The Porters

Gottland provides an unconventional look at Czechoslovak 20th century history. Inspired by the bestselling book “Gottland” from the Polish journalist Mariusz Szczygiel, this feature-length film is comprised of short stories portraying peculiar fates. Young documentary film makers from renowned Prague Film School FAMU, inspired by the book, take a closer look at the history of post-war Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic, in order to discover new heroes and remind us of the ones that were forgotten or erased from the history.

Filmmaker Sarah Vanagt shoots with a small camera as she wanders through Brussels, where she encounters Polish, Iranian, Brazilian, Belgian, and Moroccan construction laborers, busy at work. At her request, they write notes addressed to future generations, and then hide them—beneath paving stones, inside pipes, or behind walls. Sometimes it’s a wish or reflection; sometimes simply a greeting from the present. One reads: “When you find this, I hope the world is a better place.”

What kind of futures can be read in the impersonal fragments of our reality? It’s a question that inevitably gains attention and importance when it’s posed to those who the future, pre-eminently, belongs to. Already in her debut film, Little Figures (2003), Sarah Vanagt gauged the historical imagination of children by inviting immigrant children to improvise an imaginary conversation between three historical figures, immortalized as statues, in Brussels. Fifteen years and many transformations later, she decided to reverse the question and ask children to read the future in the elusive imprints of their city. Onto countless abstract patterns, brought to life with the help of an old magic lantern, children from Brussels, Athens and Sarajevo project their own impressions, dreams and fears. The result is a form of “magical reading”, as the perception of unforeseen correspondences and constellations that confront us with the undercurrent of the present.