The Perpetrator and the Bystander

director: Jan Kačena, Nikola Krutilová

original title: Člověk si sám se sebou vystačí, respektive nevystačí

country: Czech Republic

year: 2015

running time: 34 min.

synopsis

This half-hour film consists of private video footage shot by theater artist Petr Lébl in 1996 while working on a production of Cyrano de Bergerac as a guest director at the national theatre in Tel Aviv. For most of the film, we see Lébl and costume designer Kateřina Štefková in a hotel room, although on the margins of their banter we encounter Lébl’s more skeptical observations directed at the camera. This seemingly banal home video of two close people breaks down the boundary between the personal and the public, between life and performance. Both continue to act in front of the camera, even though the film was not meant for the public.

DETAIL:
Mission Impossible – with Kateřina. Beware of Kateřina: Her raw commentaries are meant to drive you mad. Don’t let yourself be fooled: There is no point in repeating to her that I respect her. Better to act with that knowledge in your heart.

biography

Both filmmakers are students of documentary film at FAMU. Nikola Krutilová studied cultural and social anthropology. Her films Sphere of the Invisible (2014) and Under Surveillance (2015) were portraits of government employees. Jan Kačena is interested primarily in theater directing. In films such as Night on the Enterprise (2012) and Blackfoot (2014), he consciously works with amateurism and imperfection.

more about film

director:	Jan Kačena, Nikola Krutilová
producer:	Věra Hoffmannová
photography:	Petr Lébl, Kateřina Štefková

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