Archive of films Věra 68 / Věra 68

Czech Republic
2012, 90 min

Section: Documentary Films - Out of Competition
Year: 2012

The main character in this documentary is the most successful Czechoslovak sportswoman of all time, gymnast Věra Čáslavská. The rise and fall of the onetime second most popular woman on the planet is brought to life with archive footage, photographs, interviews, but also by means of a trip that Olga Sommerová and Věra Čáslavská took to her beloved Mexico.

Synopsis

The central figure of Olga Sommerová’s newest movie is the most successful Czechoslovak sportswoman of all time, gymnast Věra Čáslavská. The holder of seven gold and four silver Olympic medals reached the peak of her career at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City when she was named the second most popular woman on the planet after Jackie Kennedy. After signing the anti-regime manifesto The Two Thousand Words, her enforced social decline began, not ending until the Velvet Revolution and her work as advisor to President Vaclav Havel. Fate dealt her another blow in the form of a family tragedy when her son Martin was convicted of involuntary manslaughter against his father Josef Odložil; Čáslavská suffered a nervous breakdown and spent 16 years out of the public eye. The rise and fall of the recipient of Japan’s highest state honor is brought to life through archive footage, photographs, interviews, but also via shots of a trip which Olga Sommerová took with Věra Čáslavská to her beloved Mexico.

About the director

Olga Sommerová (b. 1949, Prague) graduated in documentary filmmaking from Prague’s FAMU in 1977. Her films take up social themes and interpersonal relationships, portraits of common people and prominent figures, phenomena of social and artistic life, feminism, and the political history of the Czech Lands. In 1991-2002 she taught at FAMU, heading the documentary filmmaking department for the last eight of those years. From 2005 to 2010 she was associate professor at Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica. On the basis of her successful film What Women Dream About, she published three books of interviews with the same title, plus the volume What Men Dream About, all of which became bestsellers. Of the approximately 100 films she has shot, 35 have been awarded at domestic and international film festivals. She is publicly active in promoting women in society.

Contacts

Czech Television - Telexport
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 137 047
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.ceskatelevize.cz

CinemArt, a.s.
Národní 60/28, 111 21, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 949 110
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.cinemart.cz

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About the film

Color, HD CAM
International premiere

Section:	Documentary Films - Out of Competition

Director:	Olga Sommerová
Screenplay:	Olga Sommerová
Dir. of Photography:	Olga Špátová
Music:	Aleš Březina
Editor:	Jakub Voves
Producer:	Pavel Berčík
Production:	Evolution Films s.r.o.
Cast:	Věra Čáslavská
Contact:	Czech Television - Telexport, CinemArt, a.s.
Distributor:	CinemArt, a.s.

Guests

Pavel Berčík

Producer, Service Company Rep.

Věra Čáslavská

Protagonist

Olga Sommerová

Film Director

Jan Jíra

Distributor