Helena's Law

synopsis

Documentary filmmaker Petra Nesvačilová’s study of the famous “Berdych Gang” focuses on police officer Helena Kahnová, but she also interviews other actors in the case, including the accused and the convicted. The resulting film is a mosaic that says less about the case or its background than it does about the people who exist on the edge of the law, and about their thoughts and motivations. Nesvačilová herself comes into contact with the criminal underworld and becomes an actor in her own film. She must decide whether it is safe to meet certain people, which leads her to consider questions related to the essence of crime and of good and evil in general.

“I thought I was shooting a portrait of a brave police woman, but in the end I found myself in places that I had always been afraid of and that I only knew from the movies. The underworld. And now I see that this underworld is all around us – sometimes very, very close.”

biography

Petra Nesvačilová (1985) first gained attention as an actress in Karin Babinská’s Dolls (2007). In addition to regularly appearing in Czech films and television series, she is currently studying documentary film at FAMU. Past films shown at the Jihlava IDFF include Opus No. 50 on the Story of Milada Horáková (2009), Tell Me Where the Germans Are (2011), and an episode of the series Ex-Premiers about Václav Klaus, From Borotín up to the top of Sněžka Mountain (2013).

more about film

director:	Petra Nesvačilová
producer:	Klára Žaloudková
script:	Petra Nesvačilová
photography:	Klára Belicová
editing:	Josef Krajbich
music:	Jan P. Muchow
sound:	Ladislav Greiner

contact

BACKGROUND FILMS / Klára Žaloudková / Kubelíkova 22 / 130 00 / Prague 3 / Czech Republic / +420 774 689 278 / zaloudkova@backgroundfilms.cz / www.backgroundfilms.cz