Golden Nightingale

Zdenek Zaoral / Czechoslovakia / 1968 / The film already had its Czech Premiere / 9 min.

synopsis

A portrait of the singer Marta Kubišová, winner of the Mladý svět (Young World) magazine’s poll for the Golden Nightingale award. It contrasts offensive remarks written in letters with the reality of her work and life. A voice-over poses thought-provoking questions: is she popular, happy or content? On screen, we see and hear the singer at a concert, in the dressing room of the Rokoko Theatre, on a bus, at the airport, with her cat and dog, and with her colleagues Darek Vostřel, Helena Vondráčková, Václav Neckář and Waldemar Matuška. They are accompanied by excerpts from the song Depeše (Dispatch). The subtitles are creatively composed using typefaces from period newspapers. The film is a documentary exercise by second-year students at the Department of Film Directing.

biography

Zdenek Zaoral (1945–1996) graduated in feature film directing from FAMU in 1971. While there, he directed the films Mrakodrap lásky (The Skyscraper of Love, 1967), Smuteční holka (The Mourning Girl, 1967), De arte amatoria (1968), Dialog Hegerová-Pergner (1968/69) and Fyzický život slečny Mařenky (The Physical Life of Miss Mařenka, 1969). He worked as a screenwriter, cinematographer and assistant director, and directed the feature films Pavučina (The Spider’s Web, 1986) and Poutníci (The Pilgrims, 1988). He was also a prominent film theorist, photographer, actor and husband to Eva Zaoralová. He taught at FAMU and collaborated in the 1980s with the communist State Security under the aliases René and Quido