Interview with Eva Križková, director of The Birdhill (Vtáčnik)

She graduated in film science at the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She co-founded the distribution company Filmtopia and the magazine KINEČKO, where she worked as editor-in-chief for 10 years. Currently she is the director of the International Documentary Film Festival One World in Slovakia. Vtáčnik is her feature debut.

In Vtáčnik, I was particularly impressed by its sound. The harmonious singing of the birds and the flowing stream contrasts with the noisy excavator, which in the next layer tries to drown out the thundering music in the form of a death metal track. Could you tell us about the approach you took when working with the sound?

When creating the sound concept for the film, I started from two main assumptions. That my husband is a film sound engineer and even outside of making this film, he is constantly recording sounds in our surroundings and then the sonic aspect of the trauma I am experiencing on Vtáčnik. In our civilization, we generally have a stronger sense of visual perception, and sounds affect us rather subconsciously, and we don’t even realize how strong an impact they have on us. My intention was to nudge the audience a bit towards more conscious listening. Our composer and co-author of the sound design, Martin Ožvold, who pioneered the so-called integrated soundtrack, helped me a lot in building this concept.

What do you think we humans could be most inspired by in terms of the coexistence of the different bird species that play an important role in your documentary?

I wouldn’t want to spoil it, because that’s what the film talks about. Anyway, I believe we have a lot to learn from birds, as they are one of the oldest living vertebrates on earth. They have managed to survive all the crises and disasters, meteorite crashes and species extinctions. We, as humanity, are now facing great challenges and it is certainly appropriate to be inspired by the more successful ones.

Were the locals willing to cooperate in the making of the documentary or did you also encounter some dissenting opinions about its creation?

More or less everyone was willing to cooperate. In The Birdhill, that dissatisfaction hangs in the air, which is why most people reach for the opportunity to talk. It was more challenging to agree on dates with them and get enough time from them so that we could shoot the really valuable moments together. My protagonists are not marginalised people who, if they have anything, it’s enough time. Most of them have intense professional and family lives that were difficult to infiltrate with film production. The only ones who have not responded in the slightest to my attempts to make contact throughout the film are the big developers working on The Birdhill.

To what extent has the situation at Vtáčnik changed since the documentary was finished?

Some of the buildings have been completed, some are waiting for further permits. There are still cars on the undersized road, and deer have moved into the last wild garden.

What visible changes in society would you be most pleased to see in connection with the film’s release?

I would love to see everyone involved, from residents’ representatives to municipal politicians, building officials, environmentalists and developers, sit down together at one table in one big conference and together set up one bold, visionary, clear and functional land-use plan and building law. And also that we all become a little more sensitive to the changes that are happening around us, stop ostracising and start being more courageous and non-conformist in both what we say and what we do.