A hybrid, a drama, a fairy tale and a documentary – even the Slovak director Miro Remo does not know how to define the winner of the Film Festival Karlovy Vary “Better Go Mad in the Wild”. And he doesn’t care.
“It is not important to me where this film formally adapts. What matters is that he faithfully reflects the lives of twins, ”he says. Remo picked up the coveted Grand Prix on Saturday.
His protagonists, the twin brothers FRANTIIšek and Ondřej Klišík, live together far from the rest of society. These are descendants of Slovakians from Romania, who settled in the region of Šumava after the Second World War, in vacant regions by the Germans.
“Life was not easy for them, but their parents taught them to appreciate each person. The truth has always taken place in the highest place in his family, “said Remo, who” met them “during his vacation.
“My father recommended a big book by Aleš Palán, also entitled” Better to Kater in the desert “, which includes several powerful stories on the Hermites of Šumava. One of them concerned Fanta and will on. I contacted Aleš immediately and he brought me to their world. ”
It is a world full of fighting, fighting against the arms and poems that are “lived, not written”. “There are a lot of boring ts in the world,” said the brothers. Fortunately, they are not among them.
“I fell in love with them and their environment. I was fascinated by everything that is magical and unusual enchantment, ”explains Remo.
“Compared to the film, the book offers more factual content. We needed to explain certain things – for example, how Fanta lost hand – but we decided to only include minimum information.”
Enter a speaking cow, telling the whole story.
“We spent 60 days with the brothers for five years, and I started to feel that their animals also communicated with us. The biggest advantage was that anything was possible on this project. We only had to overcome our fear of conventions. ”
Remo has designed everything as a “fairy tale for adults”. However, certain parts of the life of the twins seemed tragic to him.
“There are a lot of stories about people with alcohol, but their unique character lies elsewhere. They have become an unusual form of existence with an extremely strong magical presence,” he said, which led him to move away from the limits of the classic and overused social drama “.
“”[This social component] Always part of the story – for example in the form of alcohol abuse – but even this problem has two sides. In our fairy tale, substances take you a lot, but they also give back. This is the story of their life; The one they chose freely. I fully respected it.
While Remo has become an observer of this “endless fraternal conflict” and their search for answers to the most burning questions, a friendship was forged.
“We have openly shared all our fears and our desires. I told them that it was important to me that their representations were real, truthful and intrepid, but also visually rich and deeply magical. They had no special requests – just one. They wanted to be able to leave the project at any time. ”
And yet, they ended up staying, reflecting on the eternal dilemma. What is most important: art or daily life?
“Fanta and Ondra are real artists. None of us can compare. Fanta says that a poem is lived and not written.
“I guess I myself am a big child,” he adds.
“I also grew up in a family full of love and understanding, and I like to play and come out of standards. I understand why they chose this kind of life. The reality in which we all live at the moment is no longer interesting: it is too ordinary and demanding. It is better to go crazy somewhere in the desert. ”
Produced by Remo and Tomáš Hrubý for Arsy-Versy, the film was co-produced by Nutprodukce. Filmotor manages sales, while aerofilms distribute in the Czech Republic and the film has developed in Slovakia.
“Better to go crazy in nature”
