Section: POLSKIE HORYZONTY: The Female Gaze

NA VŠČNÉ ČASY – RELIKTY ARCHITEKTURY SOCIALISTICKÉ ÉRY

BUILT TO LAST – RELICS OF COMMUNIST-ERA ARCHITECTURE

Haruna Honcoop
Czech Republic, 2018, 57 Min

Built to last forever. This was how the communist architecture of the Soviet Union and its east European satellite states was constructed. History was made. With the experimental series of short films BUILT TO LAST – RELICS OF COMMUNIST-ERA ARCHITECTURE Czech-Japanese filmmaker Haruna Honcoop exposes the fragility of such structures.

Moscow is the starting point of this odyssey across the former Soviet Union and various former socialist states of eastern Europe. “Nobody has the intention of building a wall”: symbolic quotations from major turning points in the history of eastern Europe such as this, from Walter Ulbricht, are followed in quick succession by images of underground stations, universities, hotels, ministry buildings, residential complexes, monument ensembles and mural mosaics. To a backdrop of experimental electronic sounds, historic footage and audio recordings are also integrated. And yet all of this construction ends in demolition, whilst other structures are simply abandoned. The promises of the past, the ideals and values of socialism, are unable to stand the test of time.

The Russian capital and East Berlin are followed by Warsaw and Katowice, Prague and other cities in the Czech Republic, then Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade, Kosovo, Albania and Bulgaria, before Honcoop finally sets her sights on the Chinese megapolis Beijing. The filmmaker’s choice of different editors and film designers for the individual episodes gives each a character of its own and yet, nevertheless, when taken together they represent a wonderfully coherent whole. NaF

Filmformat
DCP | doc. | Farbe / Colour
Drehbuch
Haruna Honcoop
Kamera
Haruna Honcoop
Ton
Tadeáš Haager
Schnitt
Josef Hrdlička, Tereza Kozáková, Ilona Malá
Musik
Pavel Kraus, Tadeáš Haager, Minoo
Produzent
Tomáš Šimon
Produktion
FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Co-Produktion
FreeSaM
Kontakt
Haruna Honcoop
haruna.honcoop@gmail.com
Haruna Honcoop

Haruna Honcoop -