‘Unconventional’ Documentary About Czech Photographer Gets US Release
An intriguing new documentary film that is tipped to contend in this year’s Oscars has just dropped its official United States trailer.
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be tells the story of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, who, after the Soviet invasion of Prague, “strives to break free from the constraints of Czechoslovak normalization and embarks on a wild journey towards freedom, capturing her experiences on thousands of subjective photographs.”
It is Czech filmmaker Klára Tasovská’s debut feature and is described as a “formally inventive and deeply personal film.” It was made in close collaboration with Jarcovjáková and has access to her photographs and diary entries. I’m Not Everything I Want to Be explores the photographer’s search for identity and emotional journey, and results in a “deeply affective and inspiring work.”
Deadline reports that the film has already won two awards at the Czech Lions awards ceremony, and also won prizes at the Torino Film Festival in Italy and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal.
“Through a dynamic montage of still images, layered sound design, contemporary music, and Jarcovjáková’s own voice drawn from her diaries, the film delivers a wild, intimate, and deeply political cinematic experience,” Ryan Krivoshey of Grasshopper Film, the company distributing the film, tells Deadline. “We’re thrilled to share it with audiences.”
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be has been officially selected by the Czech Republic as its entry for Best International Film at the Academy Awards.
Jarcovjáková photographed nightlife in Prague and West Berlin in the 1970s and 1980s, often focusing on minority groups. Her work is hedonistic and stands in contrast with the Soviet Union, which was institutionally homophobic.
“I am a photographer and a teacher of photography,” Jarcovjáková writes on her website. “As I pass through various landscapes, wondrous strange images emerge. What is strange is interesting, but what is most strange is most interesting.”
The director, Tasovská, says, “Libuše Jarcovjáková’s work has influenced generations of artists in the Czech Republic — to have the opportunity to bring her work to American audiences is sensational.”
The film will be released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles in November.
