You were born in 1951 into agricultural family as fifth child.What chidlhood did you have.It was dark era in our history, do you have any light moment to think about, recollect?

I can compare things only in the region of East Slovakian village which I didn´t leave till 18 years of age.This village lived it´s own way and parson was the man who decided about everything.Prague or Bratislava was very far which was a luck.Today I perceive that as a forgotten island of freedom and nice childhood in the middle of nature and folklore traditions.Tragicomedy of the whole situation can be best described by following story I often mention.Our teacher broke up the religion classes, because we had to go to district town to be photographed before red flag as the best pioneer group.Parson bleesed us and made small crucifix at our foreheads.When we returned, school director, big communist, cross signed himself, thanked God that we returned back in one piece and religious classes continued.....So I perceived that dark era in it´s true form slowly, step by step and much later.As a person I matured much later at a university.

How the kid from agricultural family got inspired by the film?When did you have a chance to get to the cinema for the first time and do your recollect that experience?Do you think that fact that you run around lawns and fields and observed the nature, that you then subconsciously formed the feeling for camera, good shot, right light?

World of film was discovered for me by local parson Matěj Murgaš.He liked travelling and owned small camera with which he filmed his travelling experience.During long winter evenings during religion classes he screened us those documentaries.My parents didn´t know cinema and they didn´t  even posses  TV set, so I can say that Mr.Murgaš was the person who discovered the desire for film and travelling in me.Both became my life long hobbies.At that time, films for children were screened every Sunday afternoon at local monastery.There I saw all Chaplin films and I think the first ever film for me was his Kid.That all together brought me firstly to the theatre which I tried at the barn in the garden of our house.Then I started to write and I edited even my own fanzine.Then my cousin gave me and old camera.But to filming camera I got firstly at FAMU(Film and musical academy).I think, that family, environment and defined world around it helped me to my sensitivity.Many of my decisions were at given moment irracional but later on they showed up as the right ones.

"Mainstream has the wide range- from Titanic to Bastards,

from real artist to amateur exhibicionist- both find it´s

addresser"

Why did you decide to become a film director?Did you want to tell people some stories or you wanted to show people via film social injustice committed in the then Czechoslovakia?

It was slow progress which I showed .As a kid I had a knack for writing and people around me though I should be a journalist.So I  went to University (FFUK) in Bratislava and studied journalism.But I did sober up quickly, since I realized that being a journalist means you must write propaganda.And more over I felt that word isn´t enough for me, I needed another dimension- picture.I never ever touched film camera before that, not even film environment.So it took me two long years to find a courage and leave FFUK and try FAMU (Artistic and musical academy)

When I revealed my decision at home, mum burst into tears tellings me..” people

need doctors, parsons, teachers, judges..... but tell me who needs directors.I thought about it, looked around and didn´t find anybody who would need director.I think about it everytime when I work.To documentaries I got by accient.They told me there are two sections of directing at University: feature and documentary and I-coming from journalist university-should think about latter one.I didn´t have a clue about documents, I only knew it as an ideologic side product to the movies in cinemas.So straight away I started to run to social topics from my neighbourhood.It was what I knew the best, which I understood and which supported me.To my utter surprise, teachers took me as someone exeptional and almost exotic since those topics were much different to those screened in the cinemas.I believed that my benefit could be my life exprience from far away part of the country, from which I was the only student at the University.

You  were“ gifted” to always make something that pissed off the then powers- that-be and immediatelly were banned and persecuted for that.Were you that original and innovative that it didn´t fit in the picture of socialist human being and you deliberatelly and subconsciously picked up the topics that irritated and didn´t want to back off since you were convinced these films have meaning and sense?

At my beginning there wasn´t any clear-cut- plan or civic maturity but only effort to precisely catch reality and tell the truth.It was later often taken by powers-that-be as provocation since

 they either lived in different reality to which I knew or they simply wanted to create, different, propagandistic picture.But I wasn´t able to lie that way.In a way, I was always free man, educated to truth and honesty.My parents never limited me in anything as long as it didn´t breach The Ten Commandments.My father hit me only once, when I lied to him in certain situation.I feel his slap even today.I am lively so I often did things head on as long as I felt rightness of my decision.I never calculated any topic beforehand and never shot anything with cheap idea to irritate people.But I never set any limits to myself.I always picked up the topics according to personal feelings.It had to touch me and it was missing at that time, or others tried to avoid it.I always took documents as witness of the time and era.That´s why I always resisted any deformation or twisting the facts.It wasn´t easy at that time because all was in hands of the state and controllers of “regime correctness” who were able to alter the work of author without him knowing it.So my later refual led to absolute ban from filming.I always tried to fill in the white gaps and I tried that before and after the Velvet revolution.

"We had to fight mainly with Czech TV, survived many

directors and weren´t well liked by Czech TV employees who

could compare that we can do better work in worse

conditions than them."

You studied in Roma, why there?Was it your choice or you have some close relationship with Italy with films of Fellini, Antononi?What do you think about Italian film realism?

When the unusual offer to study in capitalist country apprared at the University, I didn´t hesitate for a minute it must be Italy. I must say it was pretty extraordinary offer for that time.Since first touch of neorealism I fell in love with Fellini or Passolini, they were my idols.I started to learn Italian when I came to University and also my thesis covered Italian neorealism.Fellini´s Amarcord is one of my all time greats, even today.Sadly, today Italian as well as Czech cinematography in 60´s doesn´t have the same meaning and same force.

In 1991 you stablished your own, independant company FEBIO.Did you long to be free and independent not only as film maker but also as human being or you simply hated knocking the other people´s door and beg for money.You wanted to stand on your own feet and do what you wanted to do?

Since 1985 when I had to leave my job as director and was expelled from Association of artists I earned money by being a travel guide.So after the Revolution, I was, unlike some of my mates, ready to stand on my own feet and don´t wait for others to do it for me.I hoped, that there will be some artistic explosions since many of my mates talked about what they would do if they could.... above the pint of lager in the pub.......But nothing extraordinary has happenned..So I got assured and I do it up until today, that what I want to do, I  have to do myself.I wanted to make films without begging and under bureaucratic conditions, do it my way.After so many years when I could  not do my job, I was obviously artistically hungry.So I created my own artistic space and named it after myself  FEnič BIOgraph.At that time it was very difficult to obtain money for feature, author´s film.And exciting time of that era almost forced me to focus at documents.Not only because it was low budget projects and money could be obtaind easilly but also because documents vanished from TV and cinema at that time.And TV was flooded by journalism since TV repaired all that was bent, twisted and distorted by past regime.But that present time almost asked itself to be documentated.There again showed my sensitivity.

What were the beginnings of FEBIO in those days, was it hard fight?Did you have concrete idea what kind of films and documents would you like to create or you-as the time went- focused yoursef to direction where you are now and which made you an outstanding artist?

After one week, when I made a deal with Short film about serie called OKO- view at the present time- which  after a short while was accepted  by Czech television, I found out, I won´t be able to do all by myself.So I asked few friends and it snowballed and new ones came on board.They called me themselves.It was at the time when all of them lost their basic certainties, former institutions stop existing and no new system wasn´t established yet.Many of those people were out of job, some didn´t know what to do, where to go and they didn´t want to do just commercials or journalism, they wanted to continue in what they knew the best. So I became an artistic haven for many of them, even those most notorious ones.We were almost first in everything that was done that time.With our development the conditions for private productions in state TV were formed.That all on one hand helped to create phenomenon of Febio, on other hand it led me more from directors job to production one, since there was no way, I could do both.But when I saw, for how many filmmakers Febio became the artistic haven, even for some time, I came to conclusion that I will sacrifice my own ambitions in order to help them, knock at many doors, humiliate myself in order to keep that working space alive and kicking.We had to fight mainly with Czech TV, survived many directors and weren´t well liked by Czech TV  employees who could compare that we can do better work in worse conditions than them.In my first contract I stated that our documents must be shown only in prime time and on ČT 1 and this lasted long time.I didn´t want this genre be sent out of viewers focus as it is today.Of course,. I was well supported by the fact that from very beginning our rating was so high that current film makers can only dream about that..It all was killed by former editor of communist  weekly magazine Palcát  Mr. Jiří Janeček, who became a general director.Since that time, production of Febio for ČT finished and it slowly led to it´s end.Febio was a product of that nice era and when it´s ideals begun to vanish, it vanished also from TV.

In 1993 you established independent festival FEBIOFEST. Did you feel that here doesn´t exist any platform or independent film or you only wanted to help others and give  a chance to this genre?

I always delicately perceived situation around me.When I saw that number of cinemas is getting smaller and smaller and what kind of movies is shown in those cinemas that lasted, I started to fear that maybe there will be money to make films but there won´t be any viewers to watch them.It must be stressed that  at that time, many film clubs were closed and neither art cinemas nor multiplex movies existed yet.My then students at FAMU didn´t have a chance to see any significant films in the movies, since there was no distributor who would devote time to these films.Even the future of Karlovy Vary festival, where I was member of board, wasn´t very bright.My intention was to create low budget festival for wide  range of viewers.It had to be kept alive for them not to stop going to movies.And since Prague never had such big international film event with having the best technical equipment, it was logical choice.After first year of existence we were flooded by dying cinemas from whole Czech Republic, if we could offer them part of our programme.So we, as the first ones, came with idea to show our films in the regions.Firstly it was in selected cities, later in whole republic.At that time the situation in Slovakian cinematography was even worse and the connections with Czech Republic were severed so we started to show our films there, too.What only few people know, that for over 10 years we financed from our small budget festival cinemas in regions and we sent out Czech sponsors to Slovak film festival.

Since 1972 you live in Czech Republic, which is your home country.How did you experience the break up of Czechoslovakia and how do you value current state of Czech and Slovak cinematography?

Majority of my life I lived in Czech Republic so I am tied with Slovakia with only tiny memories for my childhood.Nevertheless I think that our two nations fitted together and made much more colorfull unit whose benefit could be bigger than it is when we are divided.Same applies for cinematography where Slovak fresh air is missing in Czech films while Slovak films lost Czech viewers who could help it by financial stabilization.

You love travelling, visited  95 countries of the world.You only relax and relish it or you also kind of try to find the topic for your new film or document?You fly to write screenplays to Brasil.Why so far not say to Bohemian Paradise?

Maybe it´s because for far too long I could only dream about travelling so far away.To stay outside Czech reality helps me to get into perspective and into contact with other environment not only enrich me but also strengthen me.Further away, the better I can discard my everyday troubles, forget about my obligations and I can only focus at my ideas and thoughts.Sometimes I go only to one place where I want to concentrate on-say- writing, sometimes I wander around whole country and absorb iniciatives without any clear idea.That´s why I mostly travel alone, which taught me to help myself in any situation and understand every man in any environment.Thanks to that I can be very hardly jumped by  something and I never give up no matter  how hard it looks.I know that if I really want something and I am able to sacrify something for that, that I can get it.Atmosphre in whole Czech Republic is far too negative for me in last years so that is why I look for my   “Bohemian paradise” elewhere.

Apart film, you are also interested in books, theatre, music, architecture, fine arts.Could you be equally as successfull writer or painter as you are director or you do all these things just to have general knowledge and complete your personality?

Film is synthesis off all those categories.That is why I am interested in them and follow them.In last few years I enjoy to be just myself.Painting and writing suit this the best.Everything I do, I do full time, 100%.I enjoy focus at only one thing, I never worked simultaneously on two projects.I want to enjoy my work, I am a happy person who never in his life did anything which he wouldn´t like.

Is there any line between independent and commercial film. If there is any, where is it?

I perceive the line between good and bad film.Topic, form of processing which defines the type of film viewers to who it can be addressed is usually chosen by filmmaker himsef.In independent sphera is it usually based on amount of budget.But sometimes it can be only pose, therapy or inability of he professional performance which is called experiment. Mainstream has the wide range- from Titanic to Bastards., from real artist to amateur exhibicionist- both find it´s addresser.I mostly try to find the sense of the making, understand it´s response or reluctance by the audience.The audience is still the most important factor for survival of cinematography.Maybe the technical progress will bring film makers such freedom that they will be able  to finance their projects themselves.Then the line between need of telling and pure commercial benefit with be more honest and clearer.

If there was no Velver revolution in 1989 and the regime wouldn´t be beaten, would you emigrate and work as free artist in different country?

I can´t say today, really, how I would behave since I would have to have a passport and chance to travel and I didn´t have either.Fact is that I was filming flat the movie “ Zvláštní bytosti”.I mean it was something like “ maybe it´s the last time and after that I won´t get any chance in this country”.Almost all of my works are authors, so I don´t know if I would have been able to write in different language.And also I was more emotionally tied with this country than I am now.And since it´s often said that you more or less take over manners and mistakes of your parents I probably would have become and alcoholic.Like my father, peasant, whom communits took all, even the reason to live.He died standing in our local pub where he drunk his last glass.Then he didn´t fall off, he just put his head at the shoulder of next standing man.