Archive of films Elective Affinities / Spřízněni volbou

Czechoslovakia
1968, 85 min

Section: Tribute to Karel Vachek
Year: 2010

The Prague Spring 1968 and the presidential election. The film crew penetrates the corridors of power, recording riotous meetings, tactical debates and idle chatter. Film coverage in the style of "direct cinema” and, at the same time, a parody of the politically engagé documentary, featuring Dubček, Svoboda and other heroes of a drama verging on comedy.


Synopsis

After a considerable period of enforced silence, the Prague Spring of 1968 gave Vachek the chance to start filming again. There was no time for lengthy deliberation – he threw himself into the political events that were consuming society at the time. Armed with a 16mm camera and tape recorder, he went off to capture the election of the president of the republic; in its naked form, this was something unparalleled. Where other cameras were switched off, Vachek was just getting started with his. The film exudes authenticity, paradoxically reinforced by the conscious presence of the camera, and underscored by the ironic juxtaposition of the high and the low, the dramatic and comic, official and personal. Politicians Dubček, Svoboda, Smrkovský and Černík, tracked by Vachek’s lens, are ordinary, even ridiculous – real people without any kind of media mask. The muddle-headed General Svoboda requests an independent television channel for the army, Smrkovský inveighs against anti-Semitism in the Party, and the filmmakers peek through a keyhole at the "secret” preparations for a banal resolution. The film, in style reminiscent of the "direct cinema” documentary genre, is named after Goethe’s novel, itself an allusion to the changes in "political marriages”. Subsequent events temporarily altered the film’s ironic intent. In August Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Warsaw Pact armies. The film, released in cinemas after the occupation, was watched with a sense of nostalgia, and its key players became national martyrs.

Contacts

Produkce Radim Procházka
Řehořova 54, 130 00, Praha 3
Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.radimprochazka.com

About the film

Black & white, 35 mm

Section: Tribute to Karel Vachek
   
Director: Karel Vachek
Screenplay: Karel Vachek
Dir. of Photography: Jozef Ort-Šnep
Editor: Jiřina Skalská
Production: Krátký film – Studio populárně vědeckých naučných filmů
Cast: Ludvík Svoboda, Alexander Dubček, Josef Smrkovský, Oldřich Černík, Čestmír Císař, Ota Šik, Eduard Goldstücker, Gustáv Husák
Contact: Produkce Radim Procházka
Distributor: Produkce Radim Procházka

Guests

Radim Procházka

Film Director, Producer, Tutor / Trainer

Karel Vachek

Film Director


Karel Slach

Director of Photography

Libor Sedláček

Film Crew


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