Interview with Jan Šikl,
Director of PRIVATE CENTURY
This interview originally appeared in Refleks and is translated from the original Czech.
What brought you to the documentary?
I took up this profession after my father. If I have to compare myself with him, he did what he did better and differently. But my father died before I had a chance to really show him something of which he could be proud. In this certainly rests one of the initial motives. And I was led to documentary film further by the feeling of euphoria you experience when something works. This moment sometimes happens in the cutting room, when elements begin to come together better than you expected, when this joining of diverse elements illuminates some new theme.
Who inspired you the most?
This inspiration takes me to another time. But I wouldn't qualify it as "the best time." For example, time at school, which was clearly marked by the need to somehow critically survive the era of living socialism. It was perhaps BIG WISHES by Jan Spata, a publicity documentary about the desires of the young generation of the 1960s. The documents from the open period at the end of the 1960s were a big inspiration at school. From the 1970s, I remember, for example, WINDOWS by Milan Peer, an imagistic allegory which mirrors in detail its time. If we're speaking about "big" inspiration, a sidelight - the song "Magpie in My Palm" by the rock group Prague Selection. This was for me an emotionally strong and inspirational moment. From documentaries, also the big essays about human presence in this world: THE SUN by Vaclav Hapl, then KOYAANISQATSI by Godfrey Reggio, an enormous allegorical fresco. Such a film - such images. That was very strong. Then not so long ago, the Austrian documentary OUR DAILY BREAD - about the industrial production of food. Without words. All of the films were enormously moving. But there were certainly others.
What brought you to start creating films from family archives?
It began by chance. My friend Peter Forgacs, who has already worked for a long time making films from family film archives in Hungary, needed some materials from Czechoslovakia. And he got me to help him find these films. This was still before the revolution. I didn't believe in this idea very much. I saw the documentary as a raw social portrait of its time. But the times were changing and this also led to a change in my understanding of the documentary. Especially after we began to experiment with editing the first family archives with editor Jan Danhel. At first, there was a lot of searching and fumbling. And then came the moment of euphoria. There were more of these moments. Suddenly, something unexpectedly powerful emerged. I think that it surprised us how self-sufficient, emotional and expressive the private archives are. It's definitely due to the incredible authenticity of the material. These scenes were always recorded spontaneously. They are not encumbered with some "commission". There is no higher intellectual speculation. This is why they were able to capture the times completely and in a different semblance and why they are so different from official archives. Of course they are also full of many banalities, but these belong to the genre.
How did you manage to obtain the materials?
I gathered several hundred hours of material, but then I realized that it can't continue this way; that I can't accept everything that comes into my hands. It's not possible to create a documentary from every family archive. So I try to select them critically. Sometimes I feel I almost lack the strength to find the films, look at them, transfer and then systematically arrange them.
Are the events in the cycle PRIVATE CENTURY entirely based on authentic remembrances, or are they also enhanced by fantasy?
I feel a lot of authenticity. I believe that out of it flows a belief in goodness, and from this the truthfulness of the entire piece. So I am trying to be very honest. I hold long discussions with those whose memories I rely on, or with the protagonists of the films. I search for the key life moments, for behavioral motives. Then in the narrative of their life stories, I try to preserve their personal expressions, the characteristics of their speech. All of these are individual characteristics which you could never imagine. My reach into the theme focuses on finding the main characters (sometimes, in the family sagas, there are multiple possibilities), and in identifying the key scenes. From this we prepare the re-telling of the narrative.
History is mostly foreign to our lives. It's been taken over by statesmen, soldiers, various prominent personalities….I am trying to re-tell the history of the 20th century through personal destinies. To preserve the honorable historical truth. Without ideological effects.
After seeing PRIVATE CENTURY, did anyone come forward to tell you that they had something similar?
Yes, people offer their family films. Often, they could not even look at them unless I transferred them into a more contemporary technological medium. But the chance that I am going to find something interesting, the probability is 1 out of 20. And when such a family archive lends me something, I have to find that moment. So the subject of the family archives not only has to be integral to the history of the family, but he must be capable of re-telling the story. Nothing in this is by itself. It is a slippery slope on many fronts. I believe that there are still many such family film archives. During the first republic, there was a strong middle class, which could afford the hobby of amateur filmmaking. This tradition remained even during the socialist era. I would be happy to make contact with the owners of saved family archives. Time passes - and human memory disappears.
Did PRIVATE CENTURY receive some recognition abroad?
PRIVATE CENTURY relates ordinary human events. These are universally understood. Only they are situated in the reality of Czechoslovakia in the 20th century. And these realities reverberated with many surprising turns. They reached into people's lives in unforeseen ways. And this connection - of intimate human destiny with enormous histories - makes PRIVATE CENTURY strong. So the films received several festival prizes.
How do you choose the themes of documentary films which you shoot yourself?
I don't close myself to anything. But I need a feeling of engagement. So that I would enjoy it. One of the characteristics of the documentary profession is its diversity. Those contacts with different professions, places, social groups...
You are the writer of the script for the film MARIAN. The situation of the orphanage and the lonely life of Marian seem very authentic. What kind of experience did you have for the writing of the script? Was your documentary experience useful?
For this I can blame the internet. Someone glued Marian there for me and I could not get it unstuck. Marian, my cousin who documented on the computer the period of his psychology practice at a children's home, is responsible.
Do you manage to make a living making documentary films?
No. This is only possible for a few very strong individuals who are capable of realizing one film while completing another and preparing a third one. And they have the good fortune that someone wants these films from them. This requires a strong nature. And for this, it's best to be single. A few of my colleagues already ended up like this. All that's needed that a few films get cancelled. Documentary film is horribly compensated. Today it's a sideline profession, because the directors have to earn their living through other work.
Do you have a defined line between what you are willing and not willing to make?
I don't have a problem making a commissioned commercial film. But it needs to be good professional work and, in some way, it needs to engage me. I turned down some work a number of times - for example, some political commercial spots, or music videos for a type of music which I don't enjoy. The best is to realize one's own ideas. It's the only way to avoid these kinds of dilemmas.
What led you to become your own producer? Is it essential for keeping your independence?
It's not a requirement. But it relates to finances. In the commercial world, there is little money for the creation of documentary films. And if somehow you happen to get some financing, you have to decide how to spend it. As an independent producer, you are able to produce more economically, to make films for less money (and this is definitely not synonymous with lesser quality!); you can improvise better (which is often essential in documentary filmmaking). In short, as a documentary producer, you have your fate in your own hands. It's a greater creative freedom. The trend and prevailing attitude in Czech Television in the 90s was to "enable". There was no problem giving work to directors outside the Czech Television staff; to small, external producers. Now the situation is opposite. And it's a great pity. What is lost is what is called the "author's documentary" - diversity is stifled. The remaining opportunity is with European grants and international co-productions. But this is an entirely new profession for a manager-producer. This is something which a director can rarely do by himself now. A producer of documentaries in the Czech Republic has a hard time making a living. I would need to make at least ten films each year. And who will want them here? For this, we are too small a market. So the existing model of director-producer has its own logic, but for this, Czech Television would need to be much more open.
How would you characterize your collaboration with Czech Television?
For PRIVATE CENTURY, I had the conditions for independent production which I needed. Dramaturgs Jan Gogola and Martin Stoll made this generously possible for me, and for this I am indebted to them. So, I should not speak disparagingly. But I view the current programming conditions critically. Czech Television captured the wave of entertainment at almost any cost. For example, there are various magazine series which should, above all, serve an educational function. But according to these programs, we will never improve our gardens, furnish our apartments or learn how to cook. It's less about the quality of information than about entertaining antics. I miss mostly the understanding, independent critical thinking, more independent, original creations of independent authors.
Did the film prizes, which you received, have some effect on your work? Did it help you in any way?
We are all vain, aren't we? So to calm one's ego with some prize statue, usually with a dedication on the pedestal, and, even better, with a notice to the press - this, in fact, helps. But otherwise I can say that a few of these prizes hurt me quite a bit. After all, it's better than if you put a lot of effort into it, and it then just fades away. To commit oneself to it gets harder. Everything is redundant. Even, understandably, documentary films. All you need to do is to see how many films are entered into some film festivals. Fifteen hundred documentaries! Really! And there are tens and tens of these festivals. Just to have a film shown at such a festival is already success.
Can documentary film create social change?
If you don't have in mind the investigative political candidates for the Pulitzer Prize, then no. It's enough to open a discussion on a theme. A documentary by itself doesn't have the power. A documentary needs to happen as a part of a broader movement; a discussion which involves the whole society, then it can reinforce social understanding about a specific problem. Come to see, for example, the One World Human Rights Festival in Prague. Every year they show several very strong critical themes. Well made. Each of these themes has a goal of social change. But a documentary film doesn't have such power. The world is over-seeded with themes and social change - it's complicated marketing.
At the FAMU (Film Academy), you wrote a theoretical work about stereotypes in documentary films. Did this change? What are the stereotypes today?
Yes, it was an era of outspoken ideals. But it's true that a stereotype begins to threaten, for example, at the moment when you lose your concentration among several films at the same time, when there is no time….and then you reach for acknowledged forms. I would rather lead a film step by step from beginning to end. I try to have the film constantly engage me. In making films, you need to have joy, if not, it's about stereotypes.
Do you dream of a film you would like to make?
I look forward to the films about which I am thinking.
