Synopsis
The year is 1980. Michal and Juraj are students at a theo- logical seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia. Fearing the dissolution of their school, the tutors are moulding the seminarians into a shape satisfactory to the ruling Com- munist Party. Each of the young students must decide if he will give into the temptation and choose the easier way of collaborating with the regime, or if he will subject himself to draconian surveillance by the secret police.
COUNTRY
Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Ireland
GENRE
DRAMA
CO-PRODUCERS
Negativ, Point Film, RTVS, Film and Music Entertainment, Libra Film Productions, Hai Hui Entertainment, sentimentalfilm, With financial support: AVF (SK), SFK (CZ), Eurimage, CNC
RELEASE DATE
Berlinale 2020
FORMAT
DCP
RUNTIME
80 minutes
Trailer & Photogallery
Cast & Crew
DIRECTOR
Ivan Ostrochovský
Writers
Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Marek Leščák, Ivan Ostrochovský
Cinematography
Juraj Chlpík
Editor
Jan Daňhel, Martin Malo, Maroš Šlapeta
CAST
SAMUEL SKYVA, SAMUEL POLAKOVIČ, VLAD IVANOV, VLADIMÍR STRNISKO, MILAN MIKULČÍK, TOMÁŠ TUREK, VLADIMÍR ZBOROŇ, MARTIN ŠULÍK, VLADIMÍR OBŠIL, ZVONKO LAKČEVIĆ
Music
Miroslav Tóth, Cristian Lolea
Sound Design
Tobiáš Potočný
About the film
Since 1948, when the Communist Party took over Czechoslovakia, the secret police persecuted priests who were unwilling to adapt to the new conditions. In order to control and manipulate the church, the state created Pacem in Terris, a collaborationist clerical or- ganisation implanted into the ecclesiastical structures.
In response, an underground church was formed with the goal of maintaining spiritual purity, ordaining se- cret priests and serving informal mass in private homes, all the while staying independent of state affairs.
The film takes place in the early 1980s. Three decades into Communist rule, Czechoslovak society is under- going steep moral decline, but still no one dares to be- lieve that the regime could one day come to an end.