Archive of films Cervena / Červená

Czech Republic / Slovak Republic
2017, 83 min

Section: Czech Films 2016–2017
Year: 2017

She had to face the cruel blows of 20th century history, yet she wouldn’t allow herself to be broken, and she went on to conquer the world with her talent. Olga Sommerová’s documentary profile focuses on another major Czech figure – the legendary opera singer Soňa Červená, who created a hundred roles on stages scattered across five continents.


Synopsis

One hundred roles in 5,000 performances on stages scattered across five continents. Such is the professional career of opera singer Soňa Červená, whose life is mapped out in this feature-length documentary by director Olga Sommerová. Soňa Červená was born in 1925, the daughter of Jiří Červený, founder of the Red Seven cabaret. Tragedy struck the family after the Nazi occupation, when her parents ended up in a concentration camp. After the communist takeover Soňa’s mother died in Pankrác prison under mysterious circumstances, and Soňa herself, now a celebrated artist, began to fear for her life. She thus took advantage of an invitation to join the Berlin State Opera and fled to the West. There she found a new career for herself, with engagements at dozens of world-class venues. During this time, however, Soňa Červená was, in fact, not well known in her country of origin, where she returned after thirty years in exile. Cervena is a portrait of a fascinating, unfaltering individual who was reluctant to lay down roots, and it was for her public that she always strove to maintain her integrity.

Jan Škoda

About the director

Olga Sommerová

Olga Sommerová (b. 1949, Prague) studied documentary film at FAMU, graduating in 1977. Her films focus on social themes and human relationships, the lives of ordinary people and important figures, feminism, and the political history of the Czech and Czechoslovak Republics. She taught at FAMU in 1991–2002, heading the documentary film department for eight of those years. In 2005-10 she was associate professor at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. On the strength of the successful film What Women Dream About (1999) she published three volumes of interviews bearing the same title, and also the book What Men Dream About. She has made around one hundred films, which brought her 35 awards at Czech and foreign film festivals. KVIFF has screened her documentaries Věra 68 (2012) and The Magic Voice of a Rebel (2014), which won KVIFF’s Audience Award.

Contacts

Evolution Films
Senovážné náměstí 10, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 222 240 770
Fax: +420 222 240 770
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.evolutionfilms.cz

Aerofilms
Milady Horákové 383/79, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 947 566
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aerofilms.cz

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About the film

Color, DCP

Section: Czech Films 2016–2017
   
Director: Olga Sommerová
Screenplay: Olga Sommerová
Dir. of Photography: Olga Špátová
Editor: Jakub Hejna
Producer: Pavel Berčík
Production: Evolution Films
Coproduction: Česká televize, Muzeum Montanelli, PubRes
Contact: Evolution Films
Distributor: Aerofilms
   
www: www.sonacervenafilm.cz

Guests

Olga Sommerová

Film Director

Soňa Červená

Actress


Barbora Dlabajová

Production Manager

Pavel Berčík

Producer, Service Company Rep.


YouTube

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