About Cats, Beatniks and All Sorts of Other Things

synopsis

Miroslav Dohnal comments on his attempt to interview writer Bohumil Hrabal at his flat at 24 Na hrázi Street in Libeň. He states that the filmmakers wanted to find out about his favourite foods, women and writing. Instead, Hrabal talks about his neutered tomcat and his friends from the 1950s, when V. Boudník, E. Bondy, M. Medek and the graphic artist Jaroslav Dočekal used to gather at his place. Hrabal steers the conversation towards Egon Bondy, shows his samizdat publication Půlnoc (Midnight) and reads Bondy’s poem 23 October 1850, which reflects on the executions of victims of communist show trials. He also shows his unpublished poems, his outhouse in the courtyard and a collection of signs, commenting on the finds as he goes along. Finally, he returns to the story of how he acquired the tomcat in exchange for 15kg of pears. Dohnal once again points out the shortage of film stock; the camera pans across the rooftops and, as Bondy said: “Everything has its end, even the solar system.” The documentary was made at the height of Hrabal’s literary and cinematic fame and boldly treads the line of what is possible. As Dohnal says at the end: “We didn’t find out what we wanted to know, but, but…” The film is a television exercise by second-year students of the Department of Film Directing.

biography

Rudolf Růžička (1943–2022) graduated from FAMU with a degree in film and television directing in 1968. While there, he also directed the films Užitečné mechanismy neboli O úřadech (Useful Mechanisms, or On Government Offices, 1966) and Bitva na Červeném poli (The Battle of Červené Pole, 1968). He directed two children’s films, Správná trefa (A Bull’s-Eye, 1987) and Parta za milion (A Gang Worth a Million, 1990). He worked for Czech Television as the head of drama programming. In the 1990s, he served as deputy director of the Office for Foreign Relations and Information intelligence service.

film details

director:	Rudolf Růžička
producer:	Lukáš Hanzal