Kawasaki's Rose

(Kawasakiho růže) Director: Jan Hřebejk , CZ, 2009, Czech version, 95 min

The year is 2009. Pavel Josek, an eminent scientist and former dissident, is due to receive a state honour for bravery. During the filming of a television documentary about his life it comes to light that at the beginning of the 1970s – under pressure from the secret police – he played a part in the discrediting of a former friend, who was ultimately forced to emigrate. The film recounts events that took place over thirty years earlier without using a single flashback. The family drama sheds light on the practices employed by the secret police to discredit its opponents. An emotional story of guilt and atonement, the pitfalls of memory and the need for forgiveness.