The Producers

Tomáš Bojar - Director

Tomáš Bojar has been active in the film industry since 2003. As a scriptwriter he has worked on multiple film projects alongside Pavel Abrahám – most notably on feature length documentaries Czech RAPublic (2008) and Two Nil (2012). Together with Rozálie Kohoutová he directed feature documentaries FC Roma (2016) and Off Sides (2019). In 2018 he completed a feature-length documentary Breaking News. His films have been screened at numerous international film festivals, such as Karlovy Vary IFF, Visions du Réel Nyon, and Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Making The Film

Director's Statement

The poet Ivan Diviš once wrote: 'I never have any literary ideas. It would never occur to me to engineer a story; I never make anything up and I can’t fathom how anyone else can. I am anti-plot, anti-narrative. I have a kind of aversion to them both. I am an eclectic and a collector or simply a gatherer – not even reaching the level of a hunter'.I feel very similarly on these matters. And I feel especially strongly in relation to František Fajtl and Filip Jánský and their literary legacy. When I was given permission by Fajtl’s daughter Jitka and Jansky’s wife Zuzana to create an entire film based on their writings it struck me how easy it would be to ruin their opus and legacy. I certainly didn’t intend to let that happen. And in the same manner I definitely did not want to do a disservice to the beautifully preserved footage.

It is mainly humility I feel towards both František Fajtl and Filip Jánský. For two intense years I was accompanied by their books and they did indeed get under my skin during that time. As I began shaping from an abundance of information, I realized that some parts of the whole would have to be let go, and it would not be easy to let go. The fundamental decision had already been made – to keep the focus on the specific experience of two young and very much alive men, whose lives were suddenly invaded by war. I firmly believe it would be contrary to their wishes for this film to be used to construct an opulent monument to the pilots. Both young men were way too humble and witty for such pomp.

Together with the editor Šimon Špidla and composer Stroon we aimed to honour the story by building the whole film in accordance with the functionalist idea of form following the function. I feel we have achieved a rather specific and hopefully not entirely conventional level of film speech and expression.

- Tomáš Bojar - Director, Good Old Czechs