Bye Bye Shanghai

Distinguished Czech documentarian Jana Boková, who lives in Argentina, decided for her latest film to find out exactly what the word “exile” means. Her first stop is Prague where, after a period of 40 years, she meets up with a friend from her school days, the philosopher Václav Bělohradský. Their joint recollections of leaving Prague, at that time occupied by “friendly” forces of Soviet Union, are deftly woven into highquality archive footage. She also conducts a frank interview in Prague with the lightly intoxicated Vlasta Třešňák, who remembers being tortured during the endless interrogations by the state secret police and the need to choose between prison and emigration. This highly personal film by Jana Boková, examining the lives of several Czech émigrés, including the director herself, considers the various aspects of emigration and reaches the conclusion that, once a person has been uprooted, he can never cultivate his native roots again. (official distributor synopsis)