2024-04-11 06:42:06
What led you to create another work about Iveta Bartošová?
The producers, who also made the animated series, felt that Iveta deserved a documentary format as well. Maja Hamplová, Matěj Chlupáček and Matěj Podzimek invited me to take it on. I have to say that I was a little scared at first. Firstly, I don’t listen to Iveta’s music and secondly, I was afraid of the topic itself. I think it’s kind of a slight collective trauma of our society, because we all kind of watched it and experienced the tragic end associated with the boulevard. I had respect for that.
At what point did your attitude change?
When I started doing research, looking at the archives and starting to meet the main protagonist’s loved ones, I found out that a lot of people actually feel the same way. A certain bitterness remained in them and they feel powerless. We were mostly passive spectators without wanting to. I realized that people want to talk about the subject, not because they want to parasitize on those events, but because they are trying to understand them. There is something in common with Iveta, there is empathy, and at the same time they have different experience with show business.
Have you ever had someone refuse to participate because it’s a really difficult topic for someone?
We approached a lot of people and some of them refused. For example, Bára Basiková was close to Iveta, although she made completely different music and her journey through show business was different. But she wanted to participate in the filming because she cared about Iveta and was deeply touched by what happened. At the same time, it was very difficult for her. I know she was completely devastated when we finished the interview. During the filming, you could feel that it was definitely not a topic that anyone involved would be happy to return to.
I was surprised that Iveta’s only son Artur took part in the documentary, who is of course touched the most by the documentary…
It must have been very difficult for Artur, also because he had already worked with the producers on the animated series. Thanks to this, they had already built a relationship based on mutual trust. At the same time, I think that he can already have an overview of the events today, which frankly surprised me.
In the story of Iveta Bartošová, you mainly focused on her career. Is this also the reason why Josef Rychtář did not appear in it? Were you afraid that the documentary would slip into the tabloids?
Anyone who approaches this topic with a bit of conscientiousness will be faced with the question of whether he is actually in some way a parasite on the tabloid aspect. From the beginning, we decided not to show any defamatory material related to Iveta. We decided to focus more on her music career and look for the roots of what it turned into. In a way, we end where the tabloid lynching begins, because Iveta’s musical career also ends somewhere there.
After completing the work, can you answer for yourself where the mistake actually happened? What was the fateful crossroads at which Iveta’s life took a wrong turn?
Already during the filming, I realized that it is not possible or even correct to find a completely clear and concrete answer, because it was definitely a combination of several reasons. I myself have often come across various myths circulating about Iveta herself. For example, that her problems were caused by how fragile, naive, etc. she was. The documentary is trying to dispel such myths. Everything cannot be attributed to one person or one specific moment.
So I perceived the myths that try to interpret Iveta’s tragedy, but I felt that they were more an attempt by people to explain the story to themselves and once and for all. Some formulas belonging to show business can be toxic, at the same time mental health has not been talked about as much before. Our society was also unable to intervene against the tabloids, because everyone here was afraid that censorship was something inappropriate.
So what did you come up with in the film?
I think that our document is a mosaic of different attitudes and observations, which can often contradict each other. It is up to the viewer to ask the right questions and look for the answers between the lines in the statements of the people involved. At the same time, I hope that the documentary is also a fairly clear answer to whether there was one of those toxic formulas: a young, inexperienced girl from Frenštát was taken over by an old, seasoned producer, and he also had a partnership with her. This dual role is just as problematic as it was with, for example, Amy Winehouse or Britney Spears and the like.
Do you think Iveta’s fate would have turned out differently if it had happened later? Even the approach of the media is a little different today…
We also asked ourselves this question, how is it different today. Most of the patterns are quite similar, but at the same time, I think that the role of social media in the lives of stars can also be positive in some way. Nowadays, we see that celebrities are more in control of their media image and can be more authentic.
An interesting example is Ewa Farna, who ultimately did not appear in the documentary due to time constraints. I was rooting for her because I think she went through something similar to Iveta. She also had a complicated relationship with her manager, starting her career as a teenager. Today, however, she is an interpreter who has managed to break out of this role. She became a mother and started making original popular music, the way she wants, not the way her managers dictate. On the contrary, this is a positive story and an interesting parallel to Iveta’s fate.
There is also an opinion that the media is largely to blame for the tragic end of Iveta’s life. What do you think about it?
I think it definitely is, but I wouldn’t say it’s only their fault. The question arises as to who should have controlled the media. Although there were probably some tools for that, it was probably not the time for someone here to dare to regulate the media. Filming a person in an undignified or unruly state is unforgivable for me. So is the fact that someone will sell or broadcast the footage. I think that in an optimal society such things should not happen, or there should be some authority here that decides that we cannot portray any person in this way.
You mentioned that from your point of view it might be right to regulate the media. But isn’t such regulation dangerous? After all, it would be a restriction of access to information and a restriction of freedom of speech…
It would be appropriate for some regulation to work. It is certainly already given by some body, such as the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting, which should receive suggestions and somehow react to them. I think that if someone is in such a bad state of health, there should be a way to file a motion so that the person is not in the media at that moment. At the same time, I know that every regulation has its pitfalls. In the 1990s, there was simply such a general feeling that we would not regulate anything. However, I think that some restrictions are sometimes needed, the market cannot cope with everything. This is my intuitive opinion, I am not an expert.
Of course, I do not think that the media should be regulated in any significant way. I know where you are going with the question and I realize it could be abused. But it’s like everything else, if we don’t have any regulation in the housing market, I don’t know if it will be completely healthy either. With Iveta Bartošová, I think we all feel that the appropriate measure was exceeded. I believe that everyone wanted to intervene in some way, but at the same time no one knew how.
Most publishing houses today have their own codes of ethics. Not enough for you?
Today, more emphasis is placed on ethics and the protection of mental health. I think that if someone wanted to mediate something like this today, they would meet with market resistance, or at least I hope so. I’m not sure if there are functional mechanisms that would guarantee this. But it is definitely the responsibility of the media to let it out.
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