A look at the legendary Czech sound designer and his profession. Editor and documentary filmmaker Adéla Špaljová has her father Ivo Špalj talk about his life, career, and working methods. Over the course of his long life, sound designer Ivo Špalj (*1940) has collaborated on hundreds of films and become a mentor for at least one generation of men and women behind the mixing board. This gentle documentary also shows “Engi” (as he is known to his colleagues) again working with Jan Švankmajer, whose films he has lent their typical, dense, and sophisticated sound mix.
The subject of this film, which takes an analytical look at the life of all of us with an analytical eye, is the evil microbe that has slowly infiltrated the organism of the Czech nation. Through the intertwining fates of three couples, it evokes domestic life before November 1989, burdened by a suffocating atmosphere of unfreedom, and after November, when relatively nothing has changed because people have not changed. The bleak conclusion suggests that the plague epidemic is still ongoing.
Jaromír Kallista was born on December 18, 1939 in Prague. As a production graduate of Prague Film Academy (1959-1964), he worked at Barrandov Studios until 1970, when he decided to operate outside the state system as an independent film-maker. In this period he worked on the production unit for a number of feature films by Evald Schorm and Antonín Máša, as well as several documentaries. From 1973 to 1988 he was head of production at the Laterna Magica. Since 1989 he has taught at FAMU (Prague Film Academy). In 1983, together with Jan Švankmajer, he formed an independent film production company that, in 1992, became a legal entity with the creation of ATHANOR Ltd.
By browsing this website, you accept our cookies policy.
