Choirmaster

Projection of Czech-Slovak drama at the French Institute cinema.

The world of teenage singers, prestigious concerts, and tours across dreamlike America is the renowned girls' choir that thirteen-year-old Karolína (Kateřina Falbrová) longs to join at the beginning of the 1990s. During a groundbreaking season, she must contend with talented competitors, including her older sister Lucie (Maya Kintera), and earn the respect of the admired choir conductor (Juraj Loj). The delicate navigation around a creative relationship with an authority figure, whose methods Karolína cannot comprehend, can easily spiral out of control. The director and screenwriter was particularly inspired by the case of sexual abuse that erupted in the 2000s surrounding the Bambini di Praga choir. In that instance, the remarkable aspect was the court trial, where conflicting testimonies from former choir members stood against each other. "I then tried to create a fictional story that would vividly illustrate the roots of different interpretations of the past," says Provazník. "In similar, long-silenced cases, society often does not believe the victims. Even their close ones – friends or family – question their honesty, memory, and integrity. However, few realize how complex their relationship with the perpetrator is. How burdensome and simultaneously fragile their experience is," the director explains the motivation for filming and adds: "In the film, we try to bring this internal experience closer to the viewer – non-schematically, in an emotional story, with all its ups and downs." The creators are, of course, aware that their story revolves around a complex topic and may provoke controversy. "We anticipate that, but we also believe that the film is made as comprehensively and sensitively as possible," added producer Jiří Konečný, noting that parents can also bring their teenage children to the cinema to see the film.