Marek Šulík: Ms.President

Access… is what Slovak director and cameraman Marek Šulík was given to film Zuzana Čaputová during the five years she was president of Slovakia, from 2019 till 2024. An access – with limitations of course – that included Šulík was present, when Čaputová was with advisers discussing/preparing the huge amount of speeches and official duties a president has in a country that – as neighbouring Hungary – is full of right-wing orientated political parties, escalating after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Zuzana Čaputová is seen on her trip to Kyiv, talking to the parliament, meeting Zelenskyj and on a tour to watch the consequences of Russian bombings. Back home in Bratislava she is met with Russian orientated demonstrations.

Otherwise Čaputová walks to press conferences, holds speeches, have one-to-one conversations, asks questions to the group of people, who works for her in the Palace, talks emotionally about her family at the same time as she continues to say that she wants to protect her daughters from the public spotlight that – as the film shows – becomes more and more nasty, her being called “an agent”, “a bitch”, “an American whore” receiving death threats and so on. Writing this the day before the American election takes place – we know it, we have heard it, we hear it.

She is welcoming the Pope in sequences that are quite emotional as her father is near death, the Pope knows about that and you see him comforting her. But tears roll from her eyes. And through the whole film you get the impression of a woman – I want to stay “a quality mother” as she says in the beginning of the film – who wants the best for her country and its population and who shows positive human tolerance, for instance at a sequence that deals with the killing of two LGBT people, that gathered huge demonstrations.

At the end of the film a woman approaches Čaputová thanking her for her way of being an open and caring President, asking her to go for another term. Later she says that she does not have the strength and Šulík brings a wonderful shot of her with the daughters.

Access… like Pavel Koutecký had when he filmed Vaclav Havel for 14 years for “Citizen Havel” that was finished by Mira Janek… gave us another great film, that won the Opus Bonum at the Jihlava FF the other day.

Slovakia/Czech Republic, 2024, 110 mins.

 

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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