Michal Kondrla

A flying car has always been the symbol of something beyond reality; something that crosses the boundary of what is possible within human capabilities and the forces of physics. A full-fledged automobile, that flies. A plane that you can take to the supermarket. A flying car is an oxymoron, something that history confirms. The human race has been trying to join car and plane for a century. All of these attempts have ended with ridicule, at best, and with tragedy, at worst.

The inventor Štefan Klein was in luck, as his father was the same type of crazy inventor as he was, lacking an instinct for self-preservation and harboring a deep distaste of all things mainstream. He brought up his son to believe in and never doubt his seemingly insane ideas. This is why Klein was able to persevere and bring his dream dangerously close to reality. For 25 years, no one took him seriously and no one wanted to finance his project, which would allow him a professional working environment rather than the amateurism of his garage. All this changed when he met Juraj Vaculík, Klein's old classmate from university. A self-made man and owner of an acclaimed advertising agency, Vaculík was a man who had reached the pinnacle of his business career through his sheer assertive nature.

While following the development of Aeromobil, the flying car, we would like to uncover what drives these two people towards their goal. What is their main motivation? Why did Štefan Klein take over his father's dream and push it to become one of the top five most advanced projects within the international race to develop a flying car? Why does a local businessman, Juraj Vaculík, want to become the leader of one of the top technological companies in the world? Will they be able to change the world or will they end in failure, as all those who have tried throughout the last one hundred years? What effect will this have on their characters and relationship?

General Milan Rastislav Štefánik died at the age of 38. In his life, he had managed to travel all over the world. He had climbed Mont Blanc six times. He had built several observatories all over the world; he had organized the first Czechoslovak army, which he led. He had met many significant people of his time - scientists, artists, and politicians. The story of his life is often hard to believe as it reminds an adventure book. It seems unreal that a man from a poor family and with weak health could have achieved what he did. Despite his successes in the field of science and diplomacy, many of his contemporaries considered his main goal - independent Czechoslovakia - to be an utopia. He eventually succeeded in achieving this but he did not live to enjoy the laurels and glory. He died in a tragic plane accident close to Bratislava on May 4, 1919.

Unlike "classical chronological" documentary, which would inform the audience about Štefánik's life, list all his achievements, and build "an audiovisual monument", THE IMPOSSIBLE VOYAGE (and its “Méliésque” name should show this) aims to explore Štefánik's personality - many of his friends and acquaintances said that he was a "mysterious man". They had to admit that they only had known very little about him. He enjoyed talking about his experience and adventures, he entertained people by his travel stories, showed them his photographs, or souvenirs from his travels. However, he was only showing them the "surface" of things.

The "impossible" in the film title does not refer only to his great goals that he had achieved or the places he had visited. The "impossible" also refers to Štefánik himself - his nature, his philosophy, his life credo, his vision - utopia, which he had been trying to achieve, and which drove him further.