The independent historical film. Balladic story is set in the dominion of the Holy Roman Empire, by the time of the Great Plague of 1348. The ambition of the authors is to give the audience a world of medieval people and their mentality.
Author: Tomáš Uher
The idea of a balladic story from the times of the Great Plague has been shaping over a number of years. After successfully finishing the “Na konci září“ film about the mobilization of 1938 we immediately started setting the next production up with utmost care. This time we decided to approach professional film actors with our screenplay, which got treated by a script editor and has been met with universal acclaim. By now we have already completed several days of shooting and are right in the middle of preparations for the main stage of production this summer, which is the reason we are addressing you…
The film’s topic is racial and religious intolerance, specifically with hate depicted as a state that drives people into self-destruction. Our goal is to make a statement about the present via an age long past. At the same time, we intend to return to the roots of Czech historical cinema of the 1960s, especially to the legacy of Frantisek Vlacil and his cinematic poems (Marketa Lazarova, The Valley of the Bees), delivering expression through outstanding cinematography. This is why we chose a black-and-white widescreen format and why we are aiming for the utmost historical accuracy.
This balladic story is set in the dominion of the Holy Roman Empire, by the time of the Great Plague of 1348. Violent outbursts against the Jewish population were being driven as a way to resolve the situation. In the cultural depictions by Europeans, the Jews were blamed for poisoning the wells and further sabotaging the Christian population. Out of fear of the Plague, Jews have been identified as the cause of the deadly contagion and often ended up slaughtered during pogroms. The main heroes of this film are the knights Gottfried and a generation younger Siegfried. In exposition, we would see a Jewish marriage interrupted by a violent raid of Gottfried’s men-at-arms who proceed to slaughter the wedding guests. Some of them, including the groom Amos and the bride Marie, manage to escape while Amos also finds shelter in Siegfried’s fort. Gottfried, fanatically loyal in his conviction, demands to have the man handed over and the clash between the Christians and the Jews carries over to the members of the same social class…
Some less-than-common animals, like an owl, or a wolf, will appear in this movie. You will see a reconstruction of a medieval Jewish marriage as well as a purifying ritual in the mikveh bath. We will take you to the authentic spaces of medieval castles and forts and into the unmistakable atmosphere of untouched forests.
We are a group of independent filmmakers that, in their Quixotic craze, believe in realizing a full-scale feature film in rather tight production conditions. Our work aims for distinctiveness and we wish to address some current social and humanity-wide issues with our film. For this, we are aided with priceless assistance of Doba Karlova, an association which provides us with necessary equipment, clothes and weapons and serves as our knowledgeable source of info on medieval mentality and society.
We have put together a marvelous team of young people that work on the film with enthusiasm and we also brought a number of professional actors to our side. The only thing we need (aside from the summer weather being nice) is the support from you…
Even though the entire crew and most of the actors are contributing without a fee and Doba Karlova is helping us in numerous areas, our humble budget is facing many practical demands to secure the catering and lodging as well as the rent for all the necessary filming equipment. It’s due to these practical aspects that we decided to turn to you, hoping that with your help we will manage what others would call impossible: TO CREATE A COMPLETE HISTORICAL FEATURE FILM IN INDEPENDENT CONDITIONS WITH A MINIMAL BUDGET.
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