armenia's Arthur Peleshian, Estonia's Mark Soosar and others who explore the heart of darkness in rural Eastern Europe.
FACTOID #51
The first silent film screened at the Festival (now an annual tradition) was The Scarlet Letter (1924) by the great Swedish director Victor Sjöström, on October 24, 1968. The film’s star, Lillian Gish, was honored with an in-person tribute two days later.
