The Slovak film Hana a jej bratia will be shown at Istropolis on December 6 and 7.photo: Ján Svrček
Hana a jej bratia (Hannah and her Brothers), the Slovak film competing in the Bratislava International Film Festival's competition of 'debut and second films by a director', faced an uncertain fate until the last minute. Upon completion of filming, director and screenwriter Vladimír Adásek had no money left to make a print of Hana a jej bratia. Luckily, the Ministry of Culture freed up the required money, allowing film festival guests to enjoy what promises to be an entertaining Slovak film.
In the summer of 1998, 28 year-old Adásek, a fresh graduate of the film and TV direction faculty at VŠMU in Bratislava (University of Fine Arts), established his Saint Anthony film company and began work on the film. The screenplay was originally a book, but when Adásek found it a very depressing read, he turned it into film.
The film is a joyous, yet poetic story set in a town environment, which talks about a "prison in freedom". It evolves along two lines - in a cabaret and in the family of the lead character, Martin. The personalities from the cabaret live as if in a world entirely different from that of Martin's crazy family.
Through Martin's eyes, viewers become acquainted with his family, aunts, uncles, cousins and inhabitants of the street, whom he meets daily. Each and every personality of this story has their own problems and resolves them in a peculiar way. Martin, surrounded by the net of these difficult relationships, searches for someone with whom he will be able to get along.
The film, accompanied by the songs of famous singer Hana Hegerová, is characterised by Adásek as cabaret. "A viewer in the cinema should at least for a while forget his own everyday troubles."
During the festival, the film will be played three times; twice in Istropolis cinema on Trnavské mýto 1 on December 6 at 15:30 and December 7 at 12:00, and once in Polus City Center on Vajnorská street on December 7 at 17:30. It's accompanied by English subtitles. Tickets cost 30 Sk.
by Zuzana Habšudová
