Film Archive

Pupendo

Official Selection - Competition 2003 / Pupendo / Czech Republic 2003

Set just prior to the Orwellian year 1984, the film focuses on tragicomic incidents in the life of sculptor Bedřich Mára, a prohibited artist who decides to "purify himself" by compromising with the Communist regime. Mára´s children and those of his peers observe in bewilderment as the adults engineer a ridiculous daily struggle to keep their consciences clean and put bread on the table.

Synopsis

Set just prior to the Orwellian year 1984, the movie focuses on several tragicomic incidents in the life of Bedřich Mára, a Prague sculptor of uncompromising political opinions whose promising artistic career is cut short by the Communist regime. The bohemian artist has been barred from exhibiting his work and, with the help of his devoted wife Alena, he supports his family producing ceramic kitsch. In contrast, Magda, Mára´s former student at the Art Academy, and her husband, principal Míla, decided not to give the regime a reason to pick on them. But things get a bit sticky for the protagonists when Mára accepts a humiliating state commission by way of reviving his career. The adults´ compromises and their ridiculous daily struggle to keep their consciences clean and put bread on the table are observed by their bewildered teenage kids, who dream of a refuge transcending the limits of everyday life. An infantile initiation ritual practiced by school children lent its name to this third cooperative effort by director Jan Hřebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský. The filmmakers turn once again to the recent past: this time around it´s the era of Communist normalization, a time they associate with the bittersweet atmosphere of growing up.

About the film

122 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Jan Hřebejk / Screenplay Petr Jarchovský podle motivů knih Petra Šabacha Hovno hoří, Opilé banány, Babičky / based on the novels by Petr Šabach Hovno hoří, Opilé banány, Babičky / Dir. of Photography Jan Malíř / Music Oscar Petr, Marsyas a jiní / and others / Editor Vladimír Barák / Producer Ondřej Trojan / Production Total HelpArt T.H.A., koprodukce / co-production: Česká televize / Czech Television / Cast Boleslav Polívka, Eva Holubová, Jaroslav Dušek, Vilma Cibulková, Jiří Pecha, Pavel Liška, Zuzana Kronerová, Bohumil Klepl, Boris Hybner / Contact Falcon a.s., Czech Television - Telexport, Česká televize, Total HelpArt T.H.A.
www: www.pupendo.com

About the director

Jan Hřebejk (b. 1967, Prague) is one of today´s most popular Czech directors. After graduating in screenwriting and script editing from Prague´s Film Academy (FAMU), he debuted in 1993 with the fifties retrofilm Big Beat, awarded Czech Lions for Best Direction and Best Film. He and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský drew inspiration for his second film from writer Petr Šabach to create Cosy Dens (1999), a family tragicomedy reflecting on the events of 1968. The occupation comedy Divided We Fall (2000) followed and was nominated for an Oscar. Hřebejk was also successful directing for Czech Television; he also works in the theatre (four one-act plays, Christopher Hampton´s Dangerous Liaisons and Woody Allen´s Bullets Over Broadway).

Contacts

Falcon a.s.
Radlická 3185/1c, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 422 222
E-mail: [email protected]

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

Česká televize
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 261 131 111
E-mail: [email protected]

Total HelpArt T.H.A.
Kříženeckého nám. 322, 152 53, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 267 073 007
Fax: +420 267 073 836
E-mail: [email protected]