People

Leopold Lahola / 1918-1968

His proper name was Leopold Arje Friedmann, writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and translator.

After the break-up of Czechoslovakia and the creation of the independent Slovak State in 1939, he could not, because of his Jewish descent, finish his studies at the Philosophical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava. To keep the family united, he let himself to be interned in the work camp in Nováky. From there, he finally succeeded to escape and joined the partisan units fighting against the Nazis. During the Slovak National Uprising he was fighting near the village of Telgart where he was wounded. Toward the end of the war he worked as a war correspondent. In 1946 he resigned from his function as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Bojovník (The Fighter). At that time he had already been writing and staging his first theatre plays and also co-wrote the script for the film The Wolves´ Lairs (Vlčie diery, 1948). In 1949, after the ideological criticism of his play Assassination, he immigrated to Israel, where he worked as a director. Later on, he lived in several European countries to settle down finally in Munich. In the late 60´s, during the so-called „Prague Spring", he managed to execute some of his cinematographic projects in Slovakia. In 1968 he suddenly died during the shooting of the film The Sweet Time of Kalimagdora (Sladký čas Kalimagdory).

His theatre plays are:

The year 1968 saw the first collection of his 14 novels published under the title The Ultimate Thing (Posledná vec). The novel Meeting the Enemy was also part of this book. It became later the basis for a theatre dramatisation and finally for the film script. In the beginning of the 90´s Leopold Lahola was in memoriam awarded one of the most important state honours of the Slovak Republic.

Patrik Lančarič / Director and Co-Screenwriter

Slovak theatre, radio and TV director who made his cinematographic debut with the film Meeting the Enemy.
In 2000 he graduated at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Bratislava, specializing in Film Directing and later became a lecturer there. During the years 2002-2004 he was Drama Art Director in the State theatre in Košice. At present he is freelancing.

Selection of his works - Drama Director:

TV Director:
Alta Vášová: RENY, music video film

Radio Director:
Peter Pavlac: Hours (Hodiny)

„...At first I thought, that it was difficult to answer. Today I know, that to ask is much more difficult. There exist more answers than questions..."
L. Lahola

Marko Igonda / Acting as Helmut Kampen and being also a co-writer of the screenplay

He studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava; after graduating he became a member of the Slovak National Theatre (SND), where he played in dozens of roles, for instance ship pilot (W.Shakespeare-The Storm), Lančarič /L.Ballek.O.Šulaj - Pomocnik (The Helper), Brčo /Z.Egressy- Portugalia, Michal Čajka /L.Feldek, Horror in the game warden´s hut, Don Juan (J.B.P.Moliére -Don Juan) and others.

In 2005 he followed his wife to Prague, where he is working now. In the meantime he excellently mastered Czech language and pushed his way to several Prague theatre scenes (Bouda- ND, Theatre in Řeznická, Metro theatre, Summer Shakespeare' Plays, etc.). He also acted in the Czech films Milenci a vrazi (Lovers and killers), Krev zmizelého (Blood of the Vanished), co-production film Kráľ zlodejov (King of Thieves) and in the TV series Ulice (Streets). For several years, also thanks to his good English, he has been a stable cast name in foreign film productions. He succeeded both in supporting and leading film
roles (Dark Spirits, Behind the Enemy Lines, Hannibal Rising and others).

Marek Veselický / Producer of the film

The slogan of the production company Farbyka is, "We will paint your dreams with colours!" For potential customers they offer non-traditional products in the field of marketing and advertising. They have got a great portfolio of customers so far, who let them dye their dreams.

However, Meeting the Enemy is the first big film project for the Farbyka co.

Boris Farkaš / Actor, plays the commissar- commander

One of the best Slovak actors of the middle age generation.

He studied dramatic art and graduated at the Academy of Dramatic Arts (VŠMU) in Bratislava. He acted in the theater Divadlo Andreja Bagara in Nitra, Nová scéna in Bratislava. Since 1990 he is a full-staff member of the theatre Divadlo Astorka Korzo '90 in Bratislava.
Of numerous theatre roles we will mention at least those, which were honoured by the professional prize Dosky (analogy to the Czech Thália). In 1998 he won the Dosky award, the prize for the best male actor of the season for his performance as Tetrev in Maxim Gorky's play The Scenes from the Bessemens´ House - The Bourgeois (Meštiaci); in the year 2000 he won again the same award for the role of Porphyry Petrovič in the theatre play Murder by Axe in St Petersburg (Crime and Punishment) in Divadlo Astorka Korzo '90. Although the role of commissar in the film Meeting the Enemy is his first big film appearance, he was acting in several Slovak films before, for instance in Soľ nad zlato (Salt is Worth More than Gold), Výlet do mladosti (A Trip to Childhood), Vadí nevadí (Do you Mind, Never Mind), and recently Rodinné tajomstvá (Family Secrets).

Boris Farkaš is an excellent radio and TV dubbing actor. Czech television fans remember his voice as the detective Dempsey from the English television series Dempsey and Makepeace.

Vladimír Martinka / Composer of the film music

Born in Slovakia in 1976, he studied classical music, piano, chamber music, directing and music composition. As a piano player he won several music competitions, performed in Europe and in the USA with renowned orchestras.

Since the year 2002 he devotes himself to film music. In the USA he took part in seminars and programs specializing in film music. Later he went on to attend a prestigious film school in Baden-Wuertenberg, Germany, where he continued his studies of film music, multimedia and music production. After finishing these studies he founded a private studio of his own, the Film Orchestra Žilina, for which he is acting as manager and contractor.

Initially he composed music to shorter foreign, mostly documentary, films. Music for the film Meeting the Enemy is his debut in the field of feature films. The music was recorded by the Film Orchestra Žilina during a 9-hour frequency by the so-called American way, where the film is on the screen during the music recording. The film contains certain synchronizing points informing the composer what will follow next. Vladimír Martinka said this was more difficult than a standard recording when a metronome was used. Nevertheless, it gives more freedom to the manifestation of music, which is different from metronome music character. As the film director Patrik Lančarič put it, he is convinced that after watching this film, Slovakia would discover we have one more excellent Slovak music composer.

Monika Hilmerová / Plays the woman

At the age of ten she appeared in a debut film O sláve a tráve (About Glory and Grass) and since then she had her parts in 28 motion pictures and television films (Ako divé husi - As Wild Geese, Prameň života -Lebensborn, Oběti a vrazi - Victims and Murderers, Uprising, Pokrvné vzťahy - Blood Relations). She studied at the Philosophical Faculty of the Comenius University and later on studied acting at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Bratislava. As a theatre actress since the year 1991 she had her part in thirteen theatre performances of the Radošínske naive theatre, acted as a guest at the Štúdio S theatre, continued at Divadlo Astorka, SND (Slovak National Theatre), where she was a staff actress until recently. (Hra o svätej Dorote - Play about St. Dorothy, Cudzia žena a muž pod posteľou - Unknown Woman and Man under Bed, Veľké šťastie - Great Happiness) and others. She won the prize for the best actress performance in the film Spring of Life (Prameň života - Lebensborn) at the festivals in Zlín and at the Portuguese Troy. In 2001 at the Art film festival she won a prize in the category Best Actress in the film Oběti a vrazi (Victims and Murderers). She was also performing in English and had her part in several international film and television co-productions.

Peter Kelíšek / Director of Photography

He graduated at the Pedagogical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava where he studied the pedagogy of mentally handicapped patients and later on he graduated at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Bratislava specializing in feature film and television camera. Except the feature film Demons (directed by R. Šveda) he devoted himself to short and documentary films, e.g. Pomník, ktorý nebol (The Memorial that was not), directed by P. Kerekes), Menšie zlo (Smaller Evil) directed by I. Ostrochovský), Malí bojovníci (Small Warriors) directed by M. Saková and to others.

In Slovak TV he worked on the feature series Rodinné tajomstvá (Family Secrets) (director P. Nunéz and G. Dezorz) and continued with TV programs Digitál (Digital), Niečo za niečo (Give and Take), Stroskotanec na 48 hodín (Castaway for 48 hours) and Popcorn.

As a cameraman his signature is found on video clips of the music groups Hex, LePayaco, Vetroplach and of singers Samo Tomeček and Petra Adamova.

Alexander Bárta / Plays the partisan

Slovak actor, a fresh member of the dramatic section of the Slovak National Theatre (SND) in Bratislava is on his best way to become a top Slovak actor. Except for theatre performances at the Slovak National Theatre (SND), Úklady a láska (Love and Intrigue) and Vykúpení (Redeemed) he is a guest actor in several theatres like Aréna (Koza-The Goat, or Kto je Sylvia-Who is Sylvia) and at Nová scéna theatre (musical Hair).

He also had a part in the Eva Borušovičova's film Vadí nevadí (Do you Mind, Never Mind) as Viktor Pešiak, or in a new series of the Slovak television (STV) Rodinné tajomstvá (Family Secrets).

The leading role as a partisan in the film Meeting the Enemy is his first big film appearance.