Director Štingl Creates a Living Record through Film

Director Pavel Štingl left an indelible impression on the lives of Washingtonians, as he presented his powerful and moving documentaries in the nation's capital. At the Library of Congress on October 17, he presented his film Four Pairs of Shoes (Čtyři páry bot), a portrait on the life of Jan Wiener who fled war-torn Europe during WW II. Štingl also showed his film The Story of the Shipwrecked from the Patria, at the Czech Embassy on October 18, as part of the Embassy's Film Club Series. The film is a fascinating reconstruction of a long dramatic boat journey taken by Jewish refugees from Central Europe to Palestine in 1940 - and the drama of their arrival. The film received the FIAT/IFTA Television Archive Award. Štingl is currently working on establishing a Holocaust Memorial in Prague.