Slovenský film Hranica a problém konštruovania kolektívnej identity
Slovak Film The Border and the problem of construing collective identity

Summary/Abstract: The text deals with a documentary film directed by Jaroslav Vojtek and released in 2009, The Border. It itself is conceived as a group portrait of the residents of the village Slemence and raises several questions about constructing collective identities in areas divided by state borders. The village is currently divided between Slovakia and Ukraine. The split occurred in 1946 and remains actual. The absurdity of the Slemence case is emphasized by many factors. The inhabitants, suddenly divided between two Slavic states, are mostly of Hungarian nationality. Further, the closely guarded border didn’t divide two geopolitical blocs, but the Soviet Union and an other socialistic state. Last but not least, the border remains in place today. Although in 2005 it was opened for the use of cyclists and pedestrians, in 2008 it became the border of the Schengen zone and is now once again surveyed at least as closely as it was in 1949. The introduction of visa requirements for Ukrainians – and the Ukraine’s reciprocal response – once again makes crossing the border a lengthy process, involving a journey to the nearest district town which often takes several hours. The text analyses all af these factors as well as some specifically filmic means of metaphoric crossing the border.

• Details
• Contents