Synopsis
The remarkable life of a remarkable man: bohemian, playwright, and president.
Hundreds of hours of material have been filmed about Václav Havel. Yet a biographical film capturing the life story of a great European was missing. Havel’s colorful life – his family, childhood, loves, work, and political activity – was captured in a 70-minute-long documentary by director Andrea Sedláčková, who presents Havel in all life stages and roles, including an intellectual rebel, a lover of women and life, or an admirer of the underground and rockers.
Country
Czech Republic
France
Producers
ALENA MÜLLEROVÁ, MADELEINE AVRAMOUSSIS, CHRISTINE CAMDESSUS, SERGE GORDEY, KATEŘINA ČERNÁ, MARTA SMOLÍKOVÁ
Genre
Documentary
CO-PRODUCERS
ARTE GEIE, ALEGRIA PRODUCTIONS, ČESKÁ TELEVIZE, WITH THE SUPPORT OF CENTRE NATIONAL DU CINÉMA
WITH THE SUPPORT OF CZECH FILM FUND
Release Date
16.11. 2014
Screening Formats
DCP, HD Files
Runtime
70 min
Trailer & Photogallery
Cast & Crew
Director & Writer
Andrea Sedláčková
Cinematography
David Cysař
Editor
Boris Machytka
Dramaturgist
Kateřina Krobová, Alena Müllerová
Music
Quentin Sirjacq, Studio Fontána
Sound Designer
Ivan Horák
About the film
Václav Havel, one of the greatest Europeans of the 20th century, was an artist, dissident, philosopher of his age, and then a president. He was one of those who managed to connect his country with the long history of Europe after the Cold War era. The velvet revolution that overthrew communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989 was remarkable: it changed the political system in a non-violent way and without firing a single shot, it succeeded in the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops that had occupied the country for more than 20 years. A man at the front of the revolution was Václav Havel. This writer, playwright, hedonist, dissident, political prisoner, and then the president of the republic is among those who restored the unity of our continent after the Cold War era.
Thanks to meticulous research in hundreds of hours of interviews, literary and philosophical texts, and archival documents, many of which have never been published, it was possible to reconstruct Václav Havel’s life journey. From his birth in pre-war Czechoslovakia through the period of communism, the Prague Spring, the creation of the new Czech Republic, to his death in 2011. In the film, Václav Havel tells about himself in a deep, elegant and ironic way. As a rebellious young man, he rebelled against the bourgeoisie from which he came, unable to settle for the gray future of a working man forced upon him by the system. He found freedom, his way of being and existence among others in artistic creation. Although he happened to be an artist, a political orator, and a distinguished statesman, he always remained a free man.