Kauza Cervanová

Normalization

Vor über 30 Jahren wurde die neunzehnjährige Studentin Ludmilla Cervanová tot in einer kleinen slowakischen Stadt aufgefunden. Schnell waren sieben Männer ausfindig gemacht, die für die Vergewaltigung und Ermordung seitdem im Gefängnis sitzen. Trotz einer Reihe von Zeugenaussagen, die die Unschuld der Männer bestätigen sollten, wurde keiner von Ihnen je vor Gericht angehört. Robert Kirchhoff beleuchtet diesen Kriminalfall, der bis heute ein ungelöstes Rätsel in der slowakischen Geschichte darstellt.

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
Slowakei / Tschechien 2013
color & black and white
100 Minuten
OmeU
Drehbuch Robert Kirchhoff
Kamera Ján Meliš
Schnitt Jana Vlčková, Adam Brothánek
Ton/Sounddesign Václav Flégl
Musik Peter Zagar
Produktion
Atelier.doc Piešťanská 7 831 02 Bratislava Slovak Republic T +421 904 610 694 F +421 944 610 694 office@atelierdoc.sk www.atelierdoc.sk