Private Universe

When her friend Jana became pregnant with her first child in 1974, Helena Třeštíková asked her if she could film the birth. Jana consented, and together with her baby, a very special, long-lasting project was born. Over the course of 37 years, Třeštíková filmed the expanding family of Jana and her husband Petr, with particular focus on their first-born Honza. Before her camera’s eye, he came into the world, blew out his first candles and got his first pimples. Meanwhile, Petr kept a diary of family life.

Thirty-seven years later, Petr watches the trove of footage Třeštíková has filmed. Visibly moved, he looks on as his family grows and changes, reading from the diaries as the images pass by. Using beautiful archive footage, Třeštíková places this personal family chronicle against the backdrop of almost four decades of Czech history: an era in which two world powers were embroiled in the space race, Czech singer Karel Gott celebrated great success, the Cold War came to an end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Václav Havel became a national hero.