In the most important era of Czechoslovakian film, there were several outstanding Slovakian directors. Stanislav Barabáš (1924 - 1994) received international acclaim with his debut Pjesma o sivom golubu (1961). To this day, he is considered one of the best Slovakian directors thanks to his extraordinary sense of rhythm, nuanced evocation of ambiance and atmosphere and the convincing psychological motivation of his characters…

At the time of the Czechoslovakian Republic, its cinema was among the most successful of Europe. However, it as if Slovakian film production never even existed between the two World wars. Systematic production only began in the 1950s. Gradually its share of the industry within the Republic reached levels of 20-25 %. There are several outstanding Slovakian directors from this period. Stanislav Barabáš (1924 - 1994) received international acclaim with his debut A Song about the Grey Pigeon (Pieseň o sivom holubovi, 1961). To this day, he is considered one of the best Slovakian directors thanks to his extraordinary sense of rhythm, nuanced evocation of ambiance and atmosphere and the convincing psychological motivation of his characters. In Slovakia, he made only three more feature films - Trio Angelos (1963), The Bells Toll for the Barefooted (Zvony pre bosých, 1965) and Tango for a Bear (Tango pre medveda, 1966), which showed what a great sense of humor Slovaks have. He made the TV-film Krotka on the work by Dostoyevsky in 1968 and won an award at the then renowned television festival in Monte Carlo.
After the Warsaw Pact’s intervention, he opposed the return of the rigid communism, and immigrated first to Canada an then Germany, where he had a successful career as a television director. He realized many ambitious projects, mostly based on famous literary works (Dostoyevsky and Strindeberg). Several years ago, Croatian television showed his spectacular TV-film about the inquisitor Torquemada, Darkness Covers the Earth (Finsterniss bedeckt die Erde, 1988). In the 1990s he wanted to return to his homeland in order to help in reviving its cinema (which produces two to three feature films each year), but his sudden death prevented this.
(Tomislav Kurelec)