Film Archive

The Gardener's Year

Special Screenings 2024 / Zahradníkův rok / Czech Republic 2023

Synopsis

A true story of injustice perpetrated on a peaceful gardener by a wealthy neighbor meets Karel Čapek’s eponymous literary work about a gardener’s hardships and successes over the course of a year. Director Jiří Havelka, one of the most complex artistic personalities of our time, has long proved that “alternative” and “audience-friendly” need not be mutually exclusive. His quietly moving tragicomic story about a remarkably stubborn struggle for the right to a dignified life is built on two great performances by the always outstanding Oldřich Kaiser and Dáša Vokatá.

Karel Och

About the film

104 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Jiří Havelka / Screenplay Jiří Havelka / Dir. of Photography Ferdinand Mazurek / Music Tadeáš Věrčák / Sound Petr Kapeller / Editor Jakub Hejna / Art Director Jan "Pjena" Novotný / Producer Jíří Tuček / Production Donart production s.r.o. / Coproduction Česká televize / Cast Oldřich Kaiser, Dagmar Vokatá, Michal Isteník, Štěpán Kozub / Contact DONART Production

About the director

Jiří Havelka (1980, Jihlava, Czechoslovakia). Selected filmography: The Owners (Vlastníci, 2019), Eyewitness (Očitý svědek, 2021), Emergency Situation (Mimořádná událost, 2022), The Gardener’s Year (Zahradníkův rok, 2024).