Table of Contents
Luboš Vacke's Director is a sensitively comedic story about a teenage son and his father, built entirely without dialogue. It watches an ordinary relationship the way you might watch your own from across a room, until the strangeness underneath becomes impossible to ignore.
The film grew out of an observation Vacke couldn't shake: that every child carries enormous potential which, at some point, begins to be reshaped by a parent — always with the best intentions, always against the child's own nature. Director holds that idea up to the light and lets it turn both funny and heartbreaking.
Key Takeaways
- Director uses no dialogue at all, leaning on music and sound design to carry its emotion and dramaturgy.
- The film's core came together in writing, not on set, where the hardest calls were about what the story absolutely could not live without.
- Vacke is a filmmaker who trusts his stranger instincts, and the response to Director has told him that's exactly where he belongs.
Here, Vacke talks about universality, losing your voice, and the freedom of working without a net.
Interview
What drew you to make this film, and why this story, why now?
The realisation that this story is far more universal came unexpectedly, through research for a completely different project. I was observing children, and in almost every case, I noticed the same thing. Each child carried enormous potential that, at a certain point, began to be reshaped by a parent. Always with the best intentions, but always against the child's own nature. That was the moment I realised this is something that touches all of us, whether we're aware of it or not. And that's when I knew this is something I have to talk about.
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process, including any moment that changed how you saw the story?
Honestly, nothing on set dramatically shifted the story for me. Of course, countless things changed along the way — scenes were cut, choreography was adjusted. But those were all executional decisions that didn't fundamentally alter the meaning of what we were making. The moments that truly shook the story loose and helped me find its core, those all happened during the writing.
What moment in the film feels most like you, or like something only you could have made?
For me it was always the moment the boy loses his voice and can only make bird sounds. The thing he was forced to become replaces what he naturally was. And somehow it's both absurd and tender at the same time.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making the film?
Probably a week before shooting, when we were still fighting to fit everything into the time we had. At some point I had to cut around 40 shots and rethink how the story would be told. Stripping it back to what the film absolutely cannot exist without.
How does your film push the boundaries of its genre or form?
One of the first creative decisions was that there would be no dialogue in the film. That turned out to be one of the greatest challenges — how to hold the audience's attention and build dramaturgy using only music and sound design. I'm incredibly grateful that composer Adrián Čermák joined me on that journey, tuning every emotion down to the last detail. He now jokes that he wrote more music for our short film than he has for any feature. And a huge credit goes to Viktor Ekrt as well. We worked through every single sound with real precision, making sure nothing is missing and nothing is excessive. Not to mention the way he went about finding some of those sounds in the first place. That's a story of its own.
What is the greatest strength of independent filmmaking, and how did you lean into it here?
The greatest strength is freedom. No studios, no rules, just your own voice. If you feel you have something to say, go and say it. On this project that meant constantly finding creative solutions within the constraints we had — limited time, limited resources. But that pressure was actually really helpful. The moment you stop asking "how do I get what I want" and start asking "what do I actually need," that's the biggest lesson. This might sound cliché, but honestly, I found that staying driven by what I feel, and what I believe others might be feeling, ended up with the best results.
What does it mean to have your film selected for HollyShorts?
Having followed the festival and the films it has selected and awarded over the years, being part of this selection is a huge honour. It feels to me like a watermark, that our film is in very good company. At the moment we know we're selected for a few more festivals and I hope there will be more to come. Alongside that, I would love to see this film screened wherever possible, to find its audience.
Main Cast & Crew
- A Stairway Films Production in Co-Production with Alien Studio
- Directed by Luboš Vacke
- Written by Ladislav Babuščák & Petr Oplatka
- Story by Luboš Vacke & Jan Singer
- Produced by Petr Oplatka & Luboš Vacke
- Director of Photography: Martin Chlpík
- Production Designer: Tomáš Bukáček
- Editor: Filip Malásek
- Music by Adrián Čermák
- Sound Designer & Re-recording Mixer: Viktor Ekrt
- Cast: Ondřej Žára, Jan Hájek
- Casting Director: Dina Malá
- Costume Designer: Tereza Kopecká
- Make Up Artist: Jana Dopitová
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