Dušan Hanák

Television series Golden Sixties examines new insights into Czech and Slovak cinema of the 1960s and the role of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Each episode focuses on a different filmmaker.

A documentary portrait that captures Dušan Hanák in the process of working on a musical-poetic piece consisting of his guitar improvisations and reading personal texts. Through interviews with his former student Marek Šulík and during meetings with various people in iconic places, we learn about the themes and influences that shaped not only his life, but also about the social circumstances that accompanied his creative search and the creation of films. Those realized and not realized.

Jakub, a dreamer and budding magician, juggles between parcels and services rendered to the villagers. His eyes cross that of the beautiful gypsy Jolanka. Together, they will try to live a first and big love, despite the pressure of their respective communities.

Documentary film about apprentice youth about to enter real life.

A documentary féerie about the problems with tourists from abroad. How foreigners “invade” our homeland. A series of minute observations on life under so-called “real socialism” provokes sparkling ironic and satirical commentary—a broadside against the bankrupt Communist system.

A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his efforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to find his own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.

Television series Golden Sixties examines new insights into Czech and Slovak cinema of the 1960s and the role of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Each episode focuses on a different filmmaker.

Jakub, a dreamer and budding magician, juggles between parcels and services rendered to the villagers. His eyes cross that of the beautiful gypsy Jolanka. Together, they will try to live a first and big love, despite the pressure of their respective communities.

Jakub, a dreamer and budding magician, juggles between parcels and services rendered to the villagers. His eyes cross that of the beautiful gypsy Jolanka. Together, they will try to live a first and big love, despite the pressure of their respective communities.

Documentary film about apprentice youth about to enter real life.

Documentary film about apprentice youth about to enter real life.

A documentary féerie about the problems with tourists from abroad. How foreigners “invade” our homeland. A series of minute observations on life under so-called “real socialism” provokes sparkling ironic and satirical commentary—a broadside against the bankrupt Communist system.

A documentary féerie about the problems with tourists from abroad. How foreigners “invade” our homeland. A series of minute observations on life under so-called “real socialism” provokes sparkling ironic and satirical commentary—a broadside against the bankrupt Communist system.

A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his efforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to find his own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.

A story of a man threatened by a fatal illness evaluating his life (the number 322 in the film title stands for the diagnosis of one kind of cancer). He understands his illness as a form of punishment for his cruel deeds in the 1950s. In the face of reality and his efforts to cleanse himself he hits a barrier of indifference, lack of interest, and individual and collective selfishness. He has to find his own reconciliation with his illness and his past and present life.

Dušan Hanák's final film: a bitter documentary about the history of Communism in Czechoslovakia.

Dušan Hanák's final film: a bitter documentary about the history of Communism in Czechoslovakia.

A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolated human experiences.

A raw and telling portrait of a people left behind by the modern world, inspired by the work of photographer Martin Martinček - whose pictures of the inhabitants of the Liptov region in central Slovakia, encompassed by the Tatra mountains, distilled entire lifetimes into luminous and intransient images. Dušan Hanák's continuation of these photographs takes the shape of a poetic visual essay, capturing more comprehensive vignettes of their isolated human experiences.

The drama called I Love, You Love was made in 1980 but because of the absurd ideological ban, the film entered cinemas nine years later. Pišta is an unmarried man who works at a freight wagon which carries letters and parcels. Alcohol helps him to overcome his handicap of being short and not good-looking. He wishes he had a woman, but the woman he really wants, ageing Viera who reloads the cargoes, has a soft spot for another man. So, Pišta has nobody and nothing, except for senile mother who sometimes fails to recognize him. The film received Silver Bear for Best Director at the International Film Festival in Berlin.

The drama called I Love, You Love was made in 1980 but because of the absurd ideological ban, the film entered cinemas nine years later. Pišta is an unmarried man who works at a freight wagon which carries letters and parcels. Alcohol helps him to overcome his handicap of being short and not good-looking. He wishes he had a woman, but the woman he really wants, ageing Viera who reloads the cargoes, has a soft spot for another man. So, Pišta has nobody and nothing, except for senile mother who sometimes fails to recognize him. The film received Silver Bear for Best Director at the International Film Festival in Berlin.

Soňa, an emotionally unfulfilled nurse trapped in a monotonous marriage, decides to break away from her routine to escape her surroundings. Despite facing personal failures and ideological conflicts with her husband, she undergoes a process of self-discovery.

Soňa, an emotionally unfulfilled nurse trapped in a monotonous marriage, decides to break away from her routine to escape her surroundings. Despite facing personal failures and ideological conflicts with her husband, she undergoes a process of self-discovery.

A portrait of the master potter Ján Frankovič from Bardejov, from 1970.

A portrait of the master potter Ján Frankovič from Bardejov, from 1970.

A documentary about the cycle of human life and the eternity of nature.

A documentary about the cycle of human life and the eternity of nature.

A traditional Advent mass filmed in a church in the historical town of Spisska Sobota (Northern Slovakia), featuring authentic liturgical texts and songs.

A traditional Advent mass filmed in a church in the historical town of Spisska Sobota (Northern Slovakia), featuring authentic liturgical texts and songs.

A documentary about the artistic and verbal expressions of mentally ill people.

A documentary about the artistic and verbal expressions of mentally ill people.

No synopsis available yet.

Poetic documentary about works of several artists from ideas to “births” of works of art.

Poetic documentary about works of several artists from ideas to “births” of works of art.

Documentary portrait of the life of circus artists during their winter break.

Documentary portrait of the life of circus artists during their winter break.

In Bratislava at the end of the 1980s, two estranged sisters try to make up with each other while balancing their private lives and careers.

No synopsis available yet.

This film is a playful depiction of the festivities around the performance If All Trains of the World by Alex Mlynárčik on June 12, 1971. Deň radosti shows Hanák using the 'inter-genre' style of documentary which made his feature film Obrazy stareho sveta (1971) a masterpiece. Still photography, live action, interviews, old etchings and archive footage of old train journeys are skilfully blended to create a sympathetic and humorous portrait of the romance of an old steam train and the joy of artists and the general public in participating in this children's game for adults. Once again, the avant-garde is imaginatively used to eulogise over traditional values and the past. Deň radosti is important not just for the considerable pleasure it brings; it is the first of a series of films in which artists use film to document happenings. (http://www.ce-review.org/kinoeye/kinoeye3old.html)

This film is a playful depiction of the festivities around the performance If All Trains of the World by Alex Mlynárčik on June 12, 1971. Deň radosti shows Hanák using the 'inter-genre' style of documentary which made his feature film Obrazy stareho sveta (1971) a masterpiece. Still photography, live action, interviews, old etchings and archive footage of old train journeys are skilfully blended to create a sympathetic and humorous portrait of the romance of an old steam train and the joy of artists and the general public in participating in this children's game for adults. Once again, the avant-garde is imaginatively used to eulogise over traditional values and the past. Deň radosti is important not just for the considerable pleasure it brings; it is the first of a series of films in which artists use film to document happenings. (http://www.ce-review.org/kinoeye/kinoeye3old.html)