Pepa Lubojacki screened her film If Pigeons Turned to Gold to a Czech audience for the first time. In February, the film won the Berlinale Documentary Award. This highly creative and deeply personal work focuses on Lubojacki’s relationship with her older brother, who is homeless and struggling with addiction.
“Unfortunately, my brother isn’t doing any better, and neither are my cousins. That’s what tends to happen when you don’t work on your addiction. At least my brother isn’t on the streets anymore; he has a place to stay, although it’s just a hostel where there are lots of people with addictions and always someone who’ll give you a bit of alcohol. There is a shortage of social housing in the Czech Republic, and that is essential. Prevention is always more effective,” she told the audience during the discussion, after being asked how the protagonists of her film were doing now.
She did, however, reassure the audience that her brother liked the film. “We watched it at Christmas. It took us the whole day; we had to take breaks. He cried, he laughed, he was proud of himself – which means a lot to me, because when you’re on the street, people turn away from you,” said Lubojacki. She gave her brother the right to veto any cuts to the film, but he chose not to exercise it. “He said it was harsh, but so is reality.”
The discussion also touched on the use of artificial intelligence, which Lubojacki used in the film to bring childhood photographs of herself and her relatives to life. “I started using it five years ago, back when the ethics of AI and its environmental impact weren’t such a big topic. I didn’t want there to be too much voice-over, and people tend to feel more empathy for children anyway. It was also a way of gaining some distance so that I could tell the whole story,” the filmmaker explained, setting out her reasons for using AI.
The film will be released in Czech cinemas in September and will be accompanied by an awareness campaign. “There are an awful lot of people with addictions, and we need to start talking about it openly; otherwise, nothing will change,” the director pointed out. When asked how individuals could help beyond talking about the issue, Pepa Lubojacki replied: “Don’t judge. Respect others as human beings. Offer help when you see someone lying on the ground. I think people are empathetic. They’re just afraid to take the first step. But even a small act can change someone’s life. We should all be kinder to one another – it would make the world a better place.”
