Completed - SLOVAKIAN - Drama, Jewish, Second film - 85 minutes
Year of production : 2014 Director(s) : Zdeněk JIRÁSKÝ Writer(s) : Zdeněk JIRÁSKÝ Cast : Judit BÁRDOS, Ján GALLOVIČ, Jan ČTVRTNÍK, Kristína SVARINSKÁ Producer(s) : Livia FILUSOVÁ (Furia Film)
Slovak musicologist Agata Schindlerová, now settled in Dresden, has spent years mapping out the forgotten destinies of Jewish musicians whose lives were irrevocably marked by the advance of nazism. Scenes from the lives of several of them are portrayed in the film In Silence (ballet dancer Alice Flachová, pianist and conductor Karol Ebert, composer, conductor and director of the Dresden Theatre Arthur Chitz, pianist Edith Kraus, and the vocal ensemble Comedian Harmonists), which draws a sharp contrast between the protagonists’ carefree existence working and making music during the pre-war era and the subsequent severe upheaval in their lives brought on by the proliferation of nazism. After his acclaimed feature film debut Flower Buds, director Zdeněk Jiráský teamed up with Slovak producer Lívia Filusová to capture on film the most tragic chapter in 20th century history. Instead of a planned documentary tracing the fate of several Jewish musicians, he ultimately turned out a feature film of exceptional visual and emotional impact, in which he examines an ostensibly exhausted cinematic theme with invention and extraordinary intensity.
Country(ies) : SLOVAKIA, CZECH REPUBLIC
Karlovy Vary 2014 (special screening)Thessaloniki IFF 2014Busan - BIFF/APM 2014Chicago IFF 2014Phoenix IFF 2015 (Best World Film and Best Director)