Footsteps
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1960Production year
1960Premiere
4 October 1963Runtime
21 minDirector
Jaromil JirešCategory
filmGenre
dramaTypology
featuretheatrical distributionstudent filmshortOriginal title
StopyCzech title
StopyEnglish title
FootstepsSynopsis
It is winter 1944. A wretched man staggers towards the nearest house. He is an escaped prisoner of war, a Russian, and farmer Bernát takes him into his protection. The German occupation government hangs a public notice of reward for anyone who can give information about the fugitive. The incompetent and jealous farmer Joudal discovers footsteps in the snow and denounces the Bernát family. After the entire family is arrested he wins their estate. He tries to defend himself to his wife for what he did. The local gendarme watches disapprovingly as Joudal changes the name-tag on Bernát's rack wagon. Revolted, he asks the peasant what he thinks he will do when the Bernát family returns. Joudal takes a ride through the village in a horse-drawn carriage. An attendant stops him and makes him read the public notice announcing that the Bernát couple was executed together with their son Toník. A crowd of farmers surrounds Joudal in silence. They quietly decide to sentence their fellow-countryman to death. During a night ride on his bicycle Joudal hits a wire stretched across the road and is killed.
Note
The story was distributed together with two others: Hatred and The Dynamite Watcher under a common title The Dynamite Watcher.
Photos
Cast
Václav Lohniský
sedlák Karel Joudal
Věra Tichánková
Joudalova žena
Oldřich Lukeš
sedlák Josef Bernát
Světla Amortová
Anna, Bernátova žena
František Kovářík
obecní posluha
Vladimír Hlavatý
četník štábní Franta Kudrna
Ladislav Kazda
sovětský uprchlík
Jan Odl
Toník, syn Bernátových
Max Schindler
četník
Stanislav Pica
kovář
obyvatelé Arnoštovic
obyvatelé Borkovic
Crew and creators
Director
Based on
Jan Drda (Vesnická historie – povídka ze sbírky Němá barikáda)
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Production Designer
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Sound Designer
Production Manager
Jan Černý, Miloslav Vaněk (vedoucí výrobního štábu), Jozef Spišák (vedoucí výrobního štábu)
Pedagogical management
František Daniel (dramaturgie), Miroslav Hubáček (režie), Václav Hanuš (kamera)
Music
Music Composed by
Production info
Original Title
Stopy
Czech Title
Stopy
English Title
Footsteps
Category
film
Typology
featuretheatrical distributionstudent film
Genre
drama
Student film
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1960
Production Year
1960
Production specifications
projection approval 12 February 1963
withdrawal from distribution 31 August 1976
Premiere
premiere 27 September 1963 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 4 October 1963 /suitable for youths/ (kino Lucerna /1 týden/, Praha)
Production
Copyright Holders
Distribution
Technical info
Duration typology
short film
Duration in minutes
21 min
Original length in metres
580 meters
Distribution carrier
16mm, 35mm
Aspect ratio
1:1,37
Colour
black & white
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
mono
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
Czech
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
Awards
Vítěz
Festival: 5. mezinárodní festival dokumentárních a experimentálních filmů Montevideo
1962
Montevideo / Uruguay
Vítěz
Festival: 3. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava
1961
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Vítěz
Festival: 3. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava
1961
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
