Kauza Cervanová
Normalization
Over 30 years ago in Czechoslovakia, medical student Ludmila Cervanová
was murdered. Her father, a participant in several secret missions to the Arab world, was a high-ranking party official. A
frenetic investigation began in 1976 and involved the state police, secret service, a huge propaganda machine and Czechoslovakia's
president Gustáv Husák himself. Hastily fabricated testimony and evidence made charges against seven men possible. For them,
their families and lawyers a race for survival had begun. Unsolved to this day, the case has been hanging like a cloud over
Slovak judiciary for almost 40 years. The film does not seek to answer who killed the woman and why. It focuses on the mechanisms
emerging where law and politics meet, showing how easy it is to arouse fear and to manipulate not just individuals but an
entire nation.
Director's Biography
Robert Kirchhoff, born 1968 in Nitra, Slovak Republic, is
a director, producer, cinematographer and scriptwriter. He studied film directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava
where he still holds an academic appointment. Kirchhoff is also a founder and the CEO of atelier.doc. Many of his films received
significant recognition at several festivals domestically and internationally. // Films (selected): HEJ, SLOVÁCI (Hey, You
Slovaks, 2002, doc; CE '04), DUCH V STROJI (Ghost in the Machine, 2010, doc), KAUZA CERVANOVÁ (Normalization, 2013, doc)
CROSSING EUROPE AWARDS
2014: CROSSING EUROPE Social Awareness Award – Best Documentary
European Panorama Documentary 2014
Robert Kirchhoff
Slovakia / Czech Republic
2013
color &
black and white
100
minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay
Robert Kirchhoff
Cinematography
Ján Meliš
Editing Jana Vlčková,
Adam Brothánek
Sound/Sounddesign Václav Flégl
Music Peter Zagar
Production
Atelier.doc Piešťanská 7 831 02 Bratislava Slovak Republic
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