TRACES OF A LANDSCAPE

„Settle down, stay quietly in the landscape and learn how to watch. If there is nothing interesting and obvious at the first sight, go deeper, under the surface.“

The painter, photographer and experimental filmmaker Jan Jedlička lost the landscape of his youth. The political situation after 1968 forced him to emigrate from Czechoslovakia. He settled down in Switzerland. For almost 10 years, he was looking for a new inspiration when suddenly, during a holiday trip, he felt in love with the flat landscape of Maremma region in Tuscany. He found his new artistic home there and, as an artist, he began from scratch.

A characteristic feature of Jedlička’s works is earthiness. He collects colourful rocks and clods to be able to produce his own pigments that he uses in his paintings. Thus the depicted landscape becomes a part of the picture through the pigments collected there. In today’s abundance of unlimited digital possibilities, he turns to the most archaic methods of capturing the world. The documentary film follows Jedlička at work at present and dives into the past in order to help us understand his artistic career. The film tries to capture how he rediscovered his landscape – this time the inner one.

FINISHED

Festivals: Visions du Réel, Jihlava IDFF, Doc Lisboa, Festival dei Popoli, Elbe Dock, Brussels Art Film Fest, Festival Visages

Awards: Student Jury Award (Jihlava IDFF), Pavel Koutecký’s Award (Elbe Dock), Best Documentary Camera (Czech Cameraman Association), Andrej Stankovič’s Award

CZ/IT

Script, Director: Petr Záruba
DOP: Miroslav Janek
Editor: Pavel Kolaja
Script Advisor: Marek Šindelka
Sound: Vladimír Chrastil
Music: Jaroslav Kořán
Producer: Alice Tabery
Co-producer: Czech Television (Věra Krincvajová, Petr Kubica), Mammut Film – Italy (Ilaria Mallagutti)

Supported by: Czech Film Fund, Toscana Film Commission Sensi Contemporanei Programme For Tuscany

Project was presented at Docu Talents from the East (Sarajevo IFF 2018) and was part of Dok incubator CZ 2019.

REVIEWS

https://businessdoceurope.com/visions-du-reel-under-the-tuscan-sun/
http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4743/
https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/387761/
https://www.dokrevue.cz/clanky/stopy-jedlickovy-krajiny