Pavel Wonka Commits to Cooperate

synopsis

Pavel Wonka is known in the Czech historical context as a dissident, an anti-Communist, and the last political prisoner to die in a communist prison. Libuše Rudinská searches for long-archived reports and interviews people who came into contact with him – both from his circle of friends and from the ranks of the the Czechoslovak secret police. Thanks to her efforts, she discovered his possible cooperation with the secret police. She uses an austere reporting tone, and appears in front of the camera herself in the position of reporter. The film is supplemented with narrative commentary reading the allegations of the responsible officer Zdeňek Špulák. In its entirety, the film leads to reflections on the need for the revision of historical approaches to the recent past.      

DETAIL:
“Pavel was once a symbol of the revolution, an example of how they could destroy a person who stood up to them. That was the main reason why he died. It was a crime, but it was not heroism.”

biography

Libuše Rudinská studied photography at FAMU and a large portion of her creative work has been dedicated to filming documentaries from exotic destinations in cooperation with Jaromír Štětina. Her film Stolen Motherhood (2008), which dealt with the sterilization of Romany women in Czechoslovakia, was presented at the 2008 Jihlava IDFF. She attracted media attention especially for her film My Father George Voskovec (2011) about the Czech actor’s life and career in the United States.

more about film

director:	Libuše Rudinská
producer:	Libuše Rudinská, Petr Kubica
script:	Libuše Rudinská
photography:	Jiří Bolina, Miroslav Kousal, Petr Seidl, Libuše Rudinská
editing:	Kateřina Krutská-Vrbová
music:	Michal Janoušek
sound:	Michal Janoušek

contact

Libuše Rudinská
Rudinska Film
Matějkova 11 
Praha 9 / 190 00 / Czech Republic
+420 725 044 891
libuserudinska@seznam.cz
www.rudinska.cz

Česká televize
Petra Štovíková / Kavčí hory
140 70 Praha 4 / Czech Republic
+420 261 137 106
petra.stovikova@ceskatelevize.cz
www.ceskatelevize.cz