FAREWELL TO ARMS (Czechoslovakia, 1991/2009)

When the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Czechoslovakia began in 1991, it was immediately clear to Vojta Dukát that the event was of historic importance. He decided to record the human interest aspects of the withdrawal with his camcorder. These private shots – unique historical images – lay under Dukát’s bed for 18 years. At the end of 2008 Dukát began to digitise the video tapes, which had still not been viewed (save for a couple minutes worth) by anyone, including Dukát. That is how the interesting material surfaced. In 2009 Dukát made a selection with Ales Vasicek, which became the spearhead of the FAREWELL TO ARMS project. It not only shows the withdrawal, but is also an attempt to link names to the anonymous faces of the soldiers, and to discover how they have fared since 1991. To this end the public are invited to share stories, images and information. Images from then are the motor for writing a new history now.