Cinema
Pictures of the Old World
Obrazy starého sveta
Dušan Hanák · 1972
Synopsis
In ten portraits, old people from the mountain villages of Liptov and Orava follow one another, having remained inwardly free despite the upheavals of their time. In front of the camera, each recounts in a few words a harsh life, and scenes of everyday life, a mass or a round of drinks, alternate with photographs by Martinček. Hanák celebrates an authentic humanity there, in a world that ideology has not reached, where images of Gagarin nevertheless appear.
Context
Inspired by the photographs of Martin Martinček, a classic of Slovak photography, the film brings together ten portraits: the photographer found four of them, a fifth was discovered with the director, who found the other five alone, accompanied by the photographer Vladimír Vavrek. The cinematography is by Alojz Hanúsek, the music mixes Handel with Václav Hálek and Jozef Malovec. Banned from its first screening for its apparent naturalism, it did not reappear until 1988 and received that year the Nyon grand prize and prizes in Leipzig, then in Munich and Montreal; it was subsequently nominated for the documentary Oscar.
Who it is for
One hour in black and white, in Slovak; faces and short accounts rather than a story.
Prizes and reception
Chosen by critics as the best Slovak film of all time; prize for best documentary from the Los Angeles critics in 1990.