Song of Ruthenia

A B&W film poem of the Czech countryside and Weiss’s personal favorite of his early shorts. Mythical images of mountains and streams and rural farmers tilling the land make this a precursor to the mystical visions of the forest in ‘The Golden Fern’. Filmed traveling on horseback through the mountains of Ruthenia (then part of Czecholovakia, now part of Ukraine), shooting the diverse community with Ruthenians (Slavs), Jews and Roma all living in the same area.

Director: Jiří Weiss

Cast: Vladimír Šmeral

Audience-only score — full critic data not yet in the ReelXO vault.