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Film database › From Bohemia´s Woods and Fields
From Bohemia´s Woods and Fields
GB 110001, Velká Británie a Severní Irsko
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| Production | Encore Films
| | Category | Nezjištěno
| | Length (hh:mm:ss) | 00:30:00
| | Picture format | Nezjištěno
| | Year | 2011
| | Premiere date | 08.04.2011
| | Premiere place | Harrogate, Yorkshire, England
| | Link to the film on the internet | http://encorefilms.co.uk/
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| Annotation
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FROM BOHEMIA’S WOODS AND FIELDS
The Silent World of Bedřich Smetana
Directed, filmed and edited by IAN WOODWARD
From a screenplay by IAN WOODWARD
Narrator
BETH MAYOH
Bedřich Smetana
JOHN HEDGES
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) was one of Europe’s first great 19th-century nationalist composers. In his native Bohemia – now part of today’s Czech Republic – he created the distinctive Czech style which won him the admiration of fellow composers Gustav Mahler, Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss.
Bohemia’s proud past, plus its beautiful scenery of gently rolling hills, dreamy and nostalgic in the mist, cheerful and vivacious in the sun, inspired much of Smetana’s music, not least the operas “Dalibor”, “Libuše”, “The Brandenburgers in Bohemia” and, especially, “The Bartered Bride”.
But it was in his epic, six-part orchestral suite, “Má Vlast” – My Country in English – where he was at his brilliant best in depicting the legends, history and countryside of Bohemia. And yet he became totally deaf soon after writing Vltava, the cycle’s second and most frequently performed section. It’s the music of another popular movement, From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields, that this film takes its title.
It charts the tragic last decade of Smetana’s life when, despite deafness and personal turmoil, he wrote two colourful suites of Czech Dances, the exquisite operas “The Kiss”, “The Secret” and “The Devil’s Wall”, and the acclaimed string quartet From My Life….his life was the stuff of Hollywood.
The film takes its title from and uses the music of Má Vlast’s fourth movement. Ian Woodward’s earlier biopic, “Smetana: The Man Who Immortalised a River”, was inspired by the suite’s second movement, Vltava, named after the Czech Republic’s longest river.
This second Smetana film underscores how, extraordinarily, the composer wrote some of his most beautiful and best-loved music during the last decade of his life when he was completely deaf. And it unravels the mystery of why he ended his life in a Prague mental asylum – and then given a State funeral.
The potent power of determination and how it can triumph over adversity is the underlying theme of the film…how a determined artist can successfully overcome profound disability and find worldwide recognition.
“Smetana was truly a genius”
- FRANZ LISZT
Narrator
BETH MAYOH
Bedřich Smetana
JOHN HEDGES
Václav Zelený
CHRIS RADLEY
František Moucha
KIERON FAHY
Josef Bohuslav Foerster
PHIL SAYER
Zofie Schwarz
BETH MAYOH
Franz Liszt
MARTIN STERRY
DVD cover design by STEFANIE WOODWARD
Filmed throughout Bohemia
An Encore film © 2011 Ian Woodward
Running time: 30 minutes
Format: 16:9 PAL (16:9 NTSC also available)
THE MUSIC
Music throughout the film is by Bedřich Smetana - with two exceptions:
1. The film’s opening black-and-white sequence uses Juventino Rosas’s Über den Wellen Waltz, which was very popular right across Europe at the time of Smetana’s death towards the end of the 19th century…the people of Prague hummed the waltz’s words in the streets.
2. The film’s opening funeral scene (again in black and white) is portrayed against the musical backdrop of the Dies Irae from Mozart’s Requiem.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
My documentary, “From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields”, was filmed throughout Bohemia over two years, during visits to my wife Zdenka’s hometown of Jablonec nad Nisou. I’d first visited Jabkenice – where Smetana spent the last decade of his life - some 20 years earlier. Smetana is a composer whose music I love very dearly and with whom I feel a great affinity.
I knew that one day I would have to make a film about certain periods in his extraordinary life. As it turns out I have made not one but two films about Smetana. In “From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields” I have been on a campaign: I desperately want to reveal to film-festival audiences around the world – spanning the United States and Australia, with exotic excursions in South Korea and right across Europe – what an extraordinary and thoroughly delightful experience it can be when one listens to the music of Bedřich Smetana. He is my hero!
And so it is that I took my camera equipment to the Czech Republic over many trips and embarked on the odyssey that became “From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields” – my attempt, as an Englishman, to show worldwide audiences the amazing and truly inspiring struggle of Bedřich Smetana to become one of Europe’s first great 19th-century nationalist composers. His distinctive Czech style won him the admiration of fellow composers Gustav Mahler, Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss.
Smetana wrote eight operas, including “Dalibor” and “The Bartered Bride”, and the epic six-part orchestral suite “Má Vlast” and I have been lucky enough to see much of his output all over the Czech Republic – and, indeed, all over Britain and elsewhere in Europe. It has been a rich banquet.
The film takes its title from, and uses the music of, the suite’s fourth movement. My earlier film about the composer, “Smetana: The Man Who Immortalised a River”, was inspired by the suit’s second movement, Vltava, which is the name, of course, of the Czech Republic’s longest river.
My latest Smetana film underscores how, extraordinarily, he wrote some of his most beautiful and best-loved music during the last decade of his life when he was completely deaf. And it explores why he ended his life in a Prague mental asylum and was given a State funeral.
That determination can triumph over adversity is the underlying message of the film…that a determined artist can successfully overcome profound disability and find worldwide recognition.
REVIEWS
ING. LADISLAV FRANTIŠ, MEMBER OF THE CZECH UNICA COMMITTEE AND DIRECTOR OF THE ARSFILM AMATÉRŮ FESTIVAL (KROMĚŘÍŽ) AND SENIORFORUM FILM FESTIVAL (KROMĚŘÍŽ), WRITES:
“This is an extraordinary film. The screenplay, camera work, editing, use of music and sound generally, including the sensitive delivery of the narrator, makes this a masterpiece of film creation.”
MUN-JIN JO, JURY CHAIRMAN OF THE SEOUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2011, WRITES:
"'From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields' depicts the natural, vast woods and fields of Bohemia with inventive use of light in a perfect harmony and the jury was unanimous in awarding the film the Best Cinematography prize."
PRAGUE FILM FESTIVAL JURY MEMBER WRITES:
"This is a unique documentary: a film made by an Englishman with a Czech heart."
MAXINE KENDALL, ENGLISH-BORN, CANADA-BASED POET, WRITES:
“‘From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields’ – wow! This is an awesome film. I was enraptured with both the beauty of the music and the brilliance of the cinematography. This is the kind of film that should be shown in schools as both art and a teaching tool.”
WILLY VAN DER LINDEN (ANTWERP, BELGIUM), SEOUL SILVER MEDAL WINNER 2011, WRITES:
“Congratulations, Ian! Your documentary ‘From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields’ was deservedly one of the top films at The Seoul International Film Festival 2011.”
PETR BOHATY, STAGE DIRECTOR OF THE JABLONEC MUNICIPAL THEATRE IN NORTH BOHEMIA, WRITES:
“I watched this film with great interest: stunning scenes of the Czech countryside accompanied by the most outstanding compositions of Bohemia’s master composer. I greatly admire the way the filmmaker has portrayed our beautiful Czech music in this extraordinarily poetic way. The film is a work of great creative art.”
GAIL MARDFIN, DIRECTOR OF AWAKEN! INTERNATIONAL SPIRITUAL FILM FESTIVAL, NEW JERSEY, USA, WRITES:
“How can an artist overcome a profound disability and find worldwide recognition? This documentary uncovers the story of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, who wrote some of his most beautiful music following deafness. Filmed entirely in Bohemia, with beautiful nature photography, sweeping panoramas, and native dancers. For classical music lovers and nature lovers, a must-see.”
AWARDS
Estonia
Special Prize
The Tallinn International Festival of Film Makers
2012
Czech Republic
UNICA Gold Medal
Union Internationale du Cinéma (UNICA)
The Moravian ARSfilm Festival
2011
Australia
Best Film of the Festival
Gold Cineman Trophy)
The Melbourne International Movie Festival
2011
South Korea
Best Cinematography
The Seoul International Film Festival
2011
United Kingdom
3-star award
The British International Amateur Film Festival
2011
SCREENINGS
Canada
The Christian Life International Film Festival
Ontario
2013
Estonia
The Tallinn International Festival of Film Makers
Tallinn
2012
United States
Awaken! International Spiritual Film Festival
New Jersey
2012
England
The London Portobello Film Festival
2011
Poland
The European Film Festival
2011
Czech Republic
The Moravian ARSfilm Festival
Kroměříž
2011
United States
The Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival
2011
Utah show-dates for “From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields” –
four screenings at:
13 September – Eccles Theater Main Stage
14 September – Crescent Moon Theater
15 September – Electric Theater
16 September – Red Cliffs Cinema Theater
Australia
The Melbourne International Movie Festival
Melbourne
2011
South Korea
The Seoul International Film Festival
Seoul
2011
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| Photo from the film
| Photo from making of the film
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| Distribution info
| | Medium | Length of black | Sound format
| | DVD | -00:00:06 | - |
| Copyright
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| Granting author's permission
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| Archiv UNICA
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