Documentary Films - Out of Competition 2014 / Eugéniové / Czech Republic, Slovak Republic 2013
The film explores the controversial (pseudo-)scientific discipline of eugenics, in which humans style themselves as cultivators, thereby taking God’s work into their own hands. This inventive documentary essay reflecting upon the extent to which science could be abused by totalitarian ideologies is supplemented by quotations from Patrik Ouředník’s book Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century.
The topic of Pavel Štingl’s latest documentary centres on the controversial (pseudo-) scientific discipline of eugenics, where humans styles themselves as cultivators, thereby taking God’s work into their own hands. Featuring quotations from Patrik Ouředník’s award-winning book Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century, this highly informative documentary essay ponders the extent to which science and education could be abused by totalitarian ideologies. But the film is also fascinating from another aspect: its formal structure is derived primarily from an imaginative blend of archive footage and striking animated sequences. The design of the work, involving artists Xénia Hoffmeisterová and Jaroslav Róna, adds another dimension, largely shifting its role from a purely historical record to a more philosophical and often mischievous piece. The animation, boldly inserted into the archive shots, is inspired by art brut and artworks created by the mentally disabled – namely those who, on the basis of eugenic theories, ended up in the gas chambers.
78 min / Color, DCP
Director Pavel Štingl
/ Screenplay Pavel Štingl
/ Dir. of Photography Miroslav Janek
/ Music Jaroslav Kořán
/ Editor Tonička Janková, Otakar Šenovský
/ Producer Jiří Konečný
/ Production K2 s.r.o.
/ Coproduction endorfilm, Česká televize / Czech Television, Punkchart films, RTVS
/ Contact endorfilm, A-Company Czech s.r.o.
/ Distributor A-Company Czech s.r.o.
www: www.eugeniove.cz
Pavel Štingl (b. 1960, Prague) studied documentary filmmaking at Prague’s FAMU. His graduate film focusing on young doctors, Learning to Fear (1985), won various awards and established one of the chief lines of his work. In the early 1990s he began a lengthy, award-winning series of major political documentaries examining countries of the former Socialist Bloc. In 1995 he founded K2, his own production company, where he produced several documentary series and a number of comprehensive documentary coproductions, including major works covering important events in 20th century history: The Story of the Patrie Survivors (1996), Four Pairs of Shoes (1997), Stone and Knowledge (1998), The Lost World of Karel Pecka (2000), and The Second Life of Lidice (2002), among others. His films have been screened at numerous foreign and domestic festivals, winning a variety of awards.
endorfilm
Přímětická 4, 140 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 241 730 780
E-mail: [email protected]
A-Company Czech s.r.o.
Štefánikova 18/25, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 257 315 540
Jiří Konečný
Producer
Pavel Štingl
Film Director
Christine Daoudová
TV Representative
Barbora Mudrová
Other, TV Representative
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