Author Versus Viewer, Art Versus Kitsch, Professional Versus Amateur

Last year’s collection of full-length documentaries in cinemas displays several remarkable trends. With regard to the diversity of qualitative, aesthetic, auteur and commercial points of departure and approaches in it, the number of débuts, in particular, should be something to please us (Miro Remo, Vladislava Plančíková, Arnold Kojnok, Oľga Záblacká, Daniel Dangl and Lukáš Zednikovič, Patrik Lančarič, Róbert Slovák, Anabela Žigová, Martin Štrba, Ladislav Kaboš, Jana Čavojská and Vladimír Kampf). Along with these, one tried-and-tested professional – Ľubomír Štecko – also released his new film in cinema.

At the same time, this profusion of full-length débuts suggests that the filmmakers have changed shift, as the distinguished personalities of Slovak auteur documentary moved over to feature films (Juraj Lehotský, Marko Škop, Jaro Vojtek) or did not release a new documentary in cinemas last year. Another interesting signifier appears when comparing the auteur projects made with the ambition of winning recognition at international festivals with those projects made with a clear intention of confronting Slovak audiences, of stirring them out of their lethargy and reviving domestic attendances. The first type of production may be denoted as auteur film which seeks to work creatively with filmic means of expression and approaches treatment of the concept in an artistically creative manner. The second type of film, on the surface at least, makes concessions to the viewer’s taste, it takes up a calculated stance with its emotional part in advance and it is based on the attractiveness of the phenomenon emerging from the film.

Returning to the past and focusing on a portrait are the dominant features of these projects: on the portrait of an individual (Kojnok, Štecko, Kaboš, Záblacká) or of a group (Štrba); on commemorative films (Lančarič, Dangl and Zednikovič) or partial self-portraits (Plančíková, Žigová, Slovák, Štrba). Plančíková, Lančarič, Žigová and Štrba took advantage of a domestic idea based on an environment close to the author. Of all these filmmakers, only Plančíková, Kojnok, Štrba and Žigová do not only assemble biographical facts but also, using memories as a basis, reflect more profoundly on a certain social phenomenon seen from the position of a subjective historical perspective. In Felvidek: Caught in Between (Felvidék – Horná zem) Plančíková tries to reflect the national identity in the context of the deportations of citizens of Hungarian nationality from southern Slovakia after enforcing the Decrees of the President of the Republic in 1945. In The Lyricist (Lyrik), Kojnok offers an original view of the history of Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1993 through the life-story of the erudite historian, Ján Mlynárik. It is the story of the joint state of Czechs and Slovaks and, simultaneously, the story of an individual who experienced the totalitarian regime “live” at first hand. This was also the main theme of his life-long historical research. In Salto Mortale Žigová investigates the “secret police” past of her own father, whereby, in broader overlaps, she reveals the practices of the former secret police, she uncovers the subtle and harsh methods it applied as an instrument of power and intimidation. In Wave vs. Shore (Vlna vs. breh) Štrba makes the audience familiar with the phenomenon of the “Slovak new wave” in photography in a dynamic video-clip montage, albeit to the detriment of consideration of the theme and reneging on the development of characters and story. It is a group portrait in which the director forms a part.

Only the films of Miro Remo, Ladislav Kaboš and, in parts, Oľga Záblacká are also original in that they do not draw on ideas from the past but instead they reflect current problems in a socially engaged manner. In Comeback, as an author, Remo creatively unveils the emotional world of repeat offenders. He offers us a glimpse behind prison walls, he analyses the reasons for repeat offending and he reflects critically on the judicial system which produces “eternal” inmates by complicating their return to society once their sentence has been served. In his film All My Children (Všetky moje deti) Kaboš combines both these trends. He approaches the topical theme of segregated Roma communities in an original manner and, through a portrait of the Catholic priest Marián Kuffa, he captures the practical and spiritual activities he performs in his effort to tackle the Roma issue in a colony near Žakovce in eastern Slovakia. He selflessly and devotedly helps marginalised groups of society: Roma, former prisoners, homeless, handicapped people, alcohol and drug addicts, physically abused women, etc. The documentary recorded festival response both in Slovakia and abroad; at the same time, it made an assault on attendance records even in the domestic distribution environment.

In Square in a Circle (Štvorec v kruhu alebo Život medzi únikmi a snami) Ľubomír Štecko has created
a concentrated portrait of the Slovak artist of Ruthenian origin, Vladimír Ossif, who realised his dream of becoming an internationally renowned artist in the area of abstract painting purely by his own efforts, even through his privations. Štecko takes note of his personal trials and tribulations, the quirkiness of his personality, the inner determination and egoistic resilience which took the artist on his journey through the largest cultural metropolises of the world. Today he is able to evaluate the relationship of an artist with creation and life, to reflect on the uniqueness and originality or to highlight insignificant cultural values from the position of a well-established professional. At the same time, this road movie is a testimony to the spiritual freedom of a man who is bound neither to place nor to family so as to be able to carry on dreaming his dream and remain true to the ideals of a free artist. In The Edge – 4 Films about Marek Brezovský (Hrana – 4 filmy o Marekovi Brezovskom) Patrik Lančarič created a portrait of the prematurely deceased Marek Brezovský (1974 – 1994) and a single generation in Bratislava. The four films (Music, Love, Family, Solitude) are interconnected by Brezovský’s original music which elevates the story of the young artist to the level of a local legend. His music moved beyond the period he lived in, but his sensitive personality was not able to cope with the changes in society after 1989 and his depressions multiplied through heroin abuse. Lančarič uses archive materials which are given a commentary by Marek’s peers and family; the information is frequently repeated but from a different person, another voice. The animated final part of the film made by Patrik Pašš Jr. makes the film’s structure formally remarkable. Animated techniques linked with archives and diaries are also used by Vladislava Plančíková in Felvidek: Caught in Between.

The inclusion of Róbert Slovák’s film, First Slovak Horror (Prvý slovenský horor) among documentaries is questionable. The self-portrait is actually a stylised and staged reconstruction enlarging on the trials and tribulations of a producer who sought to make
a horror movie under our conditions. The result is a sort of unbalanced mosaic about the development
of a never-completed project in which the degree of stylisation of facts and self-presentation of the author exceeded the documentary component and this was formally manifested as an arbitrary playfully staged reconstruction. Thus, the “making-of” became more of a film pretending to be a documentary than a full- fledged documentary about the making of a feature film – a horror. For the reasons given in the film, this making-of remained an attempt to make a joke.

We may designate the commemorative film made by Daniel Dangl and Lukáš Zednikovič 38 as commercial kitsch without any auteur or artistic ambitions. The film about the life of hockey-player Pavol Demitra is a sentimental interplay of television techniques and clichés. It is based on the tragedy of the hockey-player and the reactions in society and in the media to his death, it manipulates the audience’s emotions, it is an obtrusive attempt to turn Demitra into a hero with a mythical personality cult. Paradoxically, due to its treatment and not its theme, 38 became a big hit with audiences. Oľga Záblacká’s film Archbishop Bezák, Adieu... (Arcibiskup Bezák Zbohom...) calculates on a similar social order. The author attempts to create a civil portrait of archbishop Bezák in the form of interviews, staged commentary and shots from TV reports and coverage, and she tracks down the reasons for him being removed the construction of dramaturgy. The same, however, cannot be said of Salto Mortale by Anabela Žigová. The theme of the film affords a really good basis for a documentary detective story with self-portrait elements. But the qualitative imbalance of all the components of the film expression means that the result displays all the hallmarks of an amateur home video. A lack of directing, cinematographic, editing and sound practice can be evinced from the treatment, and the film was probably made without any dramaturgic preparation. The bonus of the film is that the main character’s face, the face of the director’s late father, never appears on the screen.

DanubeStory by Jana Čavojská and Vladimír Kampf stands out from the auteur film framework. The filmmakers adopt the popular-educational genre from the outset and try not to diverge from it. We learn the details about the River Danube and about the countries through which the river flows by way of an informative commentary. However, the selection of protagonists appears to be somewhat haphazard. Whilst in some countries these are in some way related to the film’s theme, in others the relation is somewhat strained.

In 2014, in addition to an increase in the number of documentary débuts, we also noted an inclination on the part of filmmakers towards the portrait form. The authors prefer to examine their subjectively perceived historical themes with an inclination towards narration in the first person or to revealing private family stories. The works of Miro Remo and Ladislav Kaboš stand out from this group as these two try to continue with their auteur works and, at the same time, stay in  contact with current problems. 

Martin Palúch
PHOTO: All My Children (Všetky moje deti), Media Film