Blockade Made from One "Click "

She once came to Jihlava IDFF with accreditation issued in the name of an imaginary person Malinová, and since then it has become her artistic pseudonym. She claims that people should feel ashamed after seeing her new film. It portrays a blockade, which lasted several days, at the pig farm in Lety, which stands on the site a former concentration camp for the Roma. Today only a handful of enthusiasts is willing to fight against this reality.

What is your relationship with the people whose activities you record in this film?
Those people are my friends. I have been interested in the pig farm in Lety for quite some time now. In the first year at FAMU, I filmed a reportage about it. I sympathize with them and I'm on the same side of the barricades as they are. Yet, in the film I try to generalize the matter and create some distance from it for myself. I'm not going for propaganda of any kind.

Did you have a script or program prepared for the film before shooting?
It all happened by chance. One day I got a call from Miro Brož, who informed me that he was going to hold this secret blockade. A few days later I went to the place with a camera. It had terrible battery life, only an hour and ten minutes; because of this I was very time-limited every day. However, in the end I got a limited amount of footage, which made for very pleasant work in the editing room. I had no option of choosing "better shots", everything was recorded only once.

You shoot your own films and do the editing yourself too... What does this creative concept mean to you?
I don’t have any other experience, but this. It is important to me to manage my own time and be independent, to be able to go to the editing room whenever I want to. I then send the edited material to people close to me and my classmates, and allow them to comment on it. To a certain extent this shapes end result.

Who is your greatest soul mate or the person who influences you in the field of documentary?
I always go to Tereza Reichová first with my movies and then to Apolena Rychlíková. I do not think they affect me; rather it’s about them giving me feedback. This is because we choose films similar thematically and they are familiar with the environment in which I film.

It was in fact Apolena Rychlíková who used the symbolism of social networks in her film called Family (Rodina, 2013). She made a reference to the interface of Facebook and Google search. You decided to comment on events with the help of tweets. At the same time the flying bird refers to the name of the village "Flights" (translation of Lety). Why was it that you chose this concept?
The connection with the flights is purely coincidental. Twitter appeared to be the most comfortable choice. All tweets are real, copied from current reports and the documentation concerning the blockade. I wanted to connect two different worlds – a sad reality, which I witnessed on the spot, and an online image that presented the blockade as very successful. Currently, sociologists are focusing a lot on the concept of clicktivism, a growing trend. Instead of actively participating in demonstrations or the blockade, a person will sit at home and “do“ his activism via Facebook. In this case it worked exactly like this. A lot of people “liked“ the blockade, or criticized it, but everything was done only through social networks. At the spot you found yourself alone.

Your film records a reality that did not go over so well. What is the meaning of it?
Three levels were revealed here – antigypsyism, the issue of insufficient political commitment and the lack of activism. I ask myself several questions. How is it possible that the pig farm stands there? How is it possible that its existence is tolerated by people who have the power to redeem it and do something about it? The only one who is trying to find a solution and take a stance is the lonely Miro.

The blockade took place in spring. What is the present situation at the pig farm in Lety?
Miro and the citizens community Konexe hold a get-together every thirteenth day of the month. The purpose of these activities is to create international pressure. Miro is trying to raise awareness especially abroad. The possibility of solving the issue from the inside is close to zero percent.

What can be the outcome of your film?
I think it can cause a lot of discussion among activists. So far I've only screened it at schools and it has already started a roaring discussion. There were comments I heard about whether the film ridicules activism. These responses came from people inside, from those who are engaged in the matter. I would be most interested to hear the response from Germany, where I want to take the film. The Germans are much more sensitive to these topics and at the same time it is a problem, which is only a short distance from the border. Generally, I hope that the film will get a reaction. Most people don’t have any idea about this issue. They may think that the problem lies with only "a few pigs ", but this really is a big factory.

This interview was published full-length in Czech in the Jihlava IDFF newspapers, dok.revue F04.

Translated by Floriana Skorulska