28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival

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The Gospel According to Brabenec

The Gospel According to Brabenec

director: Miroslav Janek
original title: Evangelium podle Brabence
country: Czech Republic
year: 2014
running time: 90 min.

synopsis

Journalist Renata Kalenská’s book of interviews with member of the Plastic People Vratislav Brabenec recorded not only his memories of the underground years, but also the author’s experiences with this highly distinctive individual. This cinematic sequel builds on those experiences as it captures her additional interviews with Brabenec – improvised talks at places that hold some meaning for Brabenec or Kalenská. The result is several scenes of irrelevant philosophising, self-deprecating humor, and commentary on the life of birds and on nature in general. The conversations, recorded mostly by hand-held camera, are interspersed with poetic citations.

DETAIL:
“Do you ever feel happy?” “I don’t like the word happy at all. I equate happy with stupid.” “I’m unhappy with you. So I guess I’m un-stupid.”

biography

Miroslav Janek’s first experiences with shooting documentaries came as an amateur filmmaker in the 1970s. In 1980, he moved to the USA, where he shot numerous original movies and also worked as an editor on, among other things, the films of Godfrey Reggio. He returned to Prague in the mid-1990s, and began to work on documentaries for Czech Television. Following the death of Pavel Koutecký, he completed his film Citizen Havel (2007). He also filmed portraits of Drahomíra Vihanová (Burning, 2012) and Olga Havlová (Olga, 2014).

more about film

director: Miroslav Janek
producer: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda
script: Miroslav Janek, Renata Kalenská
photography: Miroslav Janek
editing: Antonie Janková
Ministerstvo kultury
Fond kinematografie
Creative Europe Media
Město Jihlava
Kraj Vysočina
GEMO
Česká televize
Český rozhlas
Aktuálně.cz
Respekt
Dafilms