2009: A Musical Odyssey 2009 / Momentky / Slovak Republic 2008
A feature-length look back at a unique and enigmatic figure of Czechoslovak rock between the 1960s and 1990s. A portrait of rock poet, bohemian and ascetic Dežo Ursiny, woven together from the reminiscences of Marián Varga, Ivan Štrpka and Zdena Krejčová, among others.
It’s no great surprise that one of the first feature-length film portraits from the world of Czechoslovak rock centred on the mysterious, exuberant, original and extremely talented Dežo Ursiny. The Slovak rock poet died in 1995 aged forty-eight and only his music remains: albums he created together with poet Ivan Štrpka; a major reappraisal of his own work to date produced in the 1990s, towards the end of his life; and his early songs from the Sixties beat era when, from the age of eighteen, Dezider or Dežo Ursiny was one of the big names on the Czechoslovak scene together with the band The Beatmen. Dežo Ursiny’s sister speaks of a key episode in which he feigns a self-harming attempt, and actually ends up hurting himself. Co-band members Marián Varga, Jaro Filip and Andrej Šeban describe their memories of this scintillating yet insufferable person. Women, producers, children: various "snapshots” (the title of one of Ursiny’s albums) are pieced together to form a profile of an exceptional musician: from the bohemian years through asceticism to inner piece in anticipation of death.
90 min / Color, DIGIBETA
International premiere
Director Peter Krištúfek
/ Screenplay Peter Krištúfek
/ Dir. of Photography Peter Šantavý
/ Music Dežo Ursiny
/ Editor Marián Petro
/ Producer Mária Vaneková
/ Production Trigon Production s.r.o.
/ Cast Ivan Štrpka, Zdenka Krejčová, Andrej Šeban, Oskar Rózsa, Radek Pastrňák, Richard Kroczek ml., Jakub Ursiny
/ Contact Trigon Production s.r.o.
Peter Krištúfek (b. 1973, Bratislava), writer and director, studied film direction at VŠMU in Bratislava and has made over twenty documentaries: a portrait of Milan Sládek Mime Artist in a Human Mask (1996), a portrait of Jan Saudek ...And God Created Woman (2000), Budmerice – Mysterious Island of Writers (2006), H for Heroin (1999, award from the Slovak Ministry of Health, Ekotopfilm festival); the TV feature film Long Short Night (Igric Award and three prizes at the Artfilm festival 2004). He is currently putting together the feature film Visible World. Literary works: prose collection With the Naked Eye (2004), novella Outtake Star (2005), screenplay Slow Reaction Force (2006, together with D. Nagy). His novel Prompter (2008) was nominated for the Prix de livre Européen.
Trigon Production s.r.o.
Hribová 9, 821 05, Bratislava
Slovakia
Fax: +421 2 444 566 73
E-mail: [email protected]
Pavel Klusák
Freelance journalist
Peter Krištúfek
Film Director
First-hand brews throughout the year.
Be among the first to learn about upcoming events and other news. We only send the newsletter when we have something to say.
