Presentation of the project My emigrant

My Emigrant is a documentary series based on Ingrid Mayerová’s theme about how emigration between 1968 and 1989 aff ected the lives of people in our country and beyond. By confronting the perspectives of emigrants and their loved ones who remained living in Czechoslovakia, we explore one of the most fundamental issues of the totalitarian regime—the question of personal freedom and its value. Unlike in the present, the question of leaving was not in the past about the free decision to try life outside, to get an education, and to return at any time. People left or fl ed Czechoslovakia both in a planned manner and in haste, but always with the knowledge that they might never return. Some left knowing that by fl eeing they were directly endangering their lives, or knowing that their family would not escape sanctions. Inherent in leaving was the irreversibility of the decision and the responsibility for its often unpredictable consequences. We are interested in this liminal situation, both what preceded it and what came after it.

Screenings of 2 films and discussion