Two movies from Farm in a Cave, with a discussion with choreographer Viliam Docolomansky.

Commander

What if children spoke to each other as if they're chatting? What if their dialogues weren't fictional but taken literally from neo-Nazi chats? The film Commander publicly reveals what has so far remained hidden behind the digital curtain. It illuminates the contours of the present world in which some children live their second lives. The film collage displays dialogues composed exclusively of fragments of real chats of the neo-Nazi group FKD, which was led by a thirteen-year-old boy operating under the nickname Commander. The film sets them in fictional situations in the real world and puts them in the mouths of actors – children. The chilling atmosphere of conversations, in which children talk publicly about sex, death and hatred, balances between absurdity, humour, fear, and horror. These little adults are – at least verbally – taking responsibility for the world and our lives. When verbal pressure and manipulation, to which children are exposed virtually, are transferred to public space and given a physical form, the resulting image raises more than one disquieting question.

Director: Viliam Docolomansky. DP: Vaclav Fronk. Editor: Karel Sindelar. Sound: Jiří Graf, NAPA Records. Cast: Julian Hajduk Brown, Herman Tajovsky, Frantisek Soucek, Tomas Richard Brenton, Michal Vrubel, Krystof Broz, Krystof Konicek, Oliver Vyskocil, Mikulas Rychetsky, and others. Presented in Czech with English subtitles.

Ephemera

Get on. We’re not stopping. We’re in this together, but separately. Moments, when we could understand, but we missed out. Ephemera - fleeting moments. They bloom and die. Pandemic restrictions have forced us to leave the theater and create an extraordinary experience of an auditorium divided into 18 cabins and in permanent motion. From the small space of the elevator car, you catch a glimpse of the kaleidoscope of life situations happening in parallel. 6 floors, 20 performers in motion and a theatrical ride that can't be stopped.

Director: Viliam Docolomansky. Co-directed by: Jiri Matousek. Concept: Viliam Docolomansky, Lucia Skandikova, Farm in the Cave. DP: Vaclav Fronk. Editor: Karolina Cejkova. Sound: Eva Svobodova. Cast: Eliska Vavrikova, Gioele Coccia, Andrej Stepita, Eleftheria Iliopoulou, Julian Hajduk Brown, Lukas Blaha, Barbora Jesutova, Barbora Nechanicka, Monika Castkova, Simona Dejmkova, Matej Petrak, Karolina Grygarova, Kamila Rutova, Jakub Kohout, Eliska Reznickova, Adela Garabikova, Julie Kubrychtova, Omar Torrico. Production: DOX Centre for Contemporary Art; Lucerna Palace.

This event is part of the 2024 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Dark Dreams. For more information, visit rehearsalfortruth.org.

Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Online registration is required.

The International company Farm in a Cave and the DOX Center for Contemporary Art in the Lucerna Palace. Sponsored by Perform Czech/Arts & Theater Institute, Prague.

The 2024 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Dark Dreams is organized by BBLA and the Vaclav Havel Center. The program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival is an annual showcase of contemporary Central and Eastern European theater, established in 2017. The festival is a shared endeavor of the Vaclav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with numerous other cultural and performing arts organizations. The festival honors the artistic and political legacy of the Czech playwright/dissident/president Vaclav Havel. We support exchanges between American and European theater professionals and celebrate the power of the theater to transform our lives.