Reconstruction of Occupation (Jan Sikl) Czech Republic |

Reconstruction of Occupation
Jan Sikl
Czech Republic. 2021. 100 min

Documentary filmmaker Jan Šikl has spent many years seeking out and collecting private film archives. Faded footage of family lives, celluloid echoes of celebrations and everyday moments. Through his work, Šikl came across several hours of footage showing the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. These unique images long remained unseen – until August 21, 2021, when historical memory awakened from a long slumber. Reconstruction of Occupation is a cinematic adventure of a truly archeological nature in which anonymous faces are transformed into living witnesses of the days that sent Czechoslovakia into two more decades of bondage.

JAN SIKL

Born in 1957, Prague. Graduated from FAMU in 1982. From 1984 to 1990 he was employed as a director at Krátký film Praha. In 1991 he founded his own production company, Pragafilm. He is a collector of amateur family archives that he works with also in his films, especially in his documentary series Private Century (2004-2007) that was awarded in Czech republic and abroad (Best Czech documentary at Jihlava IDFF, Pavel Koutecký’s award, Trilobit award, Elsa TV award and others).

Selected filmography:
Private Century – TV series:
The King of Velichovky (2002, TV doc. film)
A Stroke of Butterfly Wings (2005, TV doc. film)
A Low-Level Flight (2006, doc.)
See You in Denver (2006, TV doc. film)
Small Russian Clouds of Smoke (2007, TV doc. film)
Reconstruction of the Occupation (2021, doc.)