Director Tereza Nvotová on Father, Mečiar and the politics making her “very scared”
Director Tereza Nvotová is enjoying one of the most successful moments in her career, with her film Father having competed at the recent Venice festival – and now greatly surpassing box office expectations. Nvotová, who is 37, is from Slovakia but moved to Prague two decades ago, and also spends a lot of time in New York. Our conversation takes in the genesis of the hard-hitting Father, her interactions with one-time strongman politician Vladimír Mečiar, and the current political situations in Slovakia and America.
Your dad is a director, your mum is a well-known actress. At what age did you yourself start taking an active interest in film?
“In terms of if I was thinking about a career in film, that was later.
“Of course I was watching films from early childhood.
“My mom, when she was a child, was sort of deprived of TV, because her parents forbade her to watch it, so at our home the TV was always on and she was constantly watching movies, even while doing other things, which she still does [laughs].
“So I was exposed to a lot of stuff, not always quality stuff [laughs], but it was always there.
“My parents worked mostly in theatre and they always kind of dived in to some stories and characters, and even at home they’d always be talking about them or arguing about them.
“So that was sort of the reality I was born into.
“I was very conscious about what they were doing. From an early age I went to see their rehearsals at the theatre, and I was thinking about the stories they were making.
“So this was my childhood.
“And in terms of film, I felt first that theatre was something that I didn’t really want to do, or not when I was young, because it felt… I didn’t want to be an actress and directing theatre felt too much for me: You have this whole group of actors and you have to sort of know what you were doing.
“I decided to go for documentary [filmmaking] – there you’re searching much more than you have a vision and it has be exactly like that.”
“And I didn’t feel I knew what I was doing when I was, like, 17. So I decided to go for documentary [filmmaking], because there you’re searching much more than you have a vision and it has be exactly like that.
“So that’s how I started. I started also telling stories, but real stories and in a different form than theatre.
“And I also was more interested in visuals that I can make and that remain – you don’t have be in stress every single time the play is performed [laughs], if it will go well.”
Your Wikipedia entry says you went a bilingual school run by Word of Faith, which is a small Protestant church from the US. Does that mean your family were active in that church?
“No, not at all. Actually this was the early ‘90s and it’s important to understand that context.
“Because in the early ‘90s, right after the revolution, everybody was, like, Everything English is great! Let’s expose our children to the Western world, because we were so deprived of it.
“That was the mindset of my parents.
“I remember we moved to this small apartment in Bratislava and our neighbours had a daughter who was the same age as me, and they were active in that church and their daughter was going to that school.
“They said, It’s a bilingual school – why don’t you put little Tereza into that school?
“And my parents didn’t know anything like that existed. My mom is from a Catholic family, my dad is from a pretty conservative Protestant – but almost no religion – family.
“They thought, It’s Christian, so it’s going to be fine.
“And I think that they figured it out much later, when I started to go home and be sort of fanatic and going around with the Bible and saying that they were sinners and that they’d told me that the Beatles were Satanists [laughs].
“And my parents were like, What?! What’s going on?
“That was the moment when they started to be like, Let’s put her in a normal school, because first of all she doesn’t know anything – they don’t learn anything, apparently – and she is weirdly fanatic.
“So they didn’t know. And they put me in a normal, state school and the first year I was suffering a lot.
“And then I made a documentary about it [the US denomination] that was my first feature documentary [Take it Jeazy!].”
At the age of 16 you moved to Prague on your own. How was it moving to a different country and starting not only to go to a different school but in a whole different environment?
“I don’t really like to talk about it publicly, because it was also for personal reasons, why I went to Prague.
“But yes, I moved when I was 16. It was kind of tough. I had to grow up sort of sooner [laughs].
“I think also I felt some kind of pressure, because I felt that I was grown, when I was still teenage; I felt I need to do something, because grown up people do something.
“So [laughs] I think that’s why I started to do films very early, even before I started to go to school, to FAMU.”
At FAMU you studied documentary and then later fiction film making. About eight years you made a huge splash with a documentary about Vladimír Mečiar, just called Mečiar, who would have been the Slovak prime minister when you were a small child. Mečiar was such a kind of authoritarian leader and always seemed like a very pugnacious guy. How did you find actually filming with him?
“It was very strange [laughs]. It started as my Bachelor’s film at the Documentary Department, because I first went to the Documentary Department at FAMU and then I applied for Master’s studies in Fiction.
“So I sort of did both, but this started as my Bachelor’s film in documentary.
“And I know it started with my reading some news that Vladimír Mečiar finally left his own party; he was gone from politics already, but that was his final step to completely get off the political stage.
“I felt at that time, Wow, I wonder who is this man?
“Because I remember in my childhood his name was everywhere all the time. Sort of like Donald Trump in American households right now [laughs]. Or Fico in Slovak households right now.
“In my childhood Mečiar’s name was everywhere all the time. Sort of like Trump in American households right now.”
“They were very similar times, to be honest; they were very polarising times.
“Slovakia is a small country, there are five million people here, and there were like two sides. And sometimes even in one family people didn’t speak to each other, because they voted for a different person.
“So yes, those were the times I was growing up in. And my parents were sort of active, as artists but also as activists – as well as in the revolution in 1989, during the Mečiar times they were demonstrating and doing what they could.
“So I was sort of in that reality, but I couldn’t really understand what was going on really, because I was too small.
“As small kids we were playing that we were Mečiar and other politicians.
“And in this moment when I was, I don’t know, 20-something, I decided to try to reach out to Mečiar, because I thought I might ask him.
“I was not expecting him to tell me truth or something, but I just wanted to understand who he is and what he did he do those things to our country.
“Because I think if we are looking at Slovakia right now, or when I was doing the movie in 2016, I felt, It’s not only what’s happening now and what the politicians in parliament are doing now – it’s weirdly set up like a democracy so it looks like a democracy, but it’s not really democracy.
“Or the institutions don’t work in way that democracy needs them to work. And this is all because this is how Vladimír Mečiar set it up.
“So that’s why I went to him. And the filming him… I remember we were there three or four days.
“It took some time for him to finally say, OK, you can shoot with me. I remember I met with him twice before I even had a camera with me.
“Then he was, OK, you can come with your crew. Which was me and two other guys; it was very student kind of filming, at that time.
“And I asked him questions but I think what I was looking for more… Because he is a master in that you ask him something and he starts to talk about something else.
“Politicians are of course trained in that, and I was never pretending to be some great political interviewer – in my 20s – who could catch him on something.
“I was more interested in how he saw this whole thing and himself and his role in Slovak history.
“As small kids we were playing that we were Mečiar and other politicians.”
“And there was one thing he said, even in the movie, which was, There’s going to be one sentence about me in the history books.
“I asked him, What’s the sentence going to be? Is it going to be positive or negative – what is the sentence?
“And he said, It doesn’t matter – I don’t care if it’s positive or negative, what I care about is that it’s going to be there.
“And this is what sort of unlocked who he is for me. I think it says a lot.
“But the whole story of that movie was long, because first I made it for school, and then I spoke to HBO and they were interested in a bigger project so I started to make it into a bigger feature documentary.
“And it even has an English title that nobody knows, for some reason [laughs]: It’s called The Lust for Power.
“But I like Mečiar better, because it’s more what it is.”
You’ve also had success with your fiction films, including Filthy and Nightsiren, which won a prize at the Locarno film festival. Now you’re back with Father, which took part in one of the competitions at the Venice film festival at the end of August/beginning of September. Father is based on the real story of a man who causes the death of his child after he leaves her in his car on a very hot day. You have said that you initially refused an offer to make a film on this subject. What changed your mind?
“My mind changed my mind. It sounds weird, but that’s what happened [laughs].
“My initial thoughts were, I can’t do it, it’s too tragic.
“When you hear the story you immediately, or I immediately, imagine a film and if it works for me – if there’s something more than just one layer of what the story is, because I think film needs much more layers.
“But here at first I could only see the tragic layer, that sort of very depressing, tragic, sad, helpless layer that this story has of course. So I thought, Not possible.
“But then it somehow stayed in me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was coming back to me and sort of creating questions in me.
“Those questions were very challenging, because this whole story is… Yes, it’s about a man who forgets his child in a car, but it’s also the story of a human mind and memory.
“Of course I was asking myself how this could happen. Could it happen to me? And when I had to honestly answer myself that, yes, I am capable of such a tragic, fatal mistake I thought, Wow, this is deeper than that.
“Father is about a man who forgets his child in a car, but it’s also the story of a human mind and memory.”
“I like challenging stories and I started to dig deeper into what else is there and I found there is a love story there, there is a story of forgiveness there, there is a story of self-acceptance there.
“Also there’s the story of a society which doesn’t know what to do with cases such as this one. It sort of challenges not only us as people but also our whole justice system.
“And also the response of the whole society in Slovakia when this happened, because it’s also inspired by a real story, was so brutal. People were really capable of being aggressive and violent to this man.
“So I started to think about it in a different way and then I had the idea about the long takes. And I think that was then moment when I was, like, OK, I could see the movie.”
And the long takes really add to the tension and are a great device. As far as I know, the man, who was found guilty in a court but got a suspended sentence, died a couple of years after this himself. Could you have made the film, would you have made the film, if he were still around?
“I don’t know. It very much would depend on him.
“I was originally approached for this film by his best friend [writer Dušan Budzak], who was there with him when it all happened. He was his very close person.
“And he was the one who told me the story, from a very different angle.
“And that was also something that unlocked in me the point of view, because once I heard it from this personal perspective I was like, That’s the movie.
“The movie tells this story that we only see in the tabloids, only see in newspapers, from the perspective of the inside. And that’s something new, that’s what people don’t know, that’s what people don’t see.
“And I had this access to it through Dušan, who then became my co-writer of the script.
“But I don’t know if he was alive what would happen. I can’t answer that.”
I saw the film just before the Venice film festival and I didn’t know anything at all about the background, that it was based on a true story. And I was thinking after about half an hour, This is a horror film, is this a horror film? Given the incredibly tough subject matter of the film what’s your explanation of the fact that it’s been number one at the Slovak box office, that it’s been such a great success with viewers?
“Actually I love an audience that doesn’t know anything about the film and goes to see it. I think that’s the strongest experience when you don’t know because of that moment of surprise.
“I know I’m talking about something that’s the worst nightmare that can happen to anyone. So I’m not trying to make it light. What I’m trying to say is that film has a way to really put us in somebody’s emotions, somebody else’s mind.
“And this is what I was trying to do here in this film, where we sort of dive into the father character – that you might know what is happening, but you’re going with it until that second happens, and that second sort of turns around your life completely; you’re ripped of everything that you believed until that moment.
“This is what I was trying to transfer to the audience, because after the fact, or talking about it from the perspective of, like, Oh we know what happened and we have an opinion about it, is a completely different thing.
“In terms of Slovakia and the Slovak success, it’s honestly a really huge surprise for me.
“Because of course in Slovakia people know about this case and people know that this movie is based on this; actually I have to make it clear, it’s not based on this case, it’s inspired by it and also by different cases in the world. It’s not that story exactly.
“And when I was talking to distributors or producers they were all saying it would have 5,000 or maybe 10,000 people in cinemas in Slovakia. They were saying 10,000 would be a pretty big success.
“Last week we had 51,000 and I still didn’t get the numbers from this week, so we’ll see. But that’s already a lot. [Since this interview the number of viewers has passed 70,000].
“People keep texting me they are in full cinemas and that people come in with full boxes of popcorn – and then leave with the full boxes of popcorn, because no eats them.”
“People keep texting me that they are in full cinemas and [laughs] they keep telling me that people come in with full boxes of popcorn – and then leave the theatre with the full boxes of popcorn, because no eats them.
“And what’s really powerful for me is that a lot of people are writing me that they were the ones who were judging this man in Slovakia, they were the ones who thought he was a killer, and after this movie they totally reconsidered that point of view, and it changed for them a lot.
“They are writing me and Milan Ondrík, who played the main character, these messages.
“And if it’s possible to change this in people with one film, for me it’s such a miracle.
“Because of course I was aware that this is a hard-core film, it’s very tragic and people scared to see it.
“A lot of people go to theatres saying, I just want rest, I just want to relax.
“But it turns out that it’s not really true. People don’t only want that. People want an experience and people want to be touched in their hearts.
“And it feels like that happened with this film, for some reason.
“And I don’t know if I did anything different than with previous films – it’s hard for me to crack it [laughs].”
It’s also the Slovak submission for the Oscars and it was reported just a few days ago that it’s been sold to several territories. You have an American husband, the actor Jacob Pitts. I know you also have an agent, or agents, of your own in America. How are things looking for you in terms of you making a film in the US? Or is that your ambition?
“Of course. My ambition is to make a film anywhere [laughs], if I can.
“Of course I want to make films that I understand from inside. Culture is a big factor, and that’s why I keep coming back to Slovakia to make my films, even though they are always co-productions with other countries; with the Czech Republic mostly, and this time also Poland.
“So yes, culture is a factor. I wouldn’t dare to go to, I don’t know, India and make an Indian film, if I don’t have any insight that’s really personal, and mine.
“But with America it’s different now, because I split my time between Prague and New York. We’re together for 10 years, so it’s been some time I’ve been going there.
“And yes, I do have agents there, and that’s great. But just seeing the whole film industry, and comparing it with the European model – it’s really, really different.
“It took me some time to understand how it even works in terms of financing projects, and what kind of projects go and what not.
“It took me some time to understand how the US film industry even works in terms of financing projects.”
“Europe has a financing structure based on state funds. So when you want to make a movie, like me, and I have an idea, I write a script or a synopsis in different stages and I can go to the state fund.
“Then when I get supported I can go to the state fund of some co-production country, and this is how we put the money together.
“In America there are no state funds [laughs] – everything is private. Films are a business, the same as the car business or whatever else.
“So private people and private companies do invest in films, if they believe they can get the money back and make money off them.
“I think we can see the change, because when you look back to the ‘90s, there were movies that were, you know, not so different from European movies: there were dramas, there was all sorts of experimentation with film form, and it was sort of exciting.
“But if you look at movies coming out of America nowadays it’s all… it’s almost like you put in a question in ChatGPT: What movie is going to bring me money?
“It’s all sequels and prequels and really, really safe bets. They don’t really bet on new voices any more.
“So of course for people like me it’s much harder, because I do get sometimes scripts from my agents and I would love to go for them but usually those scripts are so bad [laughs].
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“And I can’t do something that I don’t understand at all, like, Why would these characters do these things?
“Then I have projects that almost happened but then didn’t, because there was a strike, or Covid, or something that sort of killed the project.
“And in Hollywood if your project is killed then it’s killed – it’s not like you go to the state fund again.
“So there were moments like that.
“And now I have projects there. I’m trying some other approaches where I’ve teamed up with other writers and filmmakers and I’m pitching my own ideas.
“We have something going on, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Currently you’re filming in Bratislava. Could you ever imagine living in Slovakia again?
“Not right now. I mean I’m living here right now because I’m shooting a big project here that I can’t talk about at the moment.
“Being in Slovakia and watching the news every day, it is really depressing.”
“But being here and watching the news every day, it is really depressing, just being in the reality where you see the people who are governing the country are just taking the basic safety net from people.
“I still hope that when we have elections that people will see that and will do something, if it will be possible at that moment [laughs], because we never know.
“Another thing that’s really hard to watch is how people – and this is not somebody somewhere, this is family members, this is grandparents, these are people who we love – fall for these conspiracies and lies and stuff that’s on the internet because they don’t know how to divide the true from the false, because everything looks the same on a screen.
“And if they don’t have anyone in the family who can help them, then of course they’re going to vote for the most crazy, militant party, because they are the loudest online.
“I’m really sad for this country, because it’s not only that – of course art, film, anyone who’s working in the arts is having a really hard time. People are moving away, if they can.
“So I would not move back right now [laughs].
“I’m kind of happy that I’m a taxpayer not in Slovakia [laughs], so all of these changes the laws are not really touching me that much. But this is still touching me, and of course my family.”
But also I presume the America of today is not the America that you first visited a few years ago?
“Yes. It’s quite funny how it feels like Slovakia, such a small country in Eastern Europe, and America have a very similar social and political movement.
“And yes, it’s crazy. I got my green card at the end of last year. It’s a long process that had taken four years or something.
“ICE is basically the secret police of the Communist time in Czechoslovakia.”
“So I got my green card and I got it when there was the inauguration of Donald Trump. And I was like, This is such an absurd experience.
“And now just watching what’s happening there with ICE – which is basically the secret police of the Communist time in Czechoslovakia.
“They’re doing the same kind of violence, the same sort of outlaw behaviour towards vulnerable groups and immigrants and anyone who is not cheering for them.
“It’s really a takeover of the country. I don’t know how to describe it.
“And of course people do tend to have hope and feel like, OK, let’s hope we can overturn it at the next elections.
“But I don’t know – what if not?
“I’ve started feel like, Now I understand all those stories between the wars in the 20th century and how people felt in this kind of time.”
“I feel like with the world we are living in right now I don’t know what’s going to happen and I don’t want to say, Oh, it’s going to be fine.
“Because I don’t feel that way. There could be a war… We see Russian drones everywhere right now, and we cannot expect to lean on anyone or anywhere.
“I’ve started feel like, Oh, now I’m starting to understand all those stories between the wars in the 20th century and how people felt in this kind of time.
“And I’m very scared. But I don’t know what to do.
“We were talking with my husband he was like, So what do we do?
“And I said, Let’s keep the place in New York, because even if there’s a dictatorship if there is one there might be a war in Europe, so what’s safer?
“And these are terrible options [laughs].”
