A fitting cinematic tribute to Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel is in the works. And, helming it is someone from India.
Film-maker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who made the much- acclaimed documentary Celluloid Man on archivist P.K. Nair, is helming it. The film Czechmate – In Search of Jiri Menzel is set to be ready by next year.
“It is all connected, because P.K. Nair was the first one to show me Menzel’s film, when he screened Closely Watched Trains at the FTII Pune. It was a remarkable experience. I had never seen a film that dealt with World War II using humour this way. But that was not the idea of the film, it was about small people. There was irony, humour, sadness and yet, a smile on your face. It is one of the most perfect films. I then made up my mind that one day I would travel to Prague to meet this director,” says Mr. Singh.
And, then he forgot about that plan, until 2010, when he decided to go to Prague to meet the man.
“At that time, Jiri was off the press, but he gave me time to meet at a café. My friends, cinematographers Ranjan Palit and K.U. Mohanan, who were accompanying me, decided to film the meetings. Jiri was a bit stiff at the first meeting, but he was still surprised at someone coming from so far away to meet him. Over the next seven years, I kept visiting Prague several times, as part of making the film,” he says.
“He likes Prague and he just wants an excuse to be there. Making this film on me is an excuse,” Menzel interrupts, in his characteristic manner.
This year, Jiri invited him to be at the station where Closely Watched Trains was filmed, on the fiftieth anniversary.
“It was a very emotional moment for me. I was here at the very place where it was filmed, with the film-maker, with the actors and with the whole crew,” says Mr. Singh.
“Through Jiri , I was able to see world cinema. I was able to shoot such remarkable people in this film, like Andre Wajda, Vera Chytilova, Ken Loach, Woody Allen, and a whole lot of others. Through him, I was able to travel through the new waves in cinemas across the world. That’s why it is a pretty long film. I expect the final cut to be of eight hours’ duration,” he says.
The film analyses Menzel’s films and puts them in the social, historical and political contexts they were made.
