Tu es Petrus

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production year

1981

Runtime

26 min

Category

film

Genre

étude, political

Typology

featurenon-theatrical distributionstudent filmshort

Original title

Tu es Petrus

Czech title

Tu es Petrus

English title

Tu es Petrus

English parallel title

You are Peter

Synopsis

The atmosphere among the cardinals in the Vatican gardens and rooms is in ferment – the pope grew old and seriously ill and his death can be expected any day. After nine days of grieving following his death, a new man will be elected to the Holy See by the College of Cardinals. But there are various coteries among the men in scarlet. Some of them agree on the candidature of the calm and respected Bellandini while the others would vote for Joasin. Both sides then mainly try to get the so-called neutrals from the voters’ ranks via backstage negotiations. It is apparent that even the members of secret service serve to gain information which could profane either candidate. Joasino tries to make Bellandini give up his candidacy, claiming that two cardinals proposing him have some real estate. Bellandini, however, refuses the blackmail with disgust. It is the voting day and the cardinals hand in their secret votes in a hall guarded by young theologians. The final winner is the third one behind – an inconspicuous old cardinal. The white smoke, announcing the successful election, rises above the Vatican roofs.

Note

The title of the film is borrowed from the biblical story about Jesus meeting the fisherman Simeon. He has chosen him as the first one of his twelve apostles and addresses him: Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam (And I tell you, you are Peter which means rock and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.) The original Aramaic text uses the expression "cepha", standing both "Peter" and "rock".

Cast

Jiří Adamíra

kardinál Locatelli

Miloš Nedbal

kardinál zvolený novým papežem

Jiří Mikota

kardinál Bellandini

Otakar Brousek

kardinál Riconici

Miloslav Štibich

kardinál Joasino

Jaroslav Mareš

kardinál Muroni

Jiří Brdečka

ředitel banky Giovanni Serpetto

Ondřej Pavelka

mladý bohoslovec

Čestmír Řanda ml.

mladý bohoslovec

Vladimír Trš

mladý bohoslovec

Crew and creators

Director of Photography

Vladimír Holomek

Make-Up Artist

Iva Hanková

Sound Designer

Josef Hubka

Pedagogical management

Viola Zelenková, Alois Fišárek (střih), Jan Kališ (kamera), Jaroslav Balík (režie), Otakar Fuka

Cooperation

Jiří Kovář, Milan Šteindler, Ljiljana Milojković

Production info

Original Title

Tu es Petrus

Czech Title

Tu es Petrus

English Title

Tu es Petrus

English Parallel Title

You are Peter

Category

film

Typology

featurenon-theatrical distributionstudent film

Genre

étude, political

Student film

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production Year

1981

Production

Studio FAMU

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

26 min

Original length in metres

721 meters

Distribution carrier

35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech