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Eternal Jožo, or How I Met a Star
Věčný Jožo aneb jak jsem potkal hvězdu

Director(s): Jan Gogola ml.CZ, SK81 min.2020
76%(17 ratings)
Categoriesdocumentary
Accessibilitynot suitable for minors under 15 years of age
LanguagesCzech, Slovak (orig.)
Subtitles english
Black and white / colourcolor and black&white

This unconventional situational docu-portrait bears witness to the complicated personal universe of Jožo Ráž – frontman of Elán, the most popular “Czechoslovak” rock band in history. It is a cinematic encounter with a Christian Buddhist believer in Communism. Ten years in the making, the portrait is filmed in unexpected locations and open-ended situations which highlight the constellations of Ráž’s life: cocoa and whisky, music and family, dictatorship and meditation, ephemerality and eternity, God and nothingness, even good and evil as embodied by the Smurfs and Gargamel. Director Jan Gogola, Jr. explains his approach thus: “I look at him as a figure that, as part of Elán, forged a connection with several generations of Czechs and Slovaks, someone whose work has the power to unify, but whose public statements have also long divided society, and even repelled a part of it.” Yielding himself to a budding friendship with his subject, the filmmaker aspires to understand Ráž’s homespun metaphysics, his “inborn ability to live in the universe with God”.

CSFD.cz trailer
Projection of Eternal Jožo, or How I Met a Star at IFF ART FILM 2021
Slovak Season
Film was already screened
* Program subject to change