“Our Lovely Pig Slaughter”, an interview with director Adam Martinec

July 10, 2024

Adam Martinec, director of "Our Lovely Pig Slaughter", tells us more about this remarkably precisely written, "bittersweet", utterly chaotic family drama

"Our Lovely Pig Slaughter", an interview with director Adam Martinec Bénédicte Prot

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FAMU alumni Adam Martinec, already saluted on the festival circuit for his shorts “Sugar and Salt” and “Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon” (which took part in the EFP’s Future Frames programme in Karlovy Vary), tells us about his debut feature, “Our Lovely Pig Slaughter“, selected in the Crystal Globe Competition of the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The Czech director explains why he chose the tradition of the domestic pig slaughter as the context for this relentlessly eventful family reunion and how he managed to weave the many complex, tangled dynamics, conflicts and crises at play into such a tight, exhilaratingly dramatic and often humorous script unfolding in one day, all the while staying away from simplistic dichotomies, by having a clear centre – “I’m obsessed with studying the fear of loneliness, which I believe is coded in everyone. For me, all the motifs presented here go to that same centre.“

We also talk about the archaisms this family is plagued with, or at the very least hindered by, and the contradictions and frictions those generate – which, added to various practical mishaps, leads to several boiling points –, about dramatic pacing and the influence of the Czechoslovak New Wave, about working with non-professional actors including the director’s own father, about Martinec‘s dynamic musical choices, about the universal quality of the film and the recent trend, in international cinema, to turn to the countryside.

Plot

"The pig-killing fest on an old farm is a tradition Karel looks forward to every year. It’s the only chance for the whole family to get together, have a good time, engage in a squabble or two, and enjoy some great food. But this time things are different. The butcher hides the fact his cartridges are damp, grampa can’t bring himself to tell Karel, recently widowed, that this slaughter will be their last, daughter Lucie is depressed after her marital breakup, and grandson Dušík runs away while his parents argue over whether he’s old enough to watch the kill. As for Karel, the pig’s blood spilling everywhere is the last straw... Adam Martinec’s feature debut is a remarkably incisive study of the Czech temperament which, through its visceral character portrayal and searing humour, evokes the masterworks of the Czechoslovak New Wave." Natalia Kozáková for the KVIFF

Written by: Bénédicte Prot

Guest

Adam Martinec

Film

Our lovely pig slaughter

Festival

Karlovy Vary Film Festival

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