EXPULSION – National Constellations / czeXperiment

synopsis

How does a history we have never experienced live on within us? The documentary experiment ODSUN – Národní konstelace explores the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans through a group constellation led by psychiatrist Ivan Věrný. Without a script, participants take on roles connected to the events of the post-war period, observing the feelings and relationships that emerge. Rather than reconstructing history, the film explores the traces it leaves within us. Moving from personal family stories through a shared experience, it culminates in a ritual of reconciliation.

“One hundred people in a single hall, and our history, which we chose to enter through a constellation. We had never attempted anything like this on such a scale. We had no idea what would unfold between people or where the shared experience would take us. During the final ritual of reconciliation, the emotion spread to the crew as well. At that moment, we became part of what we had come to film. I hope that at least some of the power of that shared experience can come through on screen.” – Jan Látal

biography

Jan Látal (born 1980) is a documentary filmmaker and the creator of czeXperiment, a project that explores Czech society through social experiments, public votes, and interviews. His documentary experiments are playgrounds with their own rules, where participants’ actions reveal something about ourselves. He is more interested in lived experience than in stated opinions. He graduated from the Literary Academy in Prague and studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU. His films Paroubkové (2011), Česká pivní válka (2014), and Tahle doba není pro nás (2021) screened at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. In his project Národní konstelace, he turns his attention to how Czech history continues to live within us.

film details

director:	Jan Látal
producer:	Jan Latal
photography:	Petr Čížek
editing:	Dominik Neudeker
sound:	Martin Stýblo
sound design:	Martin Tauber
script dramaturgy:	Jan Blažek