A: During the location scouting for the film I realised that the environment of a theological school is essentially black and white by default. Summary; … Michal and Juraj are stronger believers, however, and find themselves in the middle of this conflict between church and state. The theme of the film is, however, more universal and is not necessarily only connected to Communism – it is about if we choose the path of compromises, or, regardless of the risks, we’ll follow our own values. The two institutions existed side by side but played by communist rules.There is, of course, some resistance against this betrayal of the doctrine among the priests, and it has its tentacles in the seminary, too. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy. August 2020 werden Publikumslieblinge der diesjährigen Berlinale vor ihrem Kinostart im Berliner Freiluftkino Friedrichshain gezeigt.

Pope John Paul II once said: “The history teaches us that democracy without values quickly transforms into a clear or disguised totalitarianism.”Enter your email address to follow Close-up Culture and receive notifications of new posts by email. Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2020 coverage here.. For … The young generation does not remember this era anymore and the Western European audiences can get easily lost in detailed explanations, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the facts.

We tried to bet on the emotions and feelings rather than the facts. A: It’s a story of two friends coming to study at the theological faculty in 1980s Czechoslovakia and they’re confronted by priests collaborating with the Communist regime.

Geboren 1972 im slowakischen Žilina. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. But then I’ll try to make Vlad Ivanov join me for a visit to the aquarium at the Berlin Zoo. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Er studierte Dokumentarfilmregie und arbeitet als Regisseur und Produzent in Bratislava.

Their friendship starts to break, because both of them react to this pressure in a different way. Marissa Khaos. I don’t know any other film addressing the issue of priests collaborating in Eastern Europe. A: Well, it does sound like a neverending story, but of course, this was caused by me working on various other projects at the same time – for example, I’m finishing up a film that takes place in a female prison in Ukraine and a kindergarten placed there. The curious Michal is introduced to it by an older student (Although the set-up has all the qualities of a thriller, Ostrochovský's approach is almost hard-core arthouse. Berlinale World Cinema Fund. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. We use a saying: “Hurry slowly.”A: Impact sounds so fatal.

But Vlad taught me that one doesn’t exclude the other. Additionally, the iconography of Catholicism and communism is often linked, such as one scene where priests have a snow-fight under a torch sculpture that evokes the Bulgarian Buzludzha monument.Little is overtly explained, reflecting the way the StB (secret police of Czechoslovakia) operate, like the church, under a strict code of silence. That’s why I decided to become my own production designer, to control the image as much as I can.

I often re-shoot, because I feel I can do it better after some time. ... Sommer Berlinale. We tested several formats. Introducing. While working with non-professional actors, you quickly get used to having to express emotions differently than by acting – with atmospheres of landscapes, for example. These priests are more boyish than pious, and we see them engaged in play — such as ping pong and football — more than prayer. A: To work with Vlad was an incredible lesson for me, as I’ve only worked with non-professional actors until then. Because horrors evoke the feeling that external powers that we can’t control are commanding us. With the aid of cinematographer Juraj Chlpík, Servants creates images as cold as its state bureaucrat’s faces. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.An austere black-and-white look at Catholicism under communism, Servants is a clever drama from Slovakian director Ivan Ostrochovský.From Steven Seagal to Eric Rohmer, Redmond Bacon has an opinion on all things film. With daily news, interviews, data bases, in-depth investigations into the audiovisual industry, Cineuropa aims at promoting the European film industry throughout the world.

Our cinematographer, Juraj Chlpík, preferred the 4:3 ratio, as most of the story takes place in rooms with high ceilings and this format helps to dominate the vertical lines. Servants (Služobníci) does not have a UK release date yet. A festival regular, he has his own website at redmondbacon.co.ukThis is a customizable subscription pop-up to sign up your visitors to your newsletter Drama - Completed 2019 Festivals & Awards. Servants is true to the spirit of Bresson whose hero Francois Leterrier from Un Condamne a Mort s’est Echappe is duplicated here in the resisters.