Traces of a Landscape

An immersive watercolour of the life of artist Jan Jedlička. The Czech painter, filmmaker and photographer emigrated to Switzerland in 1968 before making his second home in the desolate landscape of the Tuscan lowlands of Maremma. The empty palette of possibilities of internal exile gradually fills with enchanting paintings woven from a colorful mixture of shades of rocks, sediments, and pigments found in the landscape. The impressions of his new home, transferred ambiently onto canvas, photographs, and raw material of film, capture the inner sight and spiritual bond of an artist released from social structures, devoted only to his own work and life in a landscape of subdued light and shadow.

 

 

Petr Záruba received degrees from the Faculty of Science at Charles University and the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU. He works as a director, cinematographer and film researcher. In his documentary work, he focuses on visual artists (Adriena Šimotová, Jiří John); his film about Jan Jedlička is his feature debut.