The road movie Caravan, which screened in Cannes and follows the complicated journey of a mother, Ester, and her disabled son David across Italy, had its Czech premiere at KVIFF. Director Zuzana Kirchnerová, producer Dagmar Sedláčková and actress Juliána Brutovská were guests of Thursday’s KVIFF Talk.
For Kirchnerová, the topic is deeply personal. She is raising her son with Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. “I’m fascinated by actors, faces and human expression. I want to be close to them. I wanted to see, on the big screen, the face of someone some people consider a mistake, which is of course nonsense. I wanted to show what a beautiful and amazing person David is,” says Kirchnerová, who has previously focused on documentary filmmaking, although she has a degree in feature film directing and was awarded at Cannes for her short film Baba in 2008.
Set entirely in Italy, Caravan came with significant production challenges. “We were discouraged from making the film for a long time. Many thought the project was too ambitious, especially given the plan to cast non-actor with a disability,” explained Sedláčková the project’s complicated beginnings.
From the start, Kirchnerová had envisioned working with Aňa Geislerová and Juliána Brutovská, whom she has known since childhood. “The development took so long to develop that Juliána managed to get pregnant twice in the meantime,” Kirchnerová added with a smile. Casting the role of David required careful consideration, and the team called all sorts of nursing homes and organizations.
Eventually, the director chose David Vodstrčil, who later joined the panel on stage. “David goes to the same school as my son. That made me hesitant at first. I wanted to be on set as a director, not as a mom. I worried it would be too personal. But David was wonderful and there was simply no other way,” Kirchnerová explained.
In a light-hearted and warm discussion, the filmmakers spoke about David’s friendly nature, which helped create a positive atmosphere on set, the delicacy of the acting process, the blending of personal and fictional stories, and the importance of portraying family relationships ambivalently.
