René

This raw authentic documentary film tells the story of René whose life was being captured on camera since he was seventeen. The camera followed his hopeless journey betwe­en prison and brief periods outside the prison walls. In 2018, the film comes to an end, leaving the now 37-year-old René as a sick man who still gets in trouble with the law and who is also the author of two published books. Director Helena Třeštíková records René's personal developments against the backdrop of significant political transformations taking place in Cetral Europe.

René's story begins in prison under socialist posters, con­tinues through the so-called Velvet Revolution of 1989 and gets a seemingly happy conclusion with the amnesty decree issued by President Vaclav Havel. Yet René soon heads back to prison and celebrates our EU accession from behind the bars. During the years spent in prison - sentenced mainly for theft - René had his whole body covered in tatoos, esca­ped from prison only to be soon recaptured, burgled the di­rector's home, was involved in a couple of romantic relation­ships, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as well as a high lQ.