I'm Not Everything I Want to Be [screening + Q&A]

After the Soviet invasion of Prague, a young female photographer strives to break free from the constraints of Czechoslovak normalization and embarks on a wild journey towards freedom, capturing her experiences on thousands of subjective photographs.

dir. Klára Tasovská / 2024 / documentary / Czechia, Slovakia, Austria / Czech with English subtitles / 90 minutes

Libuše Jarcovjáková is a legendary figure in world photography and a fearless woman who broke away from all conventions. Her life is a vivid mosaic of captivating encounters and untamed stories—from the raw underground of communist Czechoslovakia and exclusive fashion shoots for elite clients in Tokyo to a dramatic escape to West Berlin, where she witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Drawing from thousands of analog photographs and pages of personal diaries, director Klára Tasovská crafted a uniquely styled documentary that left a powerful impression on audiences at the Berlinale festival.

Klára Taskovská graduated from the New Media Department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and the Documentary Film Department at FAMU in Prague. Her mid-length documentary essay Midnight (2010) was screened at several international film festivals. Her feature-length debut Fortress (2012), co-directed with Lukáš Kokeš, won Best Czech Documentary at Ji.hlava IDFF 2012, competed at CPH:DOX 2012, and was featured at other European festivals. It was also nominated for the LUX Prize in 2013. Her film Nothing Like Before, also co-directed with Lukáš Kokeš, premiered at IDFA 2017. Klára works as a director, producer, editor, and script editor. In 2020, she co-founded the production company Somatic Films, where her film I'm not Everything I Want to Be was produced. The film had its world premiere in the Panorama section at Berlinale 2024, was screened at more than 90 international festivals, and received several awards both in the Czech Republic and abroad (Czech Film Critics' Award, Czech Lion, as well as awards at Camden International Film Festival, USA; NewFest - New York; Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Canada; and Viennale, Austria).

Watch the trailer.

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