CZECH DOCS SHOWCASE

BATTLE FOR LIFE
BITVA O ZIVOT



Mirsoslav Janek, Vit Janecek, Roman Vavra

Country of production: Czech Republic
Year: 2000
Language: Czech
Mins: 88

Production company: Verbascum
Producers: Richard Nemec, Anna Beckova
Script: Miroslav Janek, Vit Janecek, Roman Vavra
Cinematography: Miroslav Janek, Vit Janecek, Roman Vavra
Editing: Tonicka Jankova

Source: Czech Television – Telexport
Kavci hory, 140 70 Prague 4,
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 137 047
Fax: +420 261 221 354
e-mail: Jitka.prochazkova@czech-tv.cz

This documentary is a common project of three distinctive Czech documentary filmmakers who tried to capture the colorful life of the village Bystra in the Orlicke Mountains (Czech Republic) at the turn of the millennium. The original idea was to base the film on the “Battle for Life“, a kind of a war game in which the participants re-enact the fictitious battle which took place during the WWII for the neighboring village of Janov. However, the filmmakers soon found out that it was only one of many stories, celebrations or other events in which there was no difference between real life and carnival. A performance by a local group of practical jokers, a pajama ball, a New Year’s Eve pub party, a parody of May Day parade etc. “I don’t know any other place in the world where people would organize so many different events in one year only for a pure joy. They would for example watch the solar eclipse in the fancy dresses chosen according to what they would love to become after the end of the world,” says one of the directors Miroslav Janek. A number of protagonists share their points of view and memories. Records from community chronicles and contemporary amateur footage also enrich this fascinating look at the “celebration of life.”

Miroslav Janek (b. 1954, Nachod, Czechoslovakia emigrated to the U.S. in 1980 where he taught filmmaking at Film in the Cities in Minnesota and worked with a variety of documentary filmmakers (e.g. Godfrey Reggio – co-editing and editing Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi and Naqoyqatsi). He returned to Czech Republic in the mid-Nineties, finding great success with The Unseen (1997), a movie about photographing blind children. His extensive filmography includes: Seven Ten Nectiny (1993), Kralik and His Guests (1995), Baroque Opera (1997), Hamsa, I Am (1999) and Musicians (1999) and Crimson Sails (2001).

Vit Janecek (b. 1970, Nove Mesto na Morave) director, scriptwriter, critic and teacher. Graduated in history and theory of film from Charles University in Prague and in documentary filmmaking from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) where he nowadays leads the Centre of Audiovisual Studies. His filmography includes: Family in the Desert (1994), Within the Centre of Film /Within the Luxury of Home (co-dir. with Petr Marek, 1997), New Possibilities (1997), Fungus (2000), Battle for Life (co-dir. with Miroslav Janek and Roman Vavra, 2001), Do we have NATO? (2003), The E Day (co-dir. with Erika Hnikova and Ivana Milosevic, 2004), Rules of the Game (2004).

Roman Vavra (b. 1965, Prague) graduated from the University of Economics and in documentary filmmaking from the Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) in Prague. Since 1992, Vavra has directed various programs, portraits and documentaries for Czech Television, and contributed the script for most of them: In the Fifth Row at Merta (1993), Once Upon a Time (1994), The Battlers (1995) or 1972 – The Lantern Procession (1996). In 1998 he shot his feature debut, the award-winning In the Rye. His second feature is the epic fairy tale The Devil Knows Why (2003).

SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2005 AT 4.00 PM. / FACET CINEMATHEQUE