WE LOVE LIFE
If you were born in communist Czechoslovakia, it was very likely that you practiced for the so-called Spartakiads. For decades, millions of people of all ages regularly performed in these mass gymnastic displays that took place in Prague, in the world’s biggest stadium.
Taking their inspiration from the Czech people’s traditional interest in mass gymnastic exercise, the Spartakiads established themselves as a potent symbolism of communism. But, as they headed towards their final decade in the 1980s, they had become not only a strange megalomanic phenomenon, popular with the majority of citizens, but also the subject of a fascinating national power game.
Navigating through propaganda films, personal videos and found footage, We Love Life explores how the complex nuances of life under an authoritarian regime were reflected in these unique choreographic events. Ultimately the film is a form of inquiry into the relationship between the state and the human body.
DCP; b&w, colour; sound 5.1; 29 min; UK 2022
Co-funded by the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union
FESTIVALS
MoMA Doc Fortnight
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
United States 2023
Tampere Film Festival
International Competition
Finland 2023
Vienna International Film Festival
The Ordinary Devotions Programme
Austria 2022
Buenos Aires Int. Festival of Independent Cinema
Best Avant-Garde and Genre Film Nominee
Argentina 2022
DocumentaMadrid
Special Mention of the Jury Award
Spain 2022
Frontdoc International Documentary Festival
Best Mid-Length Documentary Award
Italy 2022
IBAFF International Film Festival
Special Mention of the Jury Award
Spain 2022
Black Canvas International Film Festival
The State of the World Programme
Mexico 2022
Cork International Film Festival
Ireland 2022