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KARLOVY VARY 2022 Special Screenings

Lukas Sturm, Lila Schwarzenberg • Directors of My Father, The Prince

“It is never too late to have a conversation between father and daughter, parents and children”

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- Czech politician and statesman Karel Schwarzenberg is the subject of this highly personal documentary by his daughter Lila and Lukas Sturm

Lukas Sturm, Lila Schwarzenberg • Directors of My Father, The Prince

Going behind the myth and uncovering the human: in their documentary My Father, The Prince [+see also:
interview: Lukas Sturm, Lila Schwarzen…
film profile
]
, filmmakers Lukas Sturm and Lila Schwarzenberg try to unravel the many sides of the latter's father: politician and statesman Karel Schwarzenberg. Because how do you relate to a person, who is a father figure to so many, but seldom connected to his own children? My Father, the Prince had its world premiere in the Special Screenings section of the 56th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

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Cineuropa: Lukas, I heard that you had to convince Lila to appear in the film. What was the original plan for the project? She has a very big role in the finished film.
Lukas Sturm:
Originally, we wanted to shoot for two or three days. But throughout the encounters between Lila and her father, something magical developed. We always said, we actually have to meet again. During the edit, it was clear to me that it would be nice to include Lila’s reflections about the last few years, about what she experienced in these encounters.

Lila Schwarzenberg: Originally, the film was based on the idea of somehow preserving my father for my children, because he was always a distant figure. During the editing, we saw that the most emotional footage was of the two of us. When the idea came up to do the interview, I thought “shit, it's very personal.” I didn't want to be the main character. But then the filmmaker in me won over and I said “okay, let's try it.”

You don't simply tick off the biographical cornerstones, as one is used to see in other films.
Lukas Sturm:
A central message is that it is never too late to have a conversation between father and daughter, parents and children. A producer friend of mine said you made a film for all the daughters of the world who have this kind of father. Because it was this post-war generation that grew up with a completely different image of being a father. And then, it's also a portrait of a man who, in contemporary history, is an extraordinary figure of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the opening of the film, you show a speech of his from 2014 about Putin and Crimea. Was that a decision influenced by current events or something you wanted to show about him being a passionate European from the beginning?
Lila Schwarzenberg:
That was a happy coincidence. We had several clips, but they didn't work. The opening is supposed to be for the audience who might not know him. In the speech, you know immediately that it's about someone who is an expert on these topics. 

The film also deals very prominently with the expulsion of the German-speaking population after World War II. How do you think this topic will be received in the Czech Republic?
Lila Schwarzenberg:
I think authentically. It shows very clearly that he was away for 40 years, but that he longed to be back for 40 years and that his life was only complete once he arrived here. I think if I were Czech and I had voted for him politically, that's what I would want to hear.

Your father was very touched by the film, although you repeatedly establish how distant he was from you and your family throughout his life. That shows some deep self-reflexiveness on his side.
Lila Schwarzenberg:
During filming he always said, “be critical Lila, be critical.” I told him this was the greatest gift he ever gave to me. This trust, that is not a given.

Lukas Sturm: The film is ultimately a declaration of love. The willingness of your father to spend so much time with us and to open up like that is actually the greatest gift. And that actually is the reconciliation.

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