28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Leaving to Remain
director: Mira Erdevički
original title: Povolení k pobytu
year: 2022
running time: 91 min.
synopsis
Ondřej, a student and teacher; Denisa, a lawyer; and Petr, a policeman, are all Romani who have enjoyed a world of opportunity in Britain, something that’s hard for them to come by in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This multi-layered, yet rather intimate documentary, which contains a number of scenes shot by the protagonists themselves on their mobile phones, depicts the everyday worries and small victories of the three main characters who represent an educated and ambitious, yet still vulnerable community of Europeans, and who help embrace the opportunities offered to others. In addition to exploring themes of displacement and the search for one's own identity in a post-Brexit world, the film – which features humanism interspersed throughout – also asks how the characters’ fates were shaped by the COVID-19 epidemic.“The film has developed over the past 4 years. The pandemic forced us to adopt a new filming concept of using iPhones to record our protagonists' lives with intimate access, which presented an opportunity to reveal the community from the inside. The choice of the equipment was designed to ensure they could easily get used to the camera, and this material has quickly become the core of the film, with crew-generated material available for flashbacks to the pre-Covid era.”
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Source: https://www.cinelinkindustrydays.com/2021-docu-talents-from-the-east/one-more-question
biography
Mira Erdevički (* 1965) studied journalism in Belgrade and documentary filmmaking at FAMU. Over the years, she has worked as a radio presenter, journalist, and artist. In addition to her docuseries for such European TV stations as BBC and Arte, the director is also primarily engaged with documentaries that tackle the Roma issue, including her feature-length debut, Black and White in Colour (1999).more about film
| director: | Mira Erdevički |
| producer: | Lucie Wenigerová, Zuzana Mistríková, Martin Jůza |
| photography: | Marek Jicha, Hugh Hughes, Denisa Buranová, Sasha M Djurkovic, Hynek Psenicka |
| editing: | David Charap, Krasimira Velitchkova |
| sound: | Andrew Watson |
| sound design: | Viktor Ekrt |
