Published: July 04, 2023| 01:44 PM

Sound gives viewers the feeling that they know what a punch or gunshot sounds like. Even if they have never actually heard them. Ivo Špalj is the father of Czech sound design. As a sound designer he worked on Jan Švankmajer’s films, his first film was The Hop-Pickers, and since then he has contributed to a wide range of well-known titles from Ruffiano and Sweeteeth to Identity Card. His contribution to domestic cinema was reminded by the world premiere of the documentary Engi – Sound Designer Ivo Špalj.
​
It was presented to the audience at the Small Hall on Tuesday by a large delegation, including the protagonist himself and his daughter and the director of the documentary Adéla Špaljová. “When someone tells me they liked the music or the sounds in a film, it signals to me that there was something wrong. The film is supposed to work as a whole and that’s how you should perceive it,” Špalj explains in the documentary. The film, which blurs the boundaries between the professional and the personal story, was showed as part of the Out of the Past programme section.