Není železo jako železo

Pavel Šmok / Czechoslovakia / 1949 / The film already had its Czech Premiere / 15 min.

synopsis

An educational exhibition document on cast iron production at the ČKD ironworks in Prague,
where they were “the first – and to date the only ones in the world” to introduce a new
production process that saves a great deal of precious raw material. The commentary includes
examples of how iron production is linked to everyday life in the form of practical objects,
such as a beer bottle opener, an agricultural machine or the Petřín Lookout Tower. The
traditional format of a period industrial film about innovation is given a unique twist by the
light-hearted commentary and elements of parodic exaggeration of “building the nation”
rhetoric. This is one of FAMU’s very first films, which was shot by the director in his third
year as a cinematography student.

biography

Ján Šmok (1921–1997) was part of FAMU’s first generation; he graduated in cinematography in 1951 and went on to work at FAMU for the rest of his life, both as a permanent lecturer in cinematography and as the founder of the Department of Photography (1975), which he headed for many years. He also served occasionally as Vice-Dean and Vice- Chancellor of the Academy of Performing Arts (AMU).