MOJE VÁLKY/MY WARS
Czech Republic, 2010, 26 min
Jiřina Kosíková
29.01.2011 14:00
Věra Fialová was born at the end of the First World War as the out-of-wedlock child of a Czech woman and a Polish man, a Russian prisoner of war. In an old suitcase she keeps her old letters and pictures from the First and Second World Wars. Her memoirs, accompanied by songs from her family repertoire, capture the "small history" - the life story of an "ordinary woman" against the backgraound of the great historical events of the 20th century.
An edited document taken as part of ethnological field research in 2007 and 2009. The Film was produced as part of the research project of the Institute of Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i. Prague "Cultural Identity and Cultural Regionalism in the Process of Shaping European Ethnic Patterns" (reg. number AV0Z90580513).
The director Jiřina Kosíková (*1952) works as ethnologist at the Institute of Ethnology at the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, v.v.i. Prague - Department Brno. Specialisation: Visual Anthropology. Use of video recording as an ethnological field research method and technique.
Production:Institute of Ethnology at the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Veveří 97, 602 00 Brno
Edit and script: Petr Baran
Camera: Jiřina Kosíková
Language of dialogues: Czech
Language of subtitles: English
In the far, far North, where the day begins and the oceans meet, a small hamlet New Chaplino is situated. The goverment decided to turn the village into a tourist resort. It is winter, 30 degrees Celsius below zero. The tourists are not coming. There are only few memories of them and the snow has already covered their footprints. The village people live in the cardoard houses. They are waiting for the tourists and dancing. It is only Vika, their country fellow, who is coming to visit her native village after she has spent few years in the city. Thus all villagers keep waiting for the tourists and dancing...
On the basis of a social anthropological case study, this film documents the birth practices of the Bunong in Mondulkiri province, located in the northeast of Cambodia. Social, economic and political changes are transforming the province tremendously and are affecting villagers´ beliefs, perceptions and habits regarding pregnancy, delivery and early motherhood. Traditional midwives, pregnant women, mothers and their families give a personal insight into their present decision-making strategies, which are at the crossroads between tradition and modernity.
