Hello, my name is Sonja Nvotova and I am the author of the film Away that you just have seen and I feel a bit nervous because I think I'm more nervous because of talking to a computer and seeing myself and all that. It would be much better if I could be present, but that's impossible at the moment, as we all know. at the moment as we all know. So I will try to tell you the story behind the film very briefly which is complicated but I'll try it. So well I got accepted for the University, the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava for the documentary department and the summer before I went to a refugee camp for many reasons that I'm not gonna talk about because it's not that important I think. I also have a beer to encourage myself. It's really weird to talk to the computer. But yes, I went to the refugee camp and like many volunteers they usually come and go like for a week or two, but I was there for almost the whole summer, so the refugees like knew me and they usually like came to me and they were like oh there's something going on, you should come and shoot it. So I had loads of material from the refugee camp and when I started the university the first semester I wanted to make the film. I was like okay this is gonna work I will just edit the material and make something out of it. So I was watching it over and over again but it was impossible. I didn't see any connection between the scenes that I have shot and I was super frustrated and after a few months I decided that I'm not gonna do anything and I'll just leave it behind. leave it behind. And after a year and a half and I went to Bulgaria for my Erasmus, because in between I was still in contact with many refugees, and especially Said, because there was this kind of a connection between us as you could have seen in the film. So I visited him in Germany a few times because it's quite close to Slo the material and to make a film. And I was consulting the film with some Bulgarian professors and with the Slovak ones. So I had like different points of view and at the end I was able, I finally could see that there is something behind it, there is a story in all the material that I have shot. So it was a bit easier for me to to make it when I was like not emotionally connected to the camp, if I may say it this way. Because it's not... I don't know whether any of you have experienced it, but it's not easy, it's not okay. After two weeks of being in the camp I bought a flight ticket back home because I was I was broken and I couldn't like stay and listen to their stories. It's incredible what they have seen, what they have gone through. But after a week in Slovakia I just I just couldn't stay and I went back to the camp to be with them and to help them develop like anything. So I finished the film in Bulgaria and I don't know because I was the only person making the film, it was even harder for me to look at it from a different perspective, because I was there, I was shooting it, I was doing everything behind. But thanks to all the professors and tutors, it was possible to finally make it. And I'm glad because I think it's important to talk about this topic, especially these days. What was the most challenging part of making this film? Challenging? Yeah, everything. Everything was pretty challenging making this film. Not when I was shooting it. The shooting was pretty exciting. I usually, since I was a child, well my father is a photographer, so I was taking photos and then he bought me a camera. And since I remember, I was always taking photos or videos or whatever. So I always had my camera with me and I was shooting basically everything that I could when I had my free time, when I was not helping in the kitchen or anywhere. So the shooting wasn't challenging. The editing process was super challenging when I had to like step out of myself and look at it from a different perspective. If I would have to make the film, the picture is not very good because I had my old camera and it was quite broken. So, but I think it's authentic the way that it was shot. I think it has some feeling in it. I think it has some feeling in it. So I think I wouldn't change anything. Maybe the only thing that I would have changed is that I would have a better sound recording, some microphone or whatever, because I didn't have anything at all when I was shooting the film and the sound is not very good. But that's the only thing that I would change. Well both of my parents they studied at the same university where I do study at the moment. studied at the same University where I do study at the moment they actually got to know each other at the University so since I was a child I was like always into the films because that was like it yeah I mean that was what was surrounding me. Like loads of DVDs and VHS cassettes and books about films. Like I was always into films. And maybe it's in my blood, maybe it's the genes, but maybe it's the surroundings, maybe it's the society that I was brought up in. But I always wanted to make films and we had DVDs of Harry Potter and there was always the second DVD, the bonus DVD. So I was usually watching the bonuses where they were showing how they were making the film. So I was more interested in making of Harry Potter than actually in Harry Potter and that was pretty interesting. That's actually when I realized that I want to make films and I wanted to make fiction but then when I got accepted for the documentary department I decided that like real life is the thing that is important for me. And to talk about topics that are kind of taboo, that people don't want to talk about. So I want to bring it to the wider society and tell them like, is okay refugees are not terrorists for example like they are normal people like we are they just don't want to um like get bombed every day you know it's just like they're looking for a home for a while and we should help each other. So this is like The message that I want to bring with my films. I think it's important the human rights, let's say So at the moment I am working on So at the moment I am working on actually on a different project, on something that I have never ever done before, but I really like to challenge myself, so I am preparing a film that will be finished in two years hopefully. And the topic is, well I don't actually have a topic but I am making a research about gender and gender identity, like whether it actually exists in your psyche. Like we are different biologically but you cannot say that a thought is A women thought or a male thought it's like it doesn't exist. It's just a thought it doesn't have a gender So this is what I'm trying to work on at the moment. So hopefully possibly in two years I will graduate with this film. I wasn't working on anything and I'm glad that I wasn't, that I am not, that I am just making the research, but actually I was on a Dharma Siswa program, an Indonesian scholarship program. So that's the only thing that didn't work out very well because of the pandemic. I was supposed to be there for a year and I had to leave the country after seven months because months because of COVID-19. So I came back and I keep studying here in Slovakia. So that's it and if you have any further questions don't hesitate to hope you enjoyed the film and yeah I wish you all good health and be careful take care thank you