01/07/2024 - The Slovakian director talks about gaining the trust of the protagonist of her short documentary, which will screen as part of EFP’s Future Frames at Karlovy Vary

The Slovak short documentary A Good Mind Grows in Thorny Places follows 12-year-old Adam, who lives a tough life in a small Slovakian village. As we witness his complex existence full of responsibility, friends who constantly refer to his Roma background and a brother he looks up to (despite said sibling’s extremist views on minorities), Adam’s true personality is slowly revealed.

The film is the work of Katarína Gramatová, who studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, from which she graduated in 2023. Her debut short film, Cherries, garnered her a Special Jury Prize at the Zlín Film Festival in 2020. Cineuropa talked to her on the eve of her doc screening at the Karlovy Vary IFF as part of EFP’s Future Frames (see the news).

Cineuropa: Could you tell us a little about how you came across Adam and what made you want to tell his story?
Katarína Gramatová: When I was scouting locations for my feature film in Slovakia, I came across these five boys working on something in the garage. They were shy at first, but Adam, who is the youngest, was very open and wanted to show us everything in his village. He knew every corner of it and every local person. Adam's energy impressed me so much that I decided to make a separate film about him, even though I was already working on the feature. Through his personal story, I was able to uncover some broader topics that resonate throughout our entire country, like racism or nationalism.

How accepting of you were the protagonists when you wanted to make a film about them?
While preparing for my debut feature, I decided to move into the village where my non-professional actors live, in order to work with them. I needed to write the script directly for them. So, I started to hang out with them and got to know their friends and family, and we became very close. I also needed them to get used to the camera, so I started to capture every moment we spent together. And this became the footage for my documentary. I spent three years with the boys in total, going back and forth, and during the few months when I lived with them in the village, we built a very close relationship. These kids are not used to being the centre of attention, so when they felt that my interest was genuine, they started to open up and became very honest with me.

As you followed Adam, what kinds of things surprised you about him along the way?
From the beginning, I saw Adam as a kid who has a hard life but doesn't realise it. He does his part-time jobs joyfully, and I learned from him how to find joy in any situation. His lightness of being tends to be contagious to other people. Things like smoking cigarettes and the occasional sip of alcohol at 12 years old didn't surprise me in Slovakia. But when I started to ask him about his close friends, I discovered something very dark in him. He holds this anger inside and feels an immense injustice. He suddenly sounded like a miserable old man from a pub who hates everybody and wants revenge, and he is just waiting for the right moment to exact it.

The way I interpreted this was as some sort of a teenage struggle. But later, I also got to know his family, and I met his brother, who sympathises with extremism. That was something that scared me. Even though he is Roma, he is also part of an extremist group that propagates skinhead ideology. I realise that it doesn't make any sense, but Adam looks up to his brother. So his words finally started making sense to me and were no longer just the sentences of an angry little boy.

At the beginning of the film, it’s said that what’s being presented is a “fairy tale”.
Fairy tales often have a moral or educational point, which is presented through the story and its characters. Their aim is to entertain, teach and convey values to the audience. I wanted to connect this goal of the fairy tale with the film's direct communication with the viewer. Not only does Adam speak directly to the viewers, but the form also reacts to him. At the beginning of the story, Adam is depicted as a positive hero, and as the story progresses, we change the viewer's opinion of him. I wanted the audience to feel this shift in the perception of Adam just as I did while observing him. Also, this is my first documentary film. It is not my ambition to make documentaries. I really like to communicate with the audience through the film’s form. I am not a fan of documentaries that just capture the moment, where there is no vision or ideas from a filmmaker.