The films by Slovak-American documentarist Mišo Suchý revolve around the issues of family, home, identity, departures and returns. Having graduated from documentary filmmaking at VŠMU in Bratislava, Suchý fell in love with a first-generation American with Ukrainian roots and followed her over the ocean where they built a new home together. Suchý took pleasure in making documentary portraits of his own family even before his departure overseas and has remained faithful to this artistic strategy ever since. While in emigration, his films gradually began to ponder the issues of separation, perceiving and overcoming the distance.

Our retrospective comprising two blocks of short and medium-length films will examine the two principal subject-matters of Suchý’s filmmaking: that of family and that of ethnography. Particularly in the latter one will the festival-goers be able to trace the influence of his former teacher Martin Slivka as well as photographic creation by his wife, Lida Suchá, who cooperated on a number of his films including the most recent one.

Pavel Smejkal

Curator of the section

The section was put together in close cooperation with the traditional Month of Photography exhibition, which will this year include a separate exposition featuring the works of photographer Lida Suchá.