Já, Olga Hepnarová

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Olga is a complex young woman desperate to break free from her unfeeling family and social conventions. With her Louise Brooks like tomboyish looks she drags herself, chain-smoking, from one job to another until she appears to find her niche as a truck driver. Although she has female lovers she does not form a bond with any of them; instead she clashes, time and again, venting herself in wordless emotional outbursts and other behavioural extremes. Meticulously composed and shot in elegiac black-and-white this film tells the story of the short life of an exceptionally lonely young woman who turns into a mass murderer when, on 10 July 1973 – as she has just turned 22 – she drives a rented truck into a group of people, killing eight. In a letter acknowledging her deed she writes that she sought to take revenge on the world and on those she felt hated her. In spite of clear indications that she was mentally ill she was executed – making her the last woman to be publicly executed in Czechoslovakia.
After producing several documentaries and shorts together, this film marks the directors’ first drama. The film is based on a lengthy period of research which culminated initially in a documentary entitled Everything is Crap.

details

  • Runtime

    106 min
  • Country

    Czechia, Poland, Slovakia, France
  • Year of Presentation

    2016
  • Year of Production

    2016
  • Director

    Tomás Weinreb, Petr Kazda
  • Cast

    Michalina Olszanska, Martin Pechlat, Klara Meliskova, Marika Soposka
  • Production Company

    Arizona Productions
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Tomás Weinreb

Born in Stod, Czechoslovakia in 1982, he studied at FAMU in Prague. His 2009 documentary EVERYTHING IS CRAP screened at numerous film festivals.

Filmography Tomás Weinreb

2003 Antero | 2005 Story of An Unborn Child | 2006 Eclipse | 2007 Jan 007 | 2009 Everything is Crap | 2009 I & Me | 2009 Many Men and Many Women | 2011 Playoff

Biography Petr Kazda

Studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU in Prague. Whilst there he began collaborating with Tomas Weinreb. JÁ, OLGA HEPNAROVÁ (I, OLGA HEPNAROVÁ) is their debut feature film.

Filmography Petr Kazda

2003 Antero | 2005 Story of Unborn Child | 2006 Eclipse | 2007 Jan 007 | 2009 Everything is Crap | 2009 I & Me | 2009 Many Men and Many Women | 2011 Playoff