Film Archive

Women at the Turn of the Century (Trapped)

Documentary Films in Competition 2001 / Ženy na přelomu tisíciletí (V pasti) / Czech Republic 2001

Synopsis

A compilation documentary which begins in a rural drug treatment centre. Apart from the director herself, the film’s gentle pace is its greatest creative element. We meet a remarkable young woman at the centre by the name of Katka. A couple of months later everything about this beautiful girl has changed: Katka has found a boyfriend named Láďa and they live together in Prague. They are both in love and on heroin. We meet the enamoured addicts several more times – but their carefree life gradually comes to an end. The crimes they commit in the name of drugs get more and more difficult for them. Katka and Láďa finally split up and the focal point of her existence is how to get money for heroin. Tired, shabby, her eyes glazed and complexion ruined, Katka ends up on the streets selling herself. The thin brunette isn’t lacking in customers, for now, that is. “The whole time – for five years – Katka and Láďa were absolutely candid,” says the director. “I was always ready to help them find a way back. But it didn’t work out.”

About the film

56 min / Black & white, 35 mm

Director Helena Třeštíková / Screenplay Helena Třeštíková / Dir. of Photography Martin Kubala, Vlastimil Hamerník / Editor Anna Becková, Michael Třeštík / Producer Anna Becková / Production Česká televize/Czech TV

About the director

Helena Třeštíková (b. 1949, Prague) graduated in documentary direction from Prague’s Film School (FAMU). Since 1974 she has made about 30 films. Selected filmography: Miracle (1975) follows a pregnant woman through the birth of her baby boy and his first six months on earth, Touch of Light (1981) portrays the life of blind children, Material Etudes (1987, television series) investigates life in the 1980s through a six-year probe of seven married couples, and Tell Me Something about Yourself (1989, television series) treats the fate of seven young delinquents over the course of three to six years. She has almost completed another compilation documentary, Nurses (1989), focusing on the lives of several girls at nursing school.