and their never-ending search for themselves - As part of the Czech Culture Days

After the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968, the young photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková tries to escape the constraints of the repressive Czechoslovakian regime with her pictures. She wanted to find out who she wanted to be, so she took to the streets of Prague, to dusty pubs, to the night shift in a print shop, to the communities of Roma and Vietnamese migrants. Snapshots of nudity, sex and alcohol alternate with images of lethargy and restrictions. When she gets into trouble with the police over photos from a gay club, Libuše enters into a sham marriage and moves to Berlin. But the new world is also full of obstacles. With the last of her money, she flies to Tokyo, where she makes her breakthrough as a fashion photographer. But this is not the life Libuše wants to live. She returns first to Berlin and later to Prague. Her setbacks and successes, her feelings and relationships and her never-ending search for herself are recorded in her pictures and diaries.

What world do I live in? Who am I? How do I want to live? Czech director Klára Tasovská has assembled a poetic film essay from Libuše Jarcovjáková's work of tens of thousands of negatives and dozens of diaries. "I am not yet who I want to be" tells the story of a special artist's life and a moving journey to freedom that spans six decades and leads from the Soviet "normalized" ČSSR of the late 1960s and early 70s to East Berlin in the 80s and Prague after the fall of the Iron Curtain and today.

I am not yet who I want to be
a film by Klára Tasovská
Czech Republic/Slovakia/Austria 2024, 90 minutes, original Czech version with German subtitles

Admission 5 euros