Kapr Code

directed by Lucie Králová, ČR/SR, 2022, 91 min. Czech language

Documentary opera examines the nature of memory, music and storytelling through the imprints of the controversial and progressive composer Jan Kapr, awarded the Stalin Prize and later banned in totalitarian Czechoslovakia – while abroad his works were presented by prestigious music ensembles. Kapr Code brings the powerful and ambivalent life story of Kapr into an opera music composition. The plot is following a documentary libretto based on Kapr’s personal, never previously published archive full of tape recorder tapes, letters, notes and funny doodles captured on 8mm film. Kapr Code is a playful reconstruction of a life after death, where the film memory and Kapr’s music interact with the story which takes on a mythological dimension.