Change My Mind

synopsis

In August 1968, Russian tanks invaded Czechoslovakia. Half a century later, two Czech men and one Czech woman set off in the opposite direction. They head across Ukraine to the front line to see Russian aggression – which they believe to be “complete nonsense” – with their own eyes. This is why director Robin Kvapil chose them as the actors for his tragicomic road movie. Like Ivo, Petra, and Nikola, he also has a clear view of things. He just thinks the exact opposite. And he believes the people who have lost their homes and loved ones rather than disinformation campaigns. Wandering through the bombed-out landscape conveys not only an emotional message about the courage of Ukrainians and their ability to live normally in abnormal times. It is also a statement that we often care more about our own truth than about the lives of others.

“The city of Kharkiv is only about thirty kilometres from the Russian border, but even though you can have a latte and avocado toast for breakfast in a café, you can almost always hear artillery fire in the background. I felt a great responsibility for the entire crew and enormous respect for the Ukrainians who are trying to live and survive in this situation.” — Jakub Drocár, Punk Film

biography

Robin Kvapil (born 1982) studied theatre directing at JAMU and documentary filmmaking at FAMU. He is a director of theatre plays, television series, and original documentaries such as Everything's Gonna Be Fine (2017) and Citizen Miko (2022). He has also been involved in politics, co-founding the Žít Brno! movement and serving as an advisor to presidential candidate Michal Horáček. He made a film about the campaign, We Can Do Better (2018).

film details

director:	Robin Kvapil
producer:	Jakub Drocár, Jakub Pinkava
script:	Robin Kvapil
photography:	Prokop Souček
editing:	Libor Alexa
music:	Adam Boháč, Jonáš Rosůlek "Needles"
sound:	Martin Tauber
co-producer:	Katarína Krnáčová, Natalia Khazan, Jan Barta, Michal Křeček, Věra Krincvajová, Martin Tauber
executive producer:	Martin Sommer, Jiří Beránek
associate producer:	Justin Salem
Distributor:	Martin Palán
PR:	Klára Bobková, Martina Reková