Screening + discussion: How I Became a Partisan

We invite you to a screening of the documentary How I Became a Partisan, which will take place on Thursday, April 21 at 19:00 in the intimate space for film connoisseurs Screeenshot in Prague (Petrská 1132/4, Prague 1). The event will also include a discussion with the director of the movie. The screening is English friendly!

12.04.2022

Events

How I Became a Partisan

Directed by Vera Lacková, Czech republic, Slovakia, 2021, 90 mins

A Roma partisan. An association that has been pushed to the outer edge of historical memory provides the starting coordinates for the director’s mission of emancipation. A web of themes and motifs emerges from a journey back through memories of her great-grandfather Ján Lacko. The revived stories of Roma partisans from the Slovak resistance movement are extricated and woven into a discourse on Roma identity, the roots of European racism, and disappearing traces of cultural and collective memory. Vera Lacková’s partisan battle remedies the collective consciousness in her native village as well as at the celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. Empathetic moments in this “film resistance movement against oblivion” alternate with unexpected moments of ethnic humor and moral tragedy.

You can also look forward to a discussion with the director of the film. Vera Lacková is a Roma director and film producer. Born in Slovakia and based in Vienna, Austria, she is the founder of the Czech-Slovakian production company, MediaVoice. Her background working with Roma people, sharing their stories and movements, enables her to bring a unique insider perspective on important and timely ethnic and political Roma themes for the community. A participant of the 2019 IDFA Academy, her film, How I Became a Partisan, was her feature length documentary debut and is about searching for the fate of forgotten Roma partisans. Her own search for and exposure of Romani partisans' stories is primarily based on the life of her great-grandfather; Ján Lacko. The film premiered at goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden in 2021, where she received the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity award. The project was developed at the Ex Oriente film workshop, pitched at the 2020 East Doc Platform, and is a part of the distribution program, East Silver Caravan, supported by IDF.

The film will be screened in the original version (Slovak, German, Czech) with English subtitles. Admission is free, but there is limited space, so book your ticket early here.