A*M*B 50

synopsis

This portrait of Antonín Martin Brousil, one of the founders of FAMU and long-serving rector of AMU, was made to mark his fiftieth birthday. The film has a celebratory tone, emphasised by lofty commentary: it presents Brousil as a “journalist, scholar, teacher and mentor”, whose native South Bohemian region “filled the boy’s soul with a longing for beauty, which he constantly sought to share with others” and “from there he set out into the world to fight for Czech art”. His contributions to national cinema and its international representation are highlighted (with particular mention of the Venice and Karlovy Vary film festivals and his personal relationships with world-renowned filmmakers), as is his role in the development of FAMU. The film combines new footage with archive material. Of particular value is the opening sequence from Brousil’s birthplace in Dolní Ostrovec near Písek, where he arrives with his wife to visit his parents, and footage from FAMU, which captures AMB’s seminar discussions with students and the celebrations marking the school’s tenth anniversary.

biography

Karel Köcher (1934) studied dramaturgy (1956–1961, without completing his degree), after which he embarked on a career as an international spy in the service of the Czechoslovak and Soviet intelligence services. From 1965, he lived in the USA, where he managed to infiltrate the CIA; he was not exposed until 1984. A feature-length documentary was made about him titled RINO – Příběh špióna (RINO – The Story of a Spy, directed by Jakub Wagner, 2016).

film details

producer:

Lukáš Hanzal