Jan Foukal Talk (2016): Antioch University

Reviewed by Bryan Austin Gillison. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2016.

Before Jan Foukal came to speak to us my only impression of the film Amerika was from the pamphlet handed out at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Honestly it sounded like a hipster nightmare and I chose not to go forward with seeing the film. It reads as follows:

“Amerika tells the story of Czech men and women who, in search of a “better and freer world”, adopted the lifestyle and music of the American Wild West.”

What I soon learned was that the cultural phenomenon being exemplified in the film through the use of American culture is in fact a much older and richer “game” as Jan puts it that originates in the Czech republic. Young men and women have been “Tramping” throughout the Czech republic for many years, but Jan believes the tradition is dying. The forests were once considered a sacred shared space that could not be owned, but was in fact there for all to learn and grow in. Tramping is about getting away from society and forging your own understanding of the world around you as well as the options at hand in your development.   

This hybrid documentary film has a dreamy quality to it. You may find yourself reminded of fairy tales and being lost in the woods as a child. The film makes use of interviews, live documentary footage, and reenactments to tell its tale. It is in fact part truth, part fiction, and part chance. As Jan would say: “You prepare and prepare, but you know the dancer can dance”.

Jan Foukal certainly danced for us. After watching a clip, and hearing him speak I decided this film was a must see and I did not regret it. According to Jan the title Amerika is a symbol for a state of mind free from the Czech Republic. It represents a bigger, better, more free reality that the filmmaker believes we can inhabit. I think he’s right, and you may too if you watch his film.