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Rosy Dreams
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Wikipedia article
'Rosy Dreams' ('Ruov sny') is a 1977 Czechoslovak film. Despite its whimsical poetic style, it was the first Central European feature film that put the Romani (Gypsy) community at the center stage in a realistically reflected manner. It was also a singular artistic achievement in Slovak and Czechoslovak cinema during the period after the Soviet invasion of 1968 by Duan Hank, director of several acclaimed films who maintained the integrity of his vision and style throughout the vagaries of Central European filmmaking in the second half of the 20th century. In a broader sense, 'Rosy Dreams' was prescient in Central European cinema because it dealt with a minority group whose plight, not discussed openly then, has since become one of the key issues in several Central European societies.[http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/ruzove.shtml Anne E. Kellogg, "Duan Hank: 'Rosy Dreams' ('Ruov sny'), 1976."] The clash of the communities is depicted with the subtle tender attitude inherited from the Czechoslovak New Wave.Dina Iordanova, 'Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film.' New York, 2003.
Plot summary
Jakub (Juraj Nvota), a dreamy mail carrier in a sleepy village, spends his days playing pranks on everyone, resenting his father (Anton Trn) with his mother's (Hana Slivkov) tacit support, and admiring Jolana (Iva Bittov) from the neighboring Romani hamlet until Jolana responds. Faced with mistrust from both Jakub's and Jolana's families and venom from segments of their communities, Jakub pulls one more, grave prank that, he imagines, will help support the two teenagers as they take the train to the nearby city in order to live together.
Yet, not only does Jakub's prank a theft of money from the post office catch up with him, but it turns out that the two of them have conflicting dreams about life. Jakub has dreamed up an urban version of the stereotypical fantasy of a free-spirited Gypsy life with Jolana, whereas she has dreamed of a grounded life away from her troubled community and applies herself to achieve that. While Jakub goes from fantasy to prison to fantasy, Jolana gets a steady job and begins to realize that Jakub is no more her fantasy of a down-to-earth 'Gojo' (non-Rom) than she is his "Gypsy woman".
As Jolana, back in the Romani hamlet, celebrates her wedding to her persistent Romani suitor Vojto (Jn igo) and Jakub returns to his parents for more idle dreams, a Romani woman, the Town Hall administrator Irena (Sally Salingov), and a Slovak man, the Town Hall maintenance guy and volunteer firefighter Ondro (Milan Ki), a more mature couple from a subsidiary plot, are getting married too.
Director
Duan Hank (1938, Bratislava) graduated from the FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts)[http://web.amu.cz/?r_id=610 FAMU] in Prague in 1965. He began with a series of shorts at the Koliba film studios[http://mapy.zoznam.sk/index.pl?zoom=9&pos_x=-573882&pos_y=-1277770&size=small&lang=sk&sipka=1&name=Bre%E8tanov%E1%2C%20Bratislava Koliba] in Bratislava. Several of them received awards, and so did his first feature film '322' (the code for cancer in medical records of diseases, 1969).
Hank followed it with the still admired feature-length documentary 'Pictures of the Old World' ('Obrazy starho sveta,' 1972), partly a meditation on what lies hidden beneath the concept of "an authentic life", a theme already addressed in '322'.[http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/macek.shtml Vclav Macek, "From Czechoslovak to Slovak and Czech Film."] Although Hank was treated with suspicion by the more repressive communist authorities that took over after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, he found an early refuge in a topic sufficiently removed from big politics to survive on the margins of official production and yet, executed with a finesse that gave it a wide international appeal. In the most extraordinary section, an old man talks with great fascination and lucidity about space travel, recalling how two astronauts walked on the moon and collected rocks while a third circled in their spaceship. Tacked to the wall of his crumbling shack is a small photograph of men walking on the moon. It is a beautiful, elegiac work whose images could apply to Appalachia or any other poor region.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E4DF153AF937A35751C1A96F948260 Caryn James, "A Film Festival With the Spirit of Margaret Mead." 'NYT,' 1989.]
Good reviews or not, 'Pictures of the Old World' was ordered shelved after the briefest of theatrical runs. Nevertheless, despite the authorities' surly take on Hank's films, his next venture, 'Rosy Dreams,' turned out to be another original work.
Screenplay
The screenplay was Hank's joint project with the writer Duan Duek (b. 1946).[http://www.ned.univie.ac.at/lic/autor.asp?paras=/lg;4/aut_id;16777/&bol_print=1 "Duan Duek." 'Literature in Context,' Universitt Wien.] A graduate in natural history and geology, Duek later became professor of screenwriting at the University of Performing Arts[http://www.vsmu.sk VMU] in Bratislava. The two wrote the screenplay during 1974-1975. The authorities delayed the shooting of 'Rosy Dreams' for a year, because Hank and Duek refused to rewrite it with a socially optimistic ending that would have the two main characters getting married.[http://www.kinoeye.org/02/02/hames02.php Peter Hames, "Demanding work, but always creative: Ondrej ulaj and Duan Duek interviewed."] Both authors did research in Romani settlements and fashioned their script accordingly.Vclav Macek, 'Duan Hank.' Bratislava, 1996. They hired Professor of Romani Studies Milena Hbschmannov (1933-2005)[https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1573093,00.html Tom Gross, "Milena Hubschmannova." 'The Guardian,' 2005.] as consultant, who also helped with the Romani dialogues. Parts of the film were shot on location at Trhovite, an actual Romani village between Michalovce and Trebiov in eastern Slovakia, with all-Romani extras.
Cast
The preponderance of dubbed roles was partly due to casting. Duan Hank wanted 'Rosy Dreams' to feature little-seen and authentic actors. He turned to Czech actors to bring fresh faces to the Slovak silver screen, but out of those he cast, only Libue Havelkov and to some degree Vclav Babka managed to speak the Slovak lines well enough not to require dubbing. Retaining the actors' voice proved almost impossible with the Romani characters. The otherwise adept Iva Bittov, a student at the music conservatory in Brno in Czech-speaking Moravia and daughter of a Moravian-Czech mother and a Romani father from the Galanta District in western Slovakia, had had little practical experience with Slovak and none with Romani,Denisa Havrov, "S Idou Kelarovou: O om t 'rmska' hudba vlastne je?!" 'Khamoro,' 2000. and the other Romani non-actors needed to be dubbed either for language issues, or because of their inexperience.
Among the few authentic voices that belonged to less experienced actors was the lead, Juraj Nvota, a student of theater directing at the University of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Sally Salingov had gained some performing experience as a singer with the then popular Brao Hronec jazz band. Vra Bl was born in the Czech Republic but her father, the musician Karol Gia, and mother were born and grew up in eastern Slovakia (she herself moved there in 2005[http://www.cassovia.sk/korzar/archiv/clanok.php3?sub=17.10.2005/13972P Michal Frank, "Nali sme hviezdu svetovho formtu Vru Bl - ije v Preove!" 'Korzr,' 2005.]), which gave her experience with the language and her few Slovak and Romani lines were included. On the other hand, one of the film's most authentic-appearing characters, the granny Jakub feared dead, was actually played by the veteran actress Naa Hejn from one of Slovakia's old, notable families who had a lifetime of amateur and professional experience on the stage[http://www.divadlomartin.sk/ Slovensk komorn divadlo (formerly Divadlo SNP)] in Martin.
Iva Bittov continued with her singing career, began to compose, and eventually saw her albums released in the United States.[http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review_print.php?id=27229 Victor Verney, "George Mraz & Iva Bittova: Moravian Gems." 'All About Jazz,' 2007] Another Romani non-actor, Vra Bl, also embarked on an original singing career in the 1990s although she was singing in bands much earlier. Juraj Nvota followed 'Rosy Dreams' with several more acting roles, started a varied career as a theater director, and began to direct films in the 1990s.
Release dates
The authorities permitted 'Rosy Dreams' to be distributed only in limited release.[http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/3/votruba.shtml#cz1945 Martin Votruba, "Historical and Cultural Background of Slovak Filmmaking."] It received the Czechoslovak Critics' Award for 1996 and the Czech and Slovak Film Festival's Audience Award in Bratislava in 1977. It became the only Slovak film made in the 1970s that was shown abroad.DVD insert 'Rosy Dreams' has remained Duan Hank's most popular film.Jan Luke, "Foreword to Duan Hank," '3 scne.' Prague, 2005. When it was released on VHS after the collapse of communism in Central Europe, it became a particular favorite with the Romani community in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
'Rosy Dreams' was released on 'DVD' in the PAL format, 4:3 aspect ratio, region-free ("Region 0") with English subtitles by 'SME'/Slovensk filmov stav[http://www.sme.sk/dvd2/?id=7 DVD edcia dennka 'SME' a Slovenskho filmovho stavu] in 2007.
References
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