Occupation 1968

Occupation as seen through the eyes of the occupiers. In 1968, five Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czechoslovakia. Fifty years later, five directors from these countries each created a short film reflecting on the invasion from the perspective of the soldiers who participated in it.

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Original title: Okupácia 1968
Genre: Documentary
Length: 130 minutes (feature-length) + 5 × 26-minute episode
Copyright: 2018
Production countries: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary
World sales: Slingshot films / Manuela Buono
Distribution: Slingshot films / Manuela Buono
Release: 21 August 2018

Synopsis

Occupation 1968 is a collective documentary capturing the invasion of Czechoslovakia through the eyes of soldiers from the five Warsaw Pact countries that took part. Directed by five filmmakers from Russia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and Germany, the film explores personal responsibility, moral dilemmas, and the inner world of those who carried out the orders. A powerful portrait of how individuals navigate history when caught in the machinery of power.

Credits

Director: Evdokia Moskvina, Linda Dombrovszky, Maria Elisa Scheidt, Magda Szymków, Stephan Komandarev
Story: Evdokia Moskvina, Linda Dombrovszky, Maria Elisa Scheidt, Magda Szymków, Stephan Komandarev
DOP: Jakub Halousek, Ákos Nyoszoli, Zuzanna Kernbach, Vesselin Hristov, Moritz Tessendorf
Editor: Matej Beneš, Levente Pap, Iza Pająk, Nina Altaparmakova, Denize Galiao
Sound: Richard Müller
Music: Marek Piaček
Production: Peter Kerekes (Slovakia)
Co-production: Hypermarket Film (Czech Republic), Agitprop (Bulgaria), Silver Frame (Poland), ELF Pictures (Hungary)
Producer: Peter Kerekes
Cast:
Jurij Michailovič Jermakov
Lev Nikolaevič Gorelov
Maria Michailovna Ponomareva
Ilja Lvovič Smolokovsky
Sandor Osźlanczi
Irena Oratowska
Tadeusz Oratowski
Klaus Auerswald
Reinhard Bohse
Laura Hempel
Petar Nikolov

Support

Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Creative Europe – MEDIA, Czech Film Fund, Polish Film Institute, Bulgarian National Film Center, Hungarian National Film Fund

World premiere

04/2018, 18th goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film

Festivals

goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (Germany, 2018) | Sofia IFF (Bulgaria, 2018) | Titanic IFF (Hungary, 2018) | LET’S CEE IFF (Austria, 2018) | Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Poland, 2018) | IFF Innsbruck (Austria, 2018) | Flickers: Rhode Island IFF (USA, 2018) | Sarajevo IFF (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2018) | Eastern Neighbours FF – The Hague (Netherlands, 2018) | Verzio Human Rights DFF (Hungary, 2018) | Free Zone FF Belgrade (Serbia, 2018) | East by Southeast FF – Copenhagen (Denmark, 2018) | Bogotá Short Film Festival – BOGOSHORTS (Colombia, 2018) | Trieste FF (Italy, 2019) | Mittel Punkt Europa Filmfest – Munich (Germany, 2019)

Nominations

Nominated for Best Documentary at the Sun in a Net Awards (Slovakia)

PRAGUE CORRESPONDENT

„The movie offers subjective opinions, experiences and stories from occupants themselves. This is what makes this documentary movie unique. Not a lot of films of this genre can offer you the other side of the story.” Petra Bayerová, Prague Correspondent, Charles University
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KINEMA.SK

„…The film succeeds in maintaining a remarkably coherent form and message — both structurally and thematically. Rather than being lost in fragmentation, its message is actually strengthened by it. Again and again, the same emotions resurface in the words, memories, actions, and reflections of its protagonists: helplessness, fear, ignorance. And the uncertainty of how they would have reacted if more had been required of them than simply to be present. If the order had come to shoot.“ Hana Lippová, Kinema.sk
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