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Czech Journal: Near Far East

director: Filip Remunda

original title: Český žurnál: Blízký daleký východ

country: Czech Republic

year: 2015

running time: 70 min.

synopsis

This film about the situation in presentday war-torn Ukraine originated over the course of a year as the director’s travel journal. Ukrainian teacher Tania, who works in Prague as a cleaning lady, takes the fi lmmaker along to visit her family in Transcarpathia. The director also meets with his friends who are local journalists, and with Petr, a revolutionary who gives an atypical tour of the residence of Viktor Yanukovuch. Observational, mostly static shots, in which Remunda appears only occasionally as a witness or moderator, is accompanied by his off-screen commentary offering reflections on his own relationship with Ukraine and with the media in general.

DETAIL:
“Drug addicts have been eradicated as a social class. So there’s none here.” “And where are they?” “I’d say they’ve gone for treatment. They’re sick people. They should be treated. There are all kinds of ways. They’ll get a shovel and dig trenches.”

biography

Director and producer Filip Remunda is known primarily as the co-creator of the confrontational satirical documentaries Czech Dream (2004) and Czech Peace (2010). Remunda’s film Town B won the 2002 competition for best documentary film at the Karlovy Vary IFF. His film The Tadpole, The Rabbit, and the Holy Ghost won the Audiencead Award at the 2007 Jihlava IDFF. Since 2011 he has worked as a curator for the Inspiration Forum. Since 2013 he has been working on the TV series Czech Journal, of which this film is part. At this year’s Jihlava IDFF, he will be presenting his film Steam Over the River, which he made with Robert Kirchhoff.

more about film

director:	Filip Remunda
producer:	Petr Kubica
script:	Filip Remunda
photography:	Martin Tokár
editing:	Marek Šulík
sound:	Oleg Golovoškin, Václav Flegl, Michal Gábor

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