Disappearing Romance

Paľo Bielik / Slovakia / 1942 / Czech Premiere / 7 min.

synopsis

As one of the first films about Jánošík - Paľo Bielik dedicated it to folk production and the decoration of Shepherds’ axes.

If Disappearing Romance is the first documentary by Paľo Bielik for Nástup, it is an excellent entrée. The filmmaker with the reputation of Janosik begins the film with a Shepherd’s axe and a documentary about its production and decoration. From the film you can feel the respect for the craft, and for the romantic brigand tradition, and on the other hand the awareness of their folklorization or mercantilisation. Therefore, there are bandits, bowls, Shephers’s axes... but also a sense of humour and “encrypted” verbosity.

biography

Paľo Bielik (1910–1983)
The most successful embodiment of Janosik to this day, also a founding figure of Slovak film directing activities – the author of Wolves’ Lairs and Captain Dabac decided to pursue a career as a director in 1942, after a few years of acting at the National Theatre. In Nástup, he made approximately a dozen documentaries, some of which already bear his dashing “boyish” writing style.