Editor

Helena Třeštíková, a Czech documentary film-maker and the laureate of several international film festivals, including the European Film Academy Award for “René”, will receive this year’s Dragon of Dragons award at the 52nd Krakow Film Festival, which will take place between the 28th May and 3rd June 2012.

The award is granted by the Programme Council of the Krakow Film Foundation from 1998 for special achievements in the documentary and animated film category. So far its laureates included famous artists such as: Kazimierz Karabasz, Stephen and Timothy Quay, Werner Herzog, Raoul Servais, Allan King, Jerzy Kucia, Albert Maysles and Jonas Mekas. The Czech director is the first woman to receive the award.

Helena Třeštíková graduated from the documentary department at the FAMU Prague Film School in 1974. Initially she intended to design costumes. However, once she graduated, she chose to work with documents and she remained faithful to her decision ever since. She specializes in documentaries reflecting a long period of time, based on the “time gathered” method. She has made 50 documentaries so far – short, mid and full length as well as TV sessions – most often concerning relationships and various social problems. From 2002 she is a professor at the documentary film department of FAMU. The ex-minister of culture of the Czech Republic has made well-known documentaries such as “Marcel” (2007), “René” (2008) and “Katka” (2010) as well as “Private Universe” which premiere is scheduled for this year.
1987 saw the premiere of the series “Marriage stories”, which depicted the life of six couples. The director accompanied them for six years from the moment of their marriage (1980 – 1986). In 1999 Helena Třeštíková got back to the series, following the main characters with a camera for the next 6 years. The second season of “Marriage stories 20 years later: Ivana and Vaclav” is an insightful study of the institution of marriage, it presents the story of the two architects from Prague.
In 1996 she started to make documentaries with women playing the main roles. Just like before, she applied the “time gathered“ method. The series consisted of nine parts. Třeštíková accompanied “Katka”, one of them, for 14 years. The film, awarded with a Golden Tape at the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival was seen by 10 000 spectators in Czech Republic, which made it possible for the documentary to be constantly present in local cinemas. “Marcela” awarded in 2007 at the European Film Festival in Sevilla was an earlier example of this trend.

“René”, a film distributed internationally, which presents a story of a teenager from a broken family, later a criminal and prisoner at the age of 15 with no chances for rehabilitation is another stage of the “time gathered” method applied for 20 years. The changes in his personality caused by the trauma of the family home are too deep and lasting. One of the victims is the director herself, who is robbed by him in 1992. The film has been awarded at international film festivals such as: the European Film Academy Award for the best documentary of 2008, the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, the main award for the Milan Documentary Film Festival and the International Film Guide Inspiration at the East End Film Festival in London.

Helena Třeštíková will be awarded the Dragon of Dragons on May 30th during the 52nd Krakow Film Festival. The festival guests will have the opportunity to see the retrospective of her films accompanied by the meeting of the director with the public. The award-winning director will conduct a Master Class as part of the Industry Zone. This will help the participants to familiarize themselves with a documentary film-maker workshop.