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BATASTORIES

by Peter Kerekes

synopsis

This feature-length documentary on the shoe industry chronicles the milestones and setbacks in the expansion of the Baťa family’s vast footwear empire. The film purposefully blends three main narrative layers: biography, following the lives of the company’s founders; the present, surveying the current state of global capitalism (Tomáš Baťa being among its pioneers); and memoir, presenting the testimonies of Czech and Slovak Baťa employees scattered across the globe. Original in its form, the documentary presents a complex view of the Baťa family’s global enterprise, focusing not only on the firm’s roots and activities in Czechoslovakia, but attempting to capture the Baťa phenomenon in its international context. The camera takes us on a journey to all sorts of places where the company was or still is active, travelling as far as India, Kenya, France and Brazil.

international title: BATAstories
original title: Bata, un cordonnier à la conquête du monde
country: France, Slovakia, Czech Republic
year: 2019
genre: fiction
directed by: Peter Kerekes
film run: 75'
screenplay: Peter Kerekes, Pavel Hajny
cinematography by: Martin Kollár
film editing: Marek Šulík
music: David Solar
co-producer: Peter Kerekes
production: Seppia, Negativ Film Productions, Czech Television - Česká televize, ARTE France Cinéma
backing: Slovak Audiovisual Fund (SK), Czech Film Fund (CZ), CNC (FR)

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