The Bright Spot

A film about luminaries of political, cultural and social life in the Moravian/ Slovak borderlands, where the early 1900s saw a historic blossoming of the rapport between Czechs and Slovaks. Luhačovice, the first Austro- Hungarian spa town under Czech control, was home to a celebration of Slavic culture, a place where major talents and intellects joined forces to build a modern spa with a Slavic spirit in a few short seasons. Slovakia was represented impressively: the spa director was Cyril Holuby, and a significant role was played by spa physician Pavel Blaho, who, as a member of the transitional Czechoslovak government in Skalica, was later instrumental in ensuring Slovak participation in the new polity. The third Slovak personage was architect Dušan Jurkovič, whose architecture, influenced by the Slovak vernacular, gave the spa its stamp of originality. His Slovácká Búda, a restaurant that burned down after the state's collapse, was where, among other things, the idea of the Czechoslovak nation was first born. The film includes a wealth of archival photography and footage which were unpublished at the time. The Bright Spot commemorates the 100th anniversary of our joint state's birth and the 25th anniversary of its breakup. (Art Film Fest)