Film Archive

The White World According to Daliborek

Documentary Films - Competition 2017 / Svět podle Daliborka / Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom 2017

A stylized portrait of an authentic Czech neo-Nazi, who hates his life but doesn’t know what to change. Corrosively absurd and starkly chilling in equal measure, this tragicomedy investigates the radical worldview of “decent, ordinary people.” And just when it seems that its message can’t get any more urgent, the film culminates in a totally uncompromising way.

Synopsis

Industrial painter Dalibor K. is approaching 40 but he still lives with his mother Věra. He makes amateur horror movies and writes angry songs; he likes PlayStation and Facebook. And he admires Adolf Hitler. His search for a full-fledged relationship with a woman hasn’t yet panned out, but at least Jana, a new acquaintance from the neighborhood, brings him a little joy. Czech documentarist Vít Klusák has come out with a stylized portrait of a gentle neo-Nazi from Prostějov, Czechia. And despite the fact that he’s yet to attack anyone, he can’t stand many things: his job, Jews, Roma, refugees, homosexuals, Angela Merkel, spiders, and dentists. His mother’s new boyfriend Vladimír also irritates him despite dropping choice nuggets such as “I’d turn gypsies into asphalt” in order to ingratiate himself with the young man. The upshot is that Dalibor hates his life, but he doesn’t know what to change. Corrosively absurd and starkly chilling in equal measure, this tragicomedy investigates the radical worldview of “decent, ordinary people.” And just when it seems that its message can’t get any more urgent, the film culminates in a totally uncompromising way.

Martin Horyna

About the film

105 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Vít Klusák / Screenplay Vít Klusák, Marianna Stránská / Dir. of Photography Adam Kruliš / Music Vladimír Godár / Editor Janka Vlčková / Art Director Marianna Stránská / Producer Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda / Production Hypermarket Film s.r.o. / Coproduction Česká televize, Peter Kerekes, BRITDOC Foundation / Contact Hypermarket Film s.r.o. / Distributor Bontonfilm, a.s.

About the director

Vít Klusák (b. 1980, Prague) graduated in documentary filmmaking from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU). In 2003 he and Filip Remunda founded Hypermarket Film, which focuses on the production of writer-director documentaries and, on principle, refuses to shoot commercials. The pair gained a measure of fame with Czech Dream (2004), a documentary comedy about an invented hypermarket; the film extensively toured the festival circuit and brought recognition at home and abroad. In this and other documentaries Klusák reveals a strong authorial hand based on the selection of socio-critical topics (All for the Good of the World and Nošovice!, 2010; Tabloid Workers, 2014) and the investigation of current affairs (Czech Peace, 2010, co-dir. Filip Remunda; The Good Driver Smetana, 2013, co-dir. Filip Remunda; Matrix AB, 2015). But he’s also a director unafraid to be “seen” on camera, whether physically or in dialogue with the characters.