Diamond Czech Style
A documentary about a uniquely Czech depiction of the female crotch as a diamond with a vertical line in the middle. The original vulgarity painted on walls and in public toilets with its recorded history reaching to the 17th century became a phenomenon that entered the highest levels of Czech art in the 20th century – be it drama, literature (Milan Kundera), visual art (Štyrský) or film. At the same time, it left its humorous mark on the Czech population by giving it its „diamond perspective“. Paradoxically, the Czech diamond thus has become, though officially overlooked, an actual part of the Czech cultural heritage. The author will take a historical, cultural anthropological and sociological perspective on this graphic symbol.
Dajori
The forthcoming film Dajori (which means mother in Romani) tells the story of the main character Marie (45), a mother of three children who lives an ordinary life in a block of flats in Varnsdorf with her husband Enrico (50). For a long time now, Varnsdorf has been classified as an area whose population is threatened by poverty and social exclusion.
Marie assumes the role of the female head of her extended family and decides to help her younger sister who has ended up homeless with her nine children. Two-year-old Anabel and nine-year-old Samuel end up in the foster care of Marie and Enrico. In the following three years, the film follows the dynamics of the new family and Maria's efforts to compensate the traumatized children with motherly love and at the same time raise them according to her ideals. While Iveta is unable to get out of the drug addiction even for the sake of the children, Samuel enters puberty and challenges Maria's efforts.
Marie assumes the role of the female head of her extended family and decides to help her younger sister who has ended up homeless with her nine children. Two-year-old Anabel and nine-year-old Samuel end up in the foster care of Marie and Enrico. In the following three years, the film follows the dynamics of the new family and Maria's efforts to compensate the traumatized children with motherly love and at the same time raise them according to her ideals. While Iveta is unable to get out of the drug addiction even for the sake of the children, Samuel enters puberty and challenges Maria's efforts.