Published: July 04, 2015| 08:30 PM

Today’s world premiere of the Czech-Polish film Journey to Rome kicked off the East of the West competition section. Present at the opening alongside director Tomasz Mielnik were Miroslav Donutil, Berenika Kohoutová, and leading actor Václav Hrzina. Mielnik dedicated his film about an absurd journey to the Italian capital to his recently deceased friend and classmate Aramisova.

The comedy Journey to Rome includes a series of mini-episodes, some of which touch on the search for God. “I have the sense that we often speak about small things in a serious tone. I tried to speak about big things, like religion, for example, in an entirely unserious tone,” Mielnik explained in describing his approach to the film.

Comedy is one of the toughest genres, but also one of the most necessary, and the young director is aware of this: “As Karel Poláček said, humor cleanses your vision. So I hope that the humor in our film allows viewers to see the world from a different angle and notice what they didn’t before. I would consider this a great success.”

Screenings of Journey to Rome:
5.7. 19:30 Lázně III