Pongo Calling

Pongo Calling


Tomáš Kratochvíl | Czech Republic, 2022, 78'

1 Aug

Casa da Cultura

18:30

When the president of the Czech Republic makes a remark that Romani people are ‘socially unadaptable’ and refuse job opportunities, truck driver Štefan Pongo initiates a social media campaign for the Romani in the country to post selfies from their workplaces. His activism through online posts and live broadcasts brings him huge audiences across Europe and eventually results in the establishment of the Czechoslovak Romani Union. But as the campaign evolves, the crisis affects Pongo’s family life. Tomáš Kratochvíl’s film captures the spirit of one determined campaigner and the challenges faced by grassroots activism.

  • Photography: Tomáš Kratochvíl
  • Sound: Michal Horváth
  • Editing: Marek Bihuň
  • Production: Radim Procházka - Produkce Radim Procházka, CZ / Barbara Janišová Feglová - HITCHHIKER Cinema, SK
Tomáš Kratochvíl

Tomáš Kratochvíl

Tomáš graduated from The Faculty of Humanities at Charles University and subsequently spent a year at FAMU´s Film Editing Department. He co-directed the feature film ‘Hives’ (2012) which was a collaboration between five European film schools and was introduced at the Pule and San Sebastian film festivals. Tomáš Kratochvíl made his mark as a documentary film-maker with ‘Gadžo’ (2014), a film diary of his six-month stay in a socially excluded Roma community. His feature film ‘Czechs Against Czechs’ (2015), a loose continuation of ‘Gadžo’, received the Special Jury Recognition Award at the Jihlava IDFF and won the top prize at AKE DIKHEA? in Berlin. Social and racial issues as well as wearisome legislative processes are the focus in his documentary ‘Hostels’ (2015). The film ‘Refugees’ (2016) depicts the situation on the Turkish borders and the Islamic State, as well as the smuggling business on the Turkish coast. The film-maker himself pretended to be a refugee and, using a hidden camera, captured complex negotiations with the smugglers and the journey across the sea on a rubber dinghy. The documentary ‘Classmates’ (2017) explores the division of Czech society through the use of dialogue between his former schoolmates from a rural comprehensive school. Tomáš regularly shoots and contributes documentaries with environmental or historical content for Czech Television as part of a documentary miniseries.