Reminiscences

Ivan Vojnár (b. 1942, Žilina) is one of the Czech Republic’s most fascinating cameramen and documentary filmmakers, yet he has also been hailed for his feature films. He studied photography at Prague’s FAMU and established himself as a close colleague of a number of important documentarists. In 1988 he filmed a documentary portrait of mime-artist Bolek Polívka entitled Dream about Pierrot (Sen o Pierotovi). Other documentaries he directed include Fear (Strach, 1989), Landscape with Fire (Krajina s ohněm, 1992), Insomnia (Nespavost, 1993) and Actors (Herci, 1996). His essay about patients at a psychiatric hospital In the Garden (V zahradě) won him the main prize in the documentary category at the KV IFF in 1995. In 1997 he debuted with his feature-film parable The Way through the Bleak Woods (Cesta pustým lesem). His medium-length film Prophets and Poets. Chapters from a Calendar (Proroci a básníci. Kapitoly z kalendáře, 2000) represented a new direction in his documentary work. He continues to seek truth and reality in Forest Walkers (Lesní chodci), a film hovering on the border between feature and documentary film.