Family Business / from Videodiary

Jakub Wagner / Czech Republic / 2014 / World Premiere / 62 min.

synopsis

Director Jakub Wagner attempts to create a family inventory rather than a family portrait. With his pursuit of objectivity masked by suppressed indignation, the director’s father describes the miserable state of his neglected home, where the director’s artistically inclined family lived for many generations. The recording of the tour is intertwined with archival footage, from home video to a Czech TV documentary to clips from the director’s twelve-year-old thesis work dedicated to his grandfather. Audio-visual recordings – just like the objects strewn around the family home – act as uncertain artefacts, which still need to be engraved with the hallmark of a personal history.

DETAIL:
“Here you’ll find the marble sculpture of my mother, a sculpture by Ladislav Čerych, it’s on the floor behind the door. The library is covered in sculptures by Jan Wágner, which are entirely inappropriate for an Art Nouveau interior.”

biography

Jakub Wagner completed his bachelor’s degree in directing at FAMU in 2002, where he is continuing his studies in the documentary film department. He is the creator of the biographical documentaries Profil – Jan Kaplický (2004) and Váňa (2012). His documentary Tales of the Lesser Quarter 130 Years Later (2011) searches for parallels between the residents of today’s Lesser Quarter and the heroes of Neruda’s book.