Artificial Fibres

Paľo Bielik / Slovakia / 1943 / Czech Premiere / 14 min.

synopsis

An industrial film about the production of (and products made from) artificial fibres in the Svit factory at the foot of the Tatras.

Wood as a commodity, and its processing has always been part of the industrial culture of Slovakia. Bielik’s film presents the sophisticated processing of wood or cellulose into a new commodity - artificial fibres and their products. The documentary exists in two versions. The post-war one is complemented/framed by a fictional opening in a fabric shop, where a fashionable lady (Marta Černická) buys a silk scarf from a salesman (Mikuláš Huba), whose “production cycle”, through the motif of a tree on the windowsill, motivates the narrative of the film itself.

biography

Paľo Bielik (1910–1983)
The most successful embodiment of Janosik to this day, also a founding figure of Slovak film directing activities – the author of Wolves’ Lairs and Captain Dabac decided to pursue a career as a director in 1942, after a few years of acting at the National Theatre. In Nástup, he made approximately a dozen documentaries, some of which already bear his dashing “boyish” writing style.