war

What can a refugee in a foreign country do to help his country win a war? And what must he go through in doing so? In this film, you will walk from Old Town Square in Prague to Wenceslas Square and you will see. Or will you hear?

The Molly Maguires, a secret organization of Irish immigrants, were responsible for numerous murders in the mining region of Pennsylvania in the 1860s and 1870s. A one-sided historical narrative about the clash of different immigration groups is reconstructed in a film composed of contemporary written records and images of the sites exposed in the text. It views the tragic events as the result of a much more complicated context, involving issues of racism as well as growing social oppression and the slowly forming resistance to it. The long shadow of the painful events unfortunately still falls on the region today. “A Vague Dread Seems to Silence the Tongue attempts to conjure the spectre of violence that emerged out of the racial animus and labour struggles of the Civil War in the present day, setting the bloody events of the late 19th century against the contemporary landscape of a fading coal economy.” Source: Edward Kinh

This animated documentary, created using puppets made from newspaper clippings, is about a Kurdish-Iranian family of four who died in the sinking of a migrant boat in the English Channel in 2020. At the time of the tragedy, there were ten more people on board than the vessel could hold. One of the victims was nine-year-old Anita, from whose perspective we follow the story. But did strict laws restricting safe border crossings change her fate? And how many more victims will they claim? “A person who longs to leave the place where he lives is an unhappy person.” — Milan Kundera

Q&A with Hans BlixThe former head of the UN Security Council's weapons inspectorate, Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, is currently enjoying a peaceful retirement; nonetheless, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 sent tremors through his life and career. In the wake of the tragedy, he was entrusted with the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the accompanying role of supposed peacemaker who had the ability to influence the future fate of the country. Without any proof of the existence of the weapons, a year and a half later they served as a pretext for the invasion of Iraq by US troops. In her documentary, Greta Stocklassa asks where the limits of diplomacy, human empathy or personal responsibility for political decisions that have an impact on world history begin and end. “The world has gradually become hostile. Is it just the way one grows up? Why can't we live in peace?” — Greta Stocklassa

The film was shot in a region of Turkey near the borders with Iraq and Syria, an area that is “a melting pot of those fleeing war zones, where people of different origins meet: Assyrians, Iraqis, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians and Turks”. And there are also a surprising number of children running around with analogue cameras. Their gaze, transmitted onto celluloid, transforms a space of unstable contours into a backdrop for great stories and poetic games. The titular darkroom is thus the place where everyone returns regularly to witness the miracle of an image emerging from developer solution as a result of the combined action of creativity and light. “Children roam the area, looking at the world through the viewfinders of analogue cameras, in an intimate vision of the medium as a form of play and a way to forge an alternate reality in a conflict zone.” Source: MoMA

When the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Svetlana went to the Czech Republic with her two daughters. Now she intends to return to the war-torn country. Christmas is approaching and the family wants to spend it with their husband and father, who stayed in the Kyiv region. The camera impartially records the preparation for this risky journey. “I'm telling you that there's a war going on in Ukraine! And you are going there!”

The unique testimony of a physician who, thanks to a series of coincidences, survived the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, brings to life the horror of such an act of mass destruction, even after more than 70 years. The mechanics of the forces that could no longer be stopped once they were set in motion are revealed in a cinematic essay that deconstructs petrified historical interpretation. “The poignant and thought-provoking evidence of the secret war tactics reveals the human value during times of war in conflicts.” Source: Chi Jang Yin's website

The view from the front seat to the back of the car makes up the majority of the shots in this minimalist documentary. The car oscillates back and forth between areas threatened by fighting in Ukraine and the Polish border. Its driver, the film's director, transports male and female war refugees to perceived safety. He drives through bombed-out towns, past destroyed military equipment and through checkpoint after checkpoint. The faces of his passengers sometimes show relaxation, sometimes exhaustion, but almost always a fear of things to come. Apart from the few necessities crammed into their suitcases, they carry with them traumas and fears for those they had to leave at home. “We never put people in a situation where they felt they needed to do something to get evacuated.” Source: Point of View Magazine

The difference between a director and a pyrotechnician is that a director can afford to make a lot of mistakes. But the protagonists of the film, who are pyrotechnicians, cannot afford to make even one mistake - because any misstep could be their last.

War journalism is indeed a special discipline in the world of journalism. Even elite journalists bow to the brave few who venture into conflict zones and bring quality reporting from extreme environments. And apparently even the biggest cynic perceives that their work is worthy of respect and admiration. Documentary filmmaker Petr Jančárek talks to a number of reporters, cameramen and photographers about how they see their profession.

What can be done to cover 550 km? Ocean splashes, phone signals and kitchen rituals as a bilingual tale of the search for a love language.