This time with our alumnus Tobi\u00e1\u0161 Fr\u00fddl, a third-year production student at FAMU, the son of a priest from the Hussite congregation in Vr\u0161ovice, and a production member of the Vr\u0161ovice MANA Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tobi\u00e1\u0161 is a publicly active young person. He is not indifferent to current social issues and seeks to engage with them publicly.\n\nAlongside his studies in production at FAMU, he works in production at the Vr\u0161ovice MANA Theatre.\n\nIn the near future, he is about to leave to shoot a documentary in Georgia on the topic of queer people dating in a homophobic environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are studying film production at FAMU. Why did you decide to focus on film and production?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since I was a child, I felt that I enjoyed filming and creating in general. FAMU felt like a natural path for me.\n\nAt the same time, I mainly move in the theatre environment. During the entrance exams at FAMU, I was asked why I didn\u2019t go to DAMU. That made me ask myself why, actually\u2014since theatre is naturally closer to me.\n\nBut maybe that is exactly the reason. Because theatre is closer to me, film feels less accessible and perhaps therefore more attractive.\n\nWhat interested me about production was the combination of the practical, organisational side with the artistic one\u2014the connection between the rational and the creative world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you see your development from wanting to become an actor, through film directing, to studying film production?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My path to creation was born out of necessity. With a group of four friends, we spent our earliest childhood together and got bored. We would ask ourselves what we could do, and we came up with the idea of filming something.\n\nIt started as a way to kill time, which gradually turned into a hobby. The same happened with theatre. You began and told your father that there were no boys in the club. He sent us to TALENT, saying: \u201cGo, maybe you\u2019ll enjoy it.\u201d\n\nIn the end, it got me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did you eventually move away from acting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I came to TALENT, I really started enjoying acting. At the age of five or six, I would say: \u201cI\u2019m going to be an actor.\u201d But because I also moved in a professional theatre environment, I was able to see the other side of acting.\n\nYou don\u2019t just see the stars, great roles, and big productions\u2014you also see the enormous amount of hard work behind it. The number of people who want to do it, who may even be good at it, but don\u2019t get the opportunities.\n\nThat is what discouraged me from acting and shifted me from being in front of the camera or on stage to working behind the camera and into the backstage world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You are part of the amateur theatre company Sumus. Why did you decide to keep acting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I enjoy it. But it\u2019s exactly in amateur theatre that only the pure joy of acting remains. It is stripped of everything that discouraged me about acting.\n\nThere is no need to present myself anywhere, to push or try hard. There is no ambition to sell myself, break through, become famous, or gain other roles through it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joy is the foundation of creativity. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I see that also in school. When collaboration with a particular director doesn\u2019t suit me, I stop enjoying it and it becomes hard to find meaning in the work.\n\nWhen joy disappears, creating also becomes more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you experience the same joy in filmmaking as you do in theatre?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, FAMU was a goal for ten years, almost an idol. I never looked beyond the horizon. But the longer I am there, the less I know what comes next.\n\nAnd the longer I stay in theatre\u2014which I thought I would eventually leave\u2014the less I can imagine giving it up.\n\nAt the same time, I still enjoy film, but maybe in a different way than I expected. When I started school, I thought I would make big feature films. Now I am more drawn to documentary work and smaller projects.\n\nBut then there is the question of how to make a living from it. On one hand, I know exactly what I enjoy; on the other, I also know it might not be financially sustainable. It is a strange inner split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you work with the point of not-knowing? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever I start thinking about it, I panic. What helps me is to focus on what is happening right now\u2014what I enjoy at this moment, what I want to do, what I am able to do.\n\nMy grandfather, a poet and a doctor, has a beautiful short poem Fate<\/em>It calms me when I remember that even my own burden is carried one day at a time. From a longer perspective, I try to reduce everything to what I am doing right now\u2014what I enjoy\u2014and not to worry about whether it will support me in five years.\n\nI entered the project I filmed last year with this attitude. That I want and need to film, without overthinking whether it would be beneficial for my future work or career. It will somehow unfold on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you look at yourself 15\u201320 years from now, where do you see yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the first question I was asked in a workshop at FAMU. When my turn came, I felt embarrassed to say I didn\u2019t know. I realised that I don\u2019t think in that way at all.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t really interest me. Whether I will be more in theatre or film, or somewhere completely different\u2014I have no idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s society, people are expected to have clarity about everything immediately. As if a person did not have the right not to know. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel the pressure in society that if a person is not already working on their \u201cgreat future life\u201d ten years ahead, they are wasting time. But I don\u2019t let that stress me out.\n\nPeople feel that they already have to know. When I imagine my father, a priest, one day becoming a theatre director\u2014moving from Vysok\u00e9 nad Jizerou to a parish where there is a theatre under the house, and then becoming its director. Or my grandfather\u2019s life, who similarly ended up as a rural doctor almost by chance. Both of them completely found themselves in it. It was all random.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does faith help you with this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, definitely. The idea that there is some entity that has a path prepared and planned for a person, and leads them along it without them knowing how, is a starting point in my life\u2026 I mean this perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does this relate to human freedom\u2014active influence and decision-making in one\u2019s own life? How do you perceive this paradox?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not contradictory at all. I believe that a human being is a free creature who can make their own decisions, but at the same time I believe that these decisions are not random.\n\nIt is precisely in hindsight that a person can observe the moments that defined their path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does reflection and self-reflection mean to you? Looking into yourself, at your steps in life and your personality?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I like the title of a book (which I haven\u2019t read yet), a conversation book by Erik Tabery with Zuzana \u010caputov\u00e1. Not to lose myself<\/em>It is important for me, when I look back at my steps, to perceive authenticity in what I have done and how I have behaved.\n\nReturning to the question of where I will be in 15 years, I would simply like what I have done to make sense to me\u2014to not lose myself.\n\nNot to start working or creating somewhere just because one \u201chas to,\u201d or out of inertia, or because I once set a goal and feel I must achieve it. I want to be able to stand behind my steps, to know I made them out of joy, goodwill, or good intention.\n\nAt the same time, I sometimes realise that I was driven by more self-serving motives. That is the moment of self-reflection for me\u2014when I acknowledge that I did not act entirely correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In your documentary <\/strong>Faith in the colours of the rainbow<\/em><\/strong>which received the Jan Opletal Award,<\/strong> represent a more open stance of religious representatives towards various LGBT issues. Why did you decide to make this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In our family, although I come from a believing background, LGBT was never a topic or a problem. But I perceived a deeply rooted idea in the media that Christianity and the queer world exclude each other.\n\nSome people also immediately put my father, a priest, into a category of what he must think about LGBT issues. It was then nice to be able to say: no\u2014why? If someone comes from a religious family, or is a priest, why should that automatically mean they oppose these topics?\n\nI know dozens of priests who have absolutely no problem with LGBT people. So I wanted to show that faith and the LGBT world do not have to exclude each other, and to present a positive perspective.\n\nI was often criticised for it: \u201cYes, but it\u2019s not objective, you only show one side.\u201d But I think that the public discussion on church and homosexuality is not objective either\u2014it is one-sided.\n\nWhen media want to show the \u201cChristian\u201d view on LGBT issues, they often bring figures like Duka and similar voices, and present it as if that were the only stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do stereotype and resistance mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I made it out of anger. I read another article where a priest expressed a negative view of LGBT people, again those so-called \u201cbiblical arguments.\u201d\n\nBut when you know many people who see it differently, it frustrates you to see such a one-sided stance. From my side, it was an act of resistance\u2014a disruption of the stereotypical image that is often presented in the media.\n\nThat resistance was my driving force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Breaking a stereotype creates a new stereotype, which then needs to be broken again. How do you perceive this cycle of stereotype and resistance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That is quite an interesting thought\u2014that one day there could be a world where all representatives of the church are so tolerant that it becomes irritating to everyone\u2026 I would almost be curious to visit such a world.\n\nRegarding stereotype and resistance: the human brain is set up to simplify things so that we are able to process the constant flow of information. But it is good to be aware of that.\n\nFor me, it is important to recognise it, but still try to resist it. A stereotype is a simplification.\n\nArt, precisely, tries to show a broader horizon\u2014a wider palette of possibilities, to place things into a fuller context.\n\nIt is easy to label a person, judge them, and place them somewhere. But when we look closer and understand their motivations, things become much less clear-cut.\n\nSo we should try to disrupt the stereotypes in our minds and remind ourselves that the world is much more diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public affairs interest you. You are socially active. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it feels as natural as it is for passive people to do nothing. When I think of my grandfather, he used to say that he writes poetry out of pressure\u2014that he simply has to, that it is his release, a way to express himself and vent his emotions.\n\nI think this is generally true\u2014or at least it should be\u2014for everyone who creates. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you make films, write, act, or dance. It comes from within. It is a means of expression.\n\nThat is why I made Faith in the Colours of the Rainbow<\/em>If I hadn\u2019t done it, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to sleep anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why do you think the Church has a problem with LGBT people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Honestly, I don\u2019t really understand it. There are probably several reasons. It definitely has something to do with stereotypes.\n\nFor example, the older generation who were born in a time when homosexuality was illegal. They grew up in an environment that shaped them, and changing that at seventy or older is difficult.\n\nThen there is a part of people who base their views on a certain interpretation of the Bible, how they think people should behave, and what God intends for them. They have a fixed idea, and admitting it could be different would disrupt a whole set of beliefs.\n\nThey would have to reconsider their worldview and their faith. And many people are not capable of that. It requires a broader opening of one\u2019s frame of perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is probably about fear\u2014about losing the illusion of safety.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In our church, there is a woman who is quite strongly opposed. She holds tightly\u2014almost rigidly\u2014to her idea.\n\nFor her, if she were to admit that gay people are not as sinful as she believes, it would open a whole set of further questions. It would mean allowing a more nuanced, colourful view of the world, and admitting that she could be wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How did your family react to your coming out? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As well as they possibly could. It was on New Year\u2019s Eve during Covid, when we were in quarantine. I wanted my new self to enter the new year.\n\nIt was completely spontaneous. I went to them, sometime after midnight, and told them. They said thank you for telling us, and that was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you feel relieved? Many people experience a lot of stress about how their family or society will accept it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I come from a tolerant environment, I assumed there would be no problem. For me, coming out was connected to my authenticity. I didn\u2019t want to feel like I was hiding something from my parents as their son.\n\nIt was important to me that they knew where I stand. But yes, I definitely felt relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you see your generation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am glad to belong to a generation that was born into freedom. It is interesting for me to look at it from the perspective of my siblings, because between me and the youngest there is almost twenty years\u2014that is already a different generation.\n\nWhen I relate this again to the question of LGBT issues, I remember a situation where my younger sister asked my mother what some people actually find problematic about queer people. My mother tried to explain it to her, but my sister could not understand it at all\u2014and still doesn\u2019t.\n\nIt is beautiful to see that children today, even in the Czech Republic, can be born into an environment where they cannot even understand what could be wrong with two people loving each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the most important value you live by?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably humanity. Always seeing people through their stories and their motivations. Not labelling or judging too quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, you spent eleven years in TALENT. TALENT equals\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Take it as play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Erika Merjav\u00e1<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" tentokr\u00e1t s na\u0161im absolventem Tobi\u00e1\u0161em Fr\u00fddlem, studentem 3. ro\u010dn\u00edku produkce FAMU, synem far\u00e1\u0159e Husova sboru ve Vr\u0161ovic\u00edch a produk\u010dn\u00edm Vr\u0161ovick\u00e9ho divadla MANA. \u00dad\u011blem un\u00e9st je \u00fad\u011bl sv\u016fj Tobi\u00e1\u0161 je ve\u0159ejn\u011b aktivn\u00ed mlad\u00fd \u010dlov\u011bk. Nen\u00ed lhostejn\u00fd k sou\u010dasn\u00fdm spole\u010densk\u00fdm probl\u00e9m\u016fm a sna\u017e\u00ed se v nich ve\u0159ejn\u011b anga\u017eovat. Krom\u011b studia produkce na FAMU se v\u011bnuje produkci ve … Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1527","page","type-page","status-publish"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t