Film Archive

Dreamers

East of the West - Competition 2010 / Zoufalci / Czech Republic 2009

Now in their thirties, the film’s six protagonists, who left northern Bohemia for Prague after graduating from high school, are taking stock of their lives. Is it too soon for a change? Or perhaps it’s too late because it’s hard to jump off a moving train. Jitka Rudolfová’s debut is a generational statement that perceives the relationship problems of today’s 30-somethings with understanding and ironic detachment.

Synopsis

Dagmara has two kids and a husband whose pedantic opinions and bullying are becoming unbearable. Sociologist Linda is trying to work out a relationship with an unfaithful lover. Secretary Sylvie seeks escape from loneliness in alcohol and noncommittal sex. After living together for seven years, gay couple Tonda and Otakar try in vain to find new relationships. And Radim, an eternal student, torments his girlfriend with jealousy. These six protagonists left their northern Bohemian hometown of Jablonec nad Nisou for Prague after graduating from high school. Now in their thirties, they are taking stock of their lives. Is it too soon for a change? Or perhaps it’s too late because it’s hard to jump off a moving train. Can the protagonists find new meaning in their lives by living together on an idyllic country farm? "I wanted to know why people do certain abysmal things in life – and why they’re unable to fight against it hard enough at the time. Only in retrospect do they realize how ridiculous and trying it all is,” remarks the director, who perceives the title of her generational statement with the irony, characteristic of the movies of Věra Chytilová, her teacher at Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU).

About the film

97 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Jitka Rudolfová / Screenplay Jitka Rudolfová / Dir. of Photography Michael Kaboš / Music Nůž / Editor Otakar Šenovský / Producer Marta Dudáková, Kateřina Černá, Petr Oukropec / Production Negativ s.r.o. / Cast Simona Babčáková, Jakub Žáček, Zuzana Onufráková, Václav Neužil, Pavlína Štorková, Michal Kern, Jaroslav Plesl / Contact Negativ, Aerofilms / Distributor Aerofilms
www: www.zoufalcifilm.cz

About the director

Jitka Rudolfová (b. 1979, Jablonec nad Nisou, CR) first studied filmmaking at film school in Písek, then went on to study direction under Věra Chytilová at Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU). Thanks to Negativ Productions she was able to develop a graduation project into her feature debut, the bittersweet comedy Dreamers (2009). From the beginning of school, her films received a variety of awards (Meat on a Plate, 2004; Lucie Is Already in Bed, 2005; The Holiest, 2005; Marta and Berta 26, 2006), and during her studies she also had an opportunity to participate in the production of older colleagues’ films (Věra Chytilová’s Pleasant Moments, Bohdan Sláma’s The Country Teacher, and Michaela Pavlátová’s Night Owls).