The film Operation Monaco (Akcia Monaco) by director Dušan Trančík represents an exceptional contribution to Slovak documentary filmmaking, revealing the hitherto little-known political backstage of post-war Czechoslovakia. By blending documentary and narrative film – the so-called docudrama – it offers viewers insight into the dramatic events that unfolded on the diplomatic stage in confrontation with a repressive regime. Through painstaking work with archives, reconstructions, eyewitness accounts and meticulous direction, the film becomes a powerful testimony to an era that must never be allowed to return.
A Truthful Testimony
Operation Monaco is a docudrama about a fabricated espionage affair from the late 1940s that exposes the practices of the ŠtB and political oppression through the story of French diplomat Étienne Manac’h, who managed to escape from Czechoslovakia just before his arrest. Dušan Trančík worked on the film for four years. In a crucial phase, documentation from the Nation’s Memory Institute proved invaluable. “I really immersed myself in it. I navigated very cautiously between truth and likelihood. I didn’t want the film to be a director’s exhibitionism, but a truthful testimony,” Trančík explains.
During preparation, the director established contact with Bérénice Manac’h, the diplomat’s daughter, who actively engaged in the film’s development. At the time of the Operation Monaco affair she was only five years old. “She followed what I was doing very closely – sometimes even scolded me. Today we’re friends, and she’s very curious about how the film is doing,” reveals Dušan Trančík.
An important co-author of the work was editing maestro Peter Harum, whose task was to harmonise documentary interviews, archives and re-enacted scenes into a single whole. “It was an experiment. We were extremely careful to keep it natural. We didn’t want the viewer to watch what was staged and what was archival – but to perceive one coherent, powerful story,” Harum explains. Given the limited supply of surviving archival material, the filmmakers had to reconstruct many moments through dramatised scenes. The chief challenge was weaving together the various narrative layers: historians’ commentaries, Bérénice’s personal memories and dramatic tableaux.
Film as a Warning
Operation Monaco is not just a film about the past. It is a warning that totalitarianism can return – and that memory is our only defence. “I don’t think young people are unaware of what the ŠtB was. They may simply struggle to imagine that the violence was – and could once again be – so brutal,” the director cautions.
The film premiered at the 31st edition of IFF Art Film. Concluding the interview, Dušan Trančík added: “Imagine if Art Film didn’t exist – it would impoverish our cinema. Slovak documentarians are excellent. Art Film gives them space. It allows the exchange of ideas, confrontation. Thanks to Art Film, cinematography stays in shape.”
The 31st IFF ART FILM is made possible thanks to the support of:
Organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.
Co-organizers: Mesto Košice · K13 – Košické kultúrne centrá · Visit Košice · ART FILM FEST, n.o. · LGM, s.r.o. · FORLIVE
Financial support: Audiovizuálny fond · Nadácia SPP
Co-financed by: Košický samosprávny kraj through the Terra Incognita programme
Main Partners: národná lotériová spoločnosť TIPOS · Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava, a.s. · CODES Brand House
Main Media Partners: TV JOJ · Pravda · Eurotelevízia
Automotive Partner: Moris Slovakia
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Official wines: Kubbo Select · Ostrožovič
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Gastronomy Partners: Pub u Kohúta · El Nacional · OhniskO Fire Dining & Brew Bar · Maiko Sushi · Macarons Košice · šum vináreň · Café de Paris · Casa Trade – Casablanca cafe · TATRATEA · Moritz Eis
