The Border

Colour, 35 mm
Czech Republic, 2006, 29 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Czech Films 2006-2007

Synopsis

During the late 1940s and early 1950s the Communist State Security launched “Operation Kameny”; one of its victims is the journalist Karel Rubeš. Rubeš faces imprisonment for subversive activities and so he decides to emigrate. He contacts a group of secret “transporters” and manages to get across the Šumava border into West Germany without any problem. It is only when he is over the border that, during his interrogation by American officers, he realises the monstrous trap that has been laid for him… This drama, loosely based on the short story by Otakar Rambousek What the Deputy Said, was broadcast last spring on Czech TV.

About the director

Martin Kopp (b. 1983, Prague) began making amateur films when still at school and took a year’s course in film direction at Pollas Studio. He attended film school in Písek and wrote scripts for the short films False Heart and The Last Room, which he also produced (2005). Here he also began working on the screenplay for The Border, completed at the Miroslav Ondříček Film Academy in Písek and shot in collaboration with Czech TV. Kopp also directs video clips and has teamed up with Czech TV for the series On the Road.