Karel Cudlín: If I Don’t Photograph It, It Will Disappear

synopsis

Karel Cudlín is one of the Czech Republic’s leading documentary photographers. For half a century, he has documented disappearing worlds: working-class neighbourhoods, Roma communities, the withdrawal of Soviet troops, everyday life in Ukraine and the many faces of Israel. He has photographed Václav Havel, the Dalai Lama and people whose names remain unknown. Throughout it all, he has never put his camera down. Director Bára Kopecká follows Cudlín on the move as he prepares a book about Israel, sets up exhibitions and searches an archive full of banana boxes labelled “Troop Withdrawal” or “Lucerna”. Along the way, he reflects on photography as the only way to hold back time.

biography

Bára Kopecká has extensive experience in television production and independent documentary filmmaking as an editor, director and dramaturg, and as a producer of her own films. She has also written about film and other cultural topics for Respekt, Film a doba and Literární noviny. She graduated from FAMU’s Department of Editing, which she headed from 2002 to 2005, and has taught at FAMU since 2002. She has directed documentaries and television programmes since the beginning of her career and has also worked for many years as a dramaturg in Martina Šantavá’s creative production group at Czech Television. Her work includes the documentary series Doktoři, Světský and Sestřičky, as well as films about science and history screened at festivals in Karlovy Vary and Ji.hlava, AFO in Olomouc and Pariscience. She has a longstanding commitment to making science accessible through programmes for both children and adults. Her film DK was nominated for a Czech Lion Award and won the Pavel Koutecký Award for Best Documentary.

film details

director:	Bára Kopecká
producer:	Martina Šantavá
script:	Bára Kopecká
photography:	Šimon Havel
editing:	Michal Dvořák
sound:	Jan Hála, Marek Bouda