I was surprised how much rape happened in the world, says filmmaker Jiří Vacek

“Those people put everything into it, money, energy, free time.We wanted to draw attention to the issue of rape, "says Vacek in an interview with Diary.

Until now you have devoted mostly advertising production.How did the idea of making a film about such a sensitive issue as rape? In the summer, I was too much on me, I was almost burnt out and wondered what I would like to do.And I found out that I wanted to travel, get to know new people, document their stories and share them with the world.But because of Covid, there was not much to travel, with the exception of Europe.Fortunately, I could fly to Rome, so I decided to head there.I had a place, I missed the story.

Since I studied for five years in Denmark, I knew that at any point they had a special bond of foreigners living in it.So I found a group of foreigners in Rome on Facebook, and I put a post in style: Hey, do you have any interesting story that I could shoot?And I got about seventy answers, biographies of different people with really very interesting stories.

And among them was the story of a raped woman who then made? Yes, I was most interested in the story of an American who was raped on his way in Mexico.After returning to America, they told her she was pregnant, and also that if she had a child to take, she would never get pregnant again.She decided to keep the child, it was twins.But then they threw her out of her apartment and thought she had to start completely.Because she likes fashion, she decided to move to Rome, set up a company there.He designs and sews clothes, and lives with his daughters in the Italian capital.When this story landed on my desk, we called several times, and she told me that she would do it and that she would play the main role in the movie.

So it was actually such a spontaneous idea.How did the shooting look like? When I wrote the challenge on Facebook, in addition to people with stories, I also told me those who wanted to help with filming.For example, dance instructors from South Africa, a cameraman from the Philippines, a Mexican actor.I also asked my English teacher Andrew, whom I asked to help me with the lyrics.Such a wave of enthusiasm rose and we started to give it all.I finally flew to Rome at the end of this September, and we had five days to shoot.It was hard because we had never seen each other before.The first day we had a meeting at seven o'clock in the morning and hoped everyone would arrive.In the end, however, we managed all the problems that appeared during filming.

As you mentioned, the main film heroine actually brings her own, difficult life story to the screen.How was the filming noted?Was it very emotionally demanding? Certainly.For example, when we filmed one scene in the bathroom, where she was supposed to cry, she played songs in front of her, which she listened even when it happened to her.To remind you of all emotions.And when the camera started, the tears were right.And again in the scene where she is in the church, she talked about how difficult it was for her to decide whether to keep the children or go for abortion.And she said that faith got her out of it.So there were definitely hard moments.

As such, the film as such is to draw attention to the issue of rape, and in the subtitles, and you are inviting women so that they are not afraid to ask for help and report the whole thing.When you made a research on the whole topic, did you come across a surprising information for you? I was surprised at how much rape was taking place, I didn't expect a monstrous number.This shocked me.But it also gave us all the energy to get this picture furthest.

The film has been published for several days, what are you responding to?We had the premiere of the film at the cinema, and I saw that many people had tears in their eyes.It's a sensitive topic.

Was a similar project a unique project for you, or does this film mean the beginning of a series?It will no longer be a rape topic, but another.I want to focus on serious social problems that are not much talked about, because the media space now occupies a lot of Covid.It will always be a true story of a person, linked to a place.But I would like to find some partners, because we all did the film about rape at our own expense, so if there was someone who stood behind us, I will be glad.This is one of the reasons why I try to get this film to film festivals, for example, I have logged it in to the short films of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, or for short films aimed at the Brno Festival.

This article was created as part of the cooperation of the Diary with a team that created a short film Cruel, a Beautiful, dedicated to rape issues.You can look at it below: