Journey to My Father

A story of Eva Langrová whose father was unjustly sentenced in communist show trials. Over the years her father spent in Jáchymov forced labor camp the distance between Eva and her father grew. The story is built around Eva’s memories of visits to her father in Jáchymov labor camp Eva and her relatives used to make once a year. After 50 years Eva sets again on a journey across Czech Republic, from Ostrava to Jáchymov, and reflects on her relationship with her father, and the past era, she grew up in. Her memories are interlarded with extracts from letters her father used to send her from prison.

PRESS RELEASE:

Thanks to the work on the documentary I was introduced to the era in our history I did not experience myself and know only in passing. For this reason, to get acquainted with this era and introduce it on an individual story to the audience I participated in the “Children of Stalinism” project.

I could relate to Eva Langrová’s life story, because it was in some way similar to my own. I also did not have a chance to get to know my father. In Eva’s case it was because of long time of imprisonment in communist jail, in my case because I am from a single-parent family. I thought then these similarities could facilitate cooperation between her, the main character of the documentary, and me the author.

The aim was to give a testimony, not to expose. On the background of simple plan I tried to capture her story that would be at the same time a picture of historical times she lived in. The documentary culminates with Eva coming to former communist labor camp. What she finds there is a kitsch cottage colony, instead of place of remembrance. The key message of the documentary poses the crucial question, how can we make even with our own history if we are not even able to name it properly?

INFORMATION ABOUT DAUGHTER:

It was not until we went back from the documentary shooting that I realized how deeply Eva Langrová was affected by communist past of our country. Our car was stopped by police. Just an ordinary check, but Eva Langrová was tense and nervous. Only later I realized: uniforms of any kind make her anxious. Memories of times when communist persecuted her father, of house searches, she was present at as a child, are still alive. This banal anecdote speaks for itself.

Eva Langrová was born in 1944 in Prostějov. Her both parents were post officers. Her father František Bureš was a member of the National Socialist party. In 1949 he was arrested and sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment. Shortly afterwards her mother fell ill and died. Eva Langrová was taken care of by her grandma from mother side. She trained to be a shop assistant and when she was 16 years old she started to work in a chemist department of a department store in Ostrava. In 1960 a year of amnesty, after 11 years of hard physical work in Jáchymov uranium mines, her father was released from prison. He stayed with his sister, because Eva’s grandma would not let him live in her house. He remarried. Since he came back from prison he kept in touch with his daughter only rarely, mainly because of Eva’s grandma. Eva Langrová is married and has two adult sons.