TRIBUTES AND RETROSPECTIVES

Raymon Depardon and Claudine Nougaret

Jan Palach

Raymond Depardon
1969 - France - 12mn

January 1969. On Wenceslas Square in Prague, Jan Palach doused himself with gasoline and set himself alight to protest against the Soviet occupation. Raymond Depardon films the minute of silence and the ceremony in tribute to the young Czech's sacrifice.

“I had two cameras, I don't know which ones (...). Everyone stopped, just like that, for a minute in Wenceslas Square. It was really impressive. I took some still shots and I thought, I remember thinking about L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Last Year in Marienbad) because people were motionless on the steps of the underground, they weren't moving, just like statues (...) this would be unimaginable in France, it was a genuine minute where the whole weight of the oppression of the system was present...” (Raymond Depardon Court-circuit, ARTE)

CAST AND CREW

Cinematography : Raymond Depardon
Sound : Raymond Depardon
Editing : José Pinheiro

French distributor : Palmeraie et désert