BILDER EINER ALTEN WELT (OBRAZY STARÉHO SVETA)

Made in 1972 and banned by the stringent censorship of the era, this beautiful Czechoslovakian documentary brings to life a forgotten time and a way of life that has almost disappeared. Using a collage of archive footage and photography, etchings, live interviews and train journeys, Dusan Hanak paints a picture of life amongst rural peasants in the Czech Republic. This is no bucolic idyll with obligatory rosy-cheeked rustics. These people have suffered hardship and hard labour that shows in their lined faces, blistered hands and toothless smiles. Many of those depicted are hard drinkers who visit the graves of their friends to remember and use alcohol to forget.

The image of rural lifestyle seems to belong to another age. The values and moral strength of these peasants appears equally archaic to our eyes but highlights the many qualities we lack in our modern world. Though this film documents the harsh realities of life for these people it also celebrates their dignity and fortitude. Pictures of the Old World is a journey of nostalgia and longing in an 'inter-genre' and poetic style that enables to realise, as the director himself states, "that we all carry within us the shadows of forgotten ancestors."

Awards: U.S. Critics Award, Los Angeles 1990; Award for the Special Documentary, Munich 1989; FELIX, 1989; Main Award and 5 other Awards, Nyon 1988; Special Award of the Verband der Film- und Fernsehschaffenden der DDR, Leipzig 1988

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