Czech film gems begin monthly screenings at the FDCP Cinematheque

Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša, Jr.

More than 20 years since it was first released, the award winning film Kolya has not lost any of its charm as the film (as well as the title character) captivated a jam packed FDCP Cinematheque Centre Manila during the opening night of the Czech Movie Gems, a yearlong celebration of Czech cinema presented by the Czech Embassy Manila and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

Kolya, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1997 and also 6 Czech Lion Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing), is the first of the Czech films to be screened at the FDCP Cinematheque Centre Manila at every 2^nd Wednesday of the month throughout the year until January 2019.

Czech Amb. Jaroslav Olša, Jr. taking a photo of FDCP Chair Liza Diño

Guests from the diplomatic corps, members of the press, film buffs, and students came in droves filling the theater to the brim that delighted FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño who was ecstatic with the turnout for the first event at the FDCP this 2018.

The selection of films to be screened in the following months was personally chosen by Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša, Jr. himself which is a diverse mix dating from the 1960’s up to the present decade with genres ranging from the usual critical and commercial hits to oddball stuff like science fiction and even Communist propaganda.

Argentine Embassy’s Corina Sarli, Korean Cultural Center Director Lee Jincheol,

Czech Amb. Jaroslav Olša, Jr., FDCP Chair Liza Diño, French Amb. Nicolas Galey,

Hungarian Amb. József Bencze, Czech Embassy’s Jana Peterková,

and Hungarian Embassy’s David Ambrus

Kolya/Kolja

On the surface, Kolya/Kolja is a heartwarming story of two unlikely strangers: Louka (Zdenek Sverák) a 55 year old down on his luck cellist and Kolya (Andrej Chalimon), a 5 year old Russian boy who is suddenly left at his care when his sham marriage to the boy’s mother (also from Russia) falls into pieces. As expected, the odd pair brought together by the most unusual of circumstances had to go through numerous hurdles (a 50 year age gap, a language barrier, a police investigation, etc.) but eventually, the two bond and become almost inseparable just in time for the bittersweet end to the film.

This plot and its numerous deviations have been told countless times, but what gives Kolya an added layer is its setting during the late 1980’s right smack in the burgeoning Velvet Revolution that led to the fall of communism in then Czechoslovakia. With this historical context in mind, and noting that the film was originally released less than a decade after the Velvet Revolution and only just a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union, how I saw the film changed. Louka, the sleazy, scheming, older Czech and Kolya, the innocent Russian boy as unlikely strangers forming a strong bond in the end took on a new meaning.

This got my head wondering if Louka’s sham marriage to Nadezda (Irina Bezrukova) stood in for something else regarding the Czech and Soviet relations at the time. What struck me also was the recurring bird/flight motifs and imagery throughout the film like Kolya’s fascination with the pigeons in Louka’s apartment window, Kolya looking at the clouds from a plane window, and also the possible explanation that a bird was responsible for the odd trinket found in the gutter. These may be just birds on the surface but my hunch says that they truly meant something more. If only the film's director, Jan Svěrák, and his father Zdenek Sverák, (yup, the same guy who played Louka) who wrote the screenplay, were present at the opening night to answer all of my questions.

The film Kolya is one very fine example of how a work of art not only documents what was happening back then but also serves as a reflection of the mood and sentiments that was prevalent during the time of its creation.