Film Archive

Mallory

Documentary Films - Competition 2015 / Mallory / Czech Republic 2015

Life hasn’t been easy on Mallory but after the birth of her son she tries desperately to kick her drug habit, and to stop living on the street. She wants to turn her back on her dark past and help those she knows best – people on the fringes of society. In her latest long-term documentary, Helena Třeštíková demonstrates that even seemingly hopeless lives needn’t be cut short halfway.

Synopsis

After previous documentaries in which she set down the dramatic reversals and hard falls in the lives of Marcela, René, and Katka, Helena Třeštíková has come out with a new long-term portrait. Life has never pampered Mallory, and after the birth of her son she tries with all her might to kick her drug habit and stay off the street. As is usually the case, the helping hand that succeeded in leading her away from life’s dark corners came from an entirely unexpected source. But even after Mallory’s partial victory the fight isn’t yet over. The deep wound self-inflicted by drugs continues to fester: her difficult social situation, upheavals in her personal relationships, and frustrating confrontations with the authorities often cast her back down to the bottom. This is the story of a woman who wants to turn her back on her shady past and help those she knows best (people on the fringes of society), and it demonstrates that even a seemingly hopeless life needn’t be cut short halfway.

Martin Horyna

About the film

97 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Helena Třeštíková / Screenplay Helena Třeštíková / Dir. of Photography Miroslav Souček, Vlastimil Hamerník, Robert Novák, David Cysař, Jiří Chod, Jakub Hejna / Music Tadeáš Věrčák / Editor Jakub Hejna / Producer Kateřina Černá, Pavel Strnad / Production Negativ s.r.o. / Coproduction Česká televize / Sales Negativ / Distributor Aerofilms

About the director

Helena Třeštíková (b. 1949, Prague) studied direction at FAMU (1974). She started making long-term documentaries back in 1972 with her school film Viva Acqua. She has made over 40 documentaries, including Sweet Century (1998 – Best Documentary at KVIFF) and Women at the Turn of the Millennium (Trapped) (2001 – Special Jury Mention at KVIFF). Her long-term series of films Tell Me Something about Yourself (beginning 1989) and Marriage Stories (1987-2006) combine aspects of film sociology with cinéma vérité approaches. The Karlovy Vary festival presented a loose portrait trilogy of people living on the fringes of society: Marcela (2006), René (2008 – Prix Arte from the European Film Academy for Best European Documentary), and Katka (2010), as well as her most time-intensive project to date, Private Universe (2011 – Special Mention at KVIFF), shot over a period of 37 years.