Pilgrimage to the Mountains

Karel Čtveráček / Czech Republic / 2020 / International Premiere / 82 min.

synopsis

Art historian and theorist Jiří Zemánek and his friends set out on a nine-day pilgrimage from Prague to Sněžka, one they’ve done many times before. These modern pilgrims, inspired by the walking journey of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha, who completed the trip with Eduard Hindl in 1833, discover the beauties of the Czech landscape, read excerpts of poems and observations from Mácha's notebook, and observe a world in which untouched nature and modern civilization meet. The lyrical, meditative film, interwoven with humanism, offers an insight into the inner minds of pilgrims longing to merge with the world, highlights poetry as a tool for transforming human perception.

"And then there is no choice but to take one's meager belongings onto one’s back and set off. Jirka might read a poem on the road, perhaps from Mácha, Jeffers or Josef Hora, and our minds are open to the unknown. We already know that there is nothing to be afraid of: the path will set us straight and guide us, connect us with the landscape, with the clouds, with the starry nighttime sky. With ourselves.” K. Čtveráček

Q&A with Karel Čtveráček and Jiří Zemánek:

biography

Karel Čtveráček (1970) has received bachelor’s degrees from the Faculty of Science, Charles University, where he studied biology, and the Department of Documentary Filmmaking at FAMU. In his work, he focuses mainly on depicting nature and important personalities from the field of art in documentaries such as The Man Who Painted the Sea (2005), The Beautiful Flight of the Bees (2009), and Don't Give Up: All Around Me Lives and Feels Like Me, which was presented at Jihlava in 2017.

more about film

director:	Karel Čtveráček
producer:	Jarmila Poláková
script:	Karel Čtveráček
photography:	Karel Čtveráček
editing:	Karel Čtveráček
sound:	Petr Záruba
sound design:	Vladimír Chrastil
skladatel:	Ivan Acher