25th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Each person has a unique set and configuration of values governing their daily decisions and life choices. Life brings challenges that defy our previous experience, values and their rearrangement is not sufficient and steps need to be taken into the unknown. Is this heroism of some kind?
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Inner CompassEach of us is exposed to the constant necessity to choose and decide and our whole life journey, relationships and professions is a sequence of crossroads where we have to make decisions. Even the popular Catholic priest, professor of ethics and engaging journalist Marek Orko Vácha is not spared. What compass of values does he use to navigate his steps and to what extent is he forced to align it due to modern phenomena to which the Catholic doctrine does not have a ready answer? Where does he feel the reserves of his spiritual life? Guest: Marek Orko Vácha |
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Vietnam StoriesThey were raised by their “Czech grandmothers” instead of their parents, were called “Nguyens” at the elementary school and could not sleep over at their friends, let alone dating Czechs at high school. When they met with their family in Vietnam for the first time, their joy mixed with confusion and estrangement. Who is the second generation of Vietnamese people born in Czechia, why are they called “banana children” and do they consider Czechia to be their home? Four representatives of their generation tell us about their growing up in Czechia, their relations with their Vietnamese parents and relatives, what they think about love, work and the future and how difficult it was for them to break away from the family expectations and to fit in the Czech society. Guests: Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Le Hong Thai, Marta Lopatková |
GUESTS
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Diana Cam Van Nguyen (CZ)A Czech-Vietnamese director, artist, and animator living in Prague. Her short films The Little One (2017) and Apart (2018) have been screened at many domestic and foreign festivals and have won several awards. Apart, in particular, was awarded Best Czech Experimental Documentary Film at the 2018 Jihlava IDFF and made its world premiere at the Rotterdam IFF. How would you describe your work and goals in the context of breaking stereotypes? What do you consider to be important in light of the current situation and what issues do you think we, as a society, should take seriously? What resonated with you the most out of this year’s literature and artistic releases? |
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Marta Lopatková (CZ)A researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague. She focuses on culture, society and history of colonial Vietnam, paying special attention to gender and issues of modernity. She also studies migration and Vietnamese communities in the Czech Republic of today and in Czechoslovakia of the past. She is a graduate of Vietnamese studies and ethnology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague. Apart from her academic activities, she has worked with the Vietnamese community as an NGO volunteer. How would you describe your work and your goals in the area of Vietnamese studies? What resonated with you the most out of this year’s literature and artistic releases? |
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Josef Pazderka (CZ)A historian, a journalist, the editor-in-chief of on-line daily Aktuálně.cz. He was born in Jihlava and studied history at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague (grad. 1999) and development studies at Oxford Brookes University (grad. 2003). He was a charity worker at People In Need; between 2005-2016, he worked as a reporter for Czech Television, first as a foreign correspondent of Czech Television in Russia, later in Poland and Ukraine. Since 2018, he has been the editor-in-chief of on-line daily Aktuálně.cz. In 2011, he made an acclaimed TV documentary called The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968: The Russian Perspective and co-written a book of the same name published by Torst. How would you describe your work and your goals in the context of the media? What do you consider important in the light of the current situation and what issues do you think we, as a society, should take seriously? What resonated with you the most out of this year’s literature and artistic releases? |
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Marek Pros (CZ)Journalist. He leads the lifestyle section of Aktuálně.cz and works as a deputy editor-in-chief. This year, he and his colleagues received a nomination for the Journalist Award (Czecho-Slovak Public Award) for the multimedia project The Damn Generation Z about the problems of young Czechs. He was born in 1984 in Tábor, South Bohemia, where he spent his childhood, enjoyed a sports career as an ice hockey player, and came of age. He later studied journalism and international relations at Masaryk University in Brno, and also spent several months at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. How would you describe your work and goals in the media in the context of breaking stereotypes? What do you consider important in light of the current situation and what issues do you think we, as a society, should take seriously? What resonated with you the most out of this year’s literature and artistic releases? |
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Le Hong Thai (CZ)His parents come from Vietnam while he grew up in northern Bohemia. He graduated from the 3rd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University and now works as a doctor at the Psychiatric Clinic of the General Hospital. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, and playing medieval games. How would you describe your work and goals in the context of breaking stereotypes? What do you consider to be important in light of the current situation and what issues do you think we, as a society, should take seriously? What resonated with you the most out of this year’s literature and artistic releases? |
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Marek Orko Vácha (CZ)Biologist, theologian, priest and teacher. Catholic priest, manager of the Lechovice u Znojma parish. At the School of Social Studies in Brno, Marek leads a seminar on the relationship between Christianity and ecology. He studied molecular biology and genetics at the School of Biology of Masaryk University in Brno and theology in Olomouc and Brussels. In 1997 and 2000, he participated in two expeditions to Antarctica. He is the head of the Department of Ethics of the Third Faculty of Medicine of Charles University. |
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FILM SELECTIONI Walk (Jørgen Leth, Denmark, 2019) |
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READING LISTTo be announced soon. |
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