Dust Games

Colour, 35mm
Czech Republic, 2002, 86 min
Section: Czech Films

Synopsis

This documentary captures the progress and atmosphere of certain September days in 2000 when two global financial institutions met in Prague for their annual summit. In reaction to this event, people began to congregate in order to condemn these two organizations. Opponents of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank gathered in the Czech capital from all over the Czech Republik and abroad. But even at the border they had to face gratuitous manifestations of indignation by the official structure. The same arrogance and petulance accompanied the conflicted progress of the summit, peaking in the streets in an open clash with the activists as they freely demonstrated their opinions, and tried every means at their disposal to prevent smooth negotiations. The police used water cannons and armoured transport cars; the activists had Molotov cocktails and cobblestones. A small film crew armed only with a movie camera and a small digital one became an integral part of the events as they unfolded.

About the director

Martin Mareček (b. 1974) is a director of documentaries and features, a musician and a script editor. For him film is a fusion of all his interests, an anthropological tool like an open probe. Mareček lives and works in Prague where he attended at Charles University, and where he is now finishing up at the Film Academy (FAMU) in documentary filmmaking. He has shot the short films Maple 98 (Javor 98, 1998), and Egg Methods (Metody vejce, 1999). The documentary Money Games (2001) was created in co-production between Bionaut and FAMU, and is Mareček’s first feature-length project. The film took the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the International Festival of Documentary Film in Jihlava (Czech Republic) in 2001.