Rozalie Kohoutova, director

ARTISTIC RESEARCH 

of Fictional and Documentary Techniques in the Audiovisual Representation of Violence Against Women

 

FAMU Academy of Performing Arts, Prague

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You Just Never Walk Away, Rozálie Kohoutová

abstract:

Although domestic violence in the Czech context is often perceived only as a description of the situation leading up to leaving an abusive partner, it is clear that nearly half of all analyzed cases involve violent situations affecting women and children after they have left the partner. In fact, the situation often escalates further. (Nyklová B., Moree D., 2021)

My film as artistic research portraits group of women living together in a shelter for victims of domestic violence. The women in the shelter are still navigating relationships with abusive partners, unresolved custody issues regarding their underage children, not to mention their traumas are still very fresh.  That’s why I chose hybrid form between fiction and documentary film. The draft was created in collective of women who are either victims of domestic violence or professionals in helping roles (e.g., police officers, social workers), and they will also act in the film. For collective writing we use several methods based on Theatre of Oppressed (Boal A., 1979). The aim is express cinematographically how survivors feel after leaving an abusive relationship  and understand why they often return.  Through film audience can experience unexpected emotions : feelings of guilt, feelings of incapability, overwhelming tiredness, and open up new perspectives to the general discussion.