Pictures of the Old World
Dušan Hanák
A film immediately banned after its premiere for its apparent naturalism. In reality, however, a portrayal of distinctive village characters in a world unsullied by ideology, inspired by the photographs of Martin Martinček from Liptov. The will to live and overcome life's hardships is moulded in Hanák's vision into a celebration of authentic humanity.
Many of Dušan Hanák's short films are inspired by creative expression, whether acting, music or the fine arts. When he received an offer to make a film about the work of a classic of Slovak photography, Martin Martinček (1913–2004), he seized the chance to conceive his own distinctive impressions of the artist's oeuvre. It was not his intention to come up with a mere reproduction of his environment of Liptov and its rural inhabitants; he decided to re-create and develop this world for the viewers through film, crafting a polyphony of human stories. Four of the ten portrait subjects are those whom Martinček discovered himself; the fifth, Adam Kura, one of the major players in the film, they discovered together. The other five Hanák came across himself, accompanied by Vladimír Vavrek, whose photographs play the same role as Martinček's pictures: the film combines them in equal measure with the images from the film camera, in the same way that documentary shots alternate with staged film pieces. The overall impression is thus one of immediacy and authenticity – in reality, the result of contradictory filmmaking approaches whose collage effect ultimately establishes the film's unique poetic style. Naturally, Hanák uses other techniques in a similar way – music, song, synchronised and non-synchronised sound and background noise, significant details and local scenery taken both from photographs and exteriors. Hanák observes the individual characters in relation to their surroundings, but he seeks, and finds, the core and depth of their security in the people themselves. What has value in life?, he asks. And the people, sorely tried by fate, tell him: The things which have value in life are life itself, sorrow, joy, merriment, work, God, children and love. "But the greatest of these is love."
KVIFF
Obrazy starého sveta
Alojz Hanúsek
Alfréd Benčič
Georg Friedrich Händel, Vacláv Hálek, Jozef Malovec
Ondrej Polomský
64 min (46-90 min.)
Grösslingová 32
web: http://www.sfu.sk
tel: +421-2-57 10 15 01
e-mail: sfu@sfu.sk
Alcan Award for Best Film – Montreal Festival of New Film and Video 1990
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film (awarded in 1990)
Nomination for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Annual Award in the Documentary Film Category, 1991
Grand Prix Golden Sestercius, Audience Award, Award of the Youth Jury, and Honorary Mention of the Ecumenical Jury – 20th Nyon International Festival of Documentary Films 1988
Don Quixote Award (FICC), FIPRESCI Award, and Prize of the GDR Film and Television Producers Union – 31st Leipzig International Week of Documentary and Short Film 1988
Main Prize for Best Film – 4th Munich International Festival of Documentary Films 1989
Special Mention of the Documentary Jury – European Film Award (awarded in 1989 in Paris)