back to listing

Pirating pirates (English version)

director: David Čálek

original title: Pirátské sítě

country: Czech Republic

year: 2014

running time: 83 min.

synopsis

The film crew originally planned to make a film about the pirate phenomenon in Somalia. The creators, however, had no idea that they’d have to lay their original plans aside – the locals played a double game with them, which made learning about reality in Somalia impossible. But they kept on filming, and thanks to continuous reminders of their own role as members of the media, the documentary becomes a peculiar reflection of the filming process. The film shows how to carry on when nothing is going according to plan, while simultaneously debunking the myths that the West perpetuates about the situation there while under the mistaken impression that it comprehends the chaotic reality.

DETAIL:
“I wanted to make a film about pirates in Somalia, but in the end I made a film about piracy in all of us. Actually, it’s also about pirates, pirates of a different kind.”

biography

David Čálek studied cinematography and documentary production at FAMU. As a cameraman, he had early success with his thesis film The Touch of Paintings (1998), and later worked on a number of feature and documentary films, such as Věra Chytilová’s Searching for Esther (2005). As director, he made the documentary Heaven, Hell (2010) about the BDSM community, which was presented at the Jihlava festival and which received the student award for documentary films at the Pilsen Finále.

more about film

director:	David Čálek
producer:	Pavel Vácha, Jeffrey Brown
script:	David Čálek, Jakub Zahradníček
photography:	David Čálek
editing:	Olina Kaufmanová
music:	Midi Lidi
sound:	Robert Dufek, Václav Flegl

back to listing