Here is the trailer from the upcoming film “BURNING BUSH”. The film is directed by Agnieszka Holland, starring Tatiana Pauhofová (Dagmar Burešová), Jaroslava Pokorná (Palach’s mother), Ivan Trojan (police detective Jireš), Petr Stach (Palach’s brother).
Releasing on Fandor & Theatrically at Film Forum on Wednesday, June 11th
The three-part drama, directed by the Polish director Agnieszka Holland, is HB Europe’s most ambitious, big-budget project to date. The film returns to a pivotal time in modern Czech history, ignored in Czech cinema until now. It begins with a reconstruction of the shocking act of a Czech university student, who in protest of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, set himself on fire in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on January 16, 1969, and died four days later. Through the story of the brave defense attorney Dagmar Burešov, who defended Palach’s legacy in a doomed lawsuit, the film examines the transformations taking place in Czechoslovak society after the invasion of the armies of the Warsaw Pact in August of 1968 and the installation of a hardline Communist government. It depicts the beginnings of Czech and Slovak resistance against the occupation, which reached its apex with the mass protests during Palach’s funeral. It also shows the nation’s gradual resignation under the pressure of fear and harsher persecution.
Directed by acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA), who was a student at the FAMU film school in Prague during this tumultuous period. BURNING BUSH initially broadcast on television in the Czech Republic and later screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Telluride Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival where it was received to both audience and critical acclaim.