Over Hill and Dale

director: Karol Plicka

original title: Po horách, po dolách

year: 1929

running time: 66 min.

synopsis

The second ethnographic film by Karol Plicka, produced by the scientific and cultural institution Matice Slovenská, follows the traditions of festivals, folk architecture, games, and ceremonies of Slovak culture in various villages across Slovakia. Plicka uses a simple filmmaking technique to visit people who are poor but rich in their customs and in sharing of folklore through singing and the beauty of their costumes.

Slovak Film Institute and Slovak Institute in Prague are partner of the section Translucent Being: Karol Plicka.

biography

Karol Plicka (1894–1987) was a famous Slovak-Czech photographer, folklorist, filmmaker and collector of moments, ethnographer, cameraman, director, music scientist and pedagogue, violin virtuoso and professor, co-founder of the Prague FAMU film school (1946), admirer of nature and traditional folk work, and admirer of architecture and folk crafts. Plicka’s films have been awarded at festivals in Italy (Florence, Venice) and his photography books and songbooks are still collectible today. Karol Plicka was a personality who still inspires and motivates enthusiasm for the culture of our ancestors.