The Light for the Future – film and discussion

Documentary film by Lenka Ovčáčková followed by a discussion

The bilingual Czech-German-Austrian documentary film Light for the Future / Das Licht für die Zukunft presents the cross-border fates of three now ninety-year-old women memoirists from 1943 to 1952 in a profound and holistic way, thus adding another piece to the mosaic of an important reflection on the common German-Czech-Austrian history. All three memoirists come from German-speaking families and lived through the Second World War in Bohemia and Moravia: in Kaplitz in the Novohradské hory, in Brünn and in Hüttenhof in the Šumava region. The continuity of the lives of these innocent children was affected after 1945 by dramatic political events, which led to the continuation of their life paths in different countries. Elfriede fled with her mother and siblings to Linz in 1945, where they were reunited with their father. Ewa was fortunate to be able to go to Bavaria with her mother, sister and brother after the fierce deportation in 1945, the death march and her stay in the concentration camp in Husovice.

Her dad never came back from the war. Although Emma’s family was not expelled from Czechoslovakia, they were relocated from Sumava to the Ore Mountains in 1948, where her father and brother had to work in the uranium mines. After four years they moved back to Sumava. Despite their difficult life circumstances, all three mothers are committed on many levels to German-Czech and Austrian-Czech dialogue and, despite their old age, are preparing the ground for a common cross-border future. The film is interspersed with quotations from the writings On the Sun and On Light by the Renaissance philosopher, theologian and physician Marsilio Ficino.

After the screening of the film, there will be a discussion with the filmmaker Lenka Ovčáčková and the memoirist Ewa Singer. Moderated by David Macek from Meeting Brno.

Screenplay, camera, sound, editing and direction by Lenka Ovčáčková, 2025 (Czech and German), 58 min.

The program is held in cooperation with the Arnold Villa and the Brno City Museum