Milan Kundera

2DORCS12
Director:Miloslav Šmídmajer
Cast:Milan Uhde, Jiří Bartoška, Jan Kačer, Jean-Claude Carrière
Premiere:9. December 2021
Length:95 minutes
Genre:Documentary

Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera: Od Žertu k Bezvýznamnosti; Miloslav Šmídmajer, 2021, versions: OR,CS, languages: ces, fra

Director: Miloslav Šmídmajer • Cast: Milan Uhde, Jiří Bartoška, Jan Kačer, Jean-Claude Carrière, Yasmina Reza, Bernard-Henry Levy

Why was Milan Kundera's work so interesting all over the world? Why did he go to France and start writing in French? What is behind the fact that he impeded having his latest novels translated to Czech? Why does he avoid cameras and publicity? The documentary about Kundera's work takes us to his birthplace, Brno, to the times when he studied and taught at FAMU, or to the period of normalization, when he was prevented from writing and producing and would not be published, although he was already successful abroad. Despite that, he introduced the play Jacques and his Master, along with J. Bartoska, but with an alias. In the mid-1970s, he took advantage of the invitation from the University of Rennes and began lecturing there. In 1979, the Czech authorities deprived him of his citizenship. Kundera commented: "At that time, the Russians controlled everything and it was the Russians who decided that I was no longer Czech." President Mitterrand granted him a French citizenship. He published his most famous novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, as a Frenchman. Later, however, he no longer consented to making his works into films.

Length: 95 min

Year: 2021
Local premiere date: 9. December 2021

Country of origin:

  • Czech Republic

Language version:

OR - Original version (czech, french)
CS - Czech subtitles

Director: Miloslav Šmídmajer • Cast: Milan Uhde, Jiří Bartoška, Jan Kačer, Jean-Claude Carrière, Yasmina Reza, Bernard-Henry Levy

Why was Milan Kundera's work so interesting all over the world? Why did he go to France and start writing in French? What is behind the fact that he impeded having his latest novels translated to Czech? Why does he avoid cameras and publicity? The documentary about Kundera's work takes us to his birthplace, Brno, to the times when he studied and taught at FAMU, or to the period of normalization, when he was prevented from writing and producing and would not be published, although he was already successful abroad. Despite that, he introduced the play Jacques and his Master, along with J. Bartoska, but with an alias. In the mid-1970s, he took advantage of the invitation from the University of Rennes and began lecturing there. In 1979, the Czech authorities deprived him of his citizenship. Kundera commented: "At that time, the Russians controlled everything and it was the Russians who decided that I was no longer Czech." President Mitterrand granted him a French citizenship. He published his most famous novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, as a Frenchman. Later, however, he no longer consented to making his works into films.

Year: 2021
Local premiere date: 9. December 2021

Country of origin:

  • Czech Republic

Language version:

OR - Original version (czech, french)
CS - Czech subtitles