Tonight the World

2019

Tonight the World draws from a cross-section of dream diaries kept by Martin’s grandmother, Susi Stiassni, who fled the imminent Nazi occupation of Czechoslavakia in 1938.   Through five chapters, the film links as many dreams sited in Susi’s childhood home, Villa Stiassni, a modernist mansion built by Susi’s parents, who were prominent Jewish textile manufacturers in the industrial hub of Brno.  Conjured in Susi’s imagination from her middle-age onwards, in the context of psychoanalysis, the dream diaries as a whole span 40 years and 40,000 dreams, but Martin’s selection focuses tightly on dreams about intruders within the Villa, recreating a narrative of threat and escape that parallels Susi’s lived experience.  Retracing the legacy of her grandmother’s emotional history, Martin considers the unconscious underpinnings of intergenerational trauma, loss and resilience.

Cast

Hayley Carmichael
Lynn Farleigh
Bowie Lucca
Flora Nicholson

Crew

Producer
Laura Shacham

Production Company
SheMakes
in association with Gnomon Production s.r.o

Performance Director
Joseph Alford

Director of Photography
Alexander Surkala

Art Director
Billur Turan

Editor
Guy Ducker

Composer
Zeena Parkins

Sound Designer
Daniel Jaramillo

Script
Daria Martin
based on Susi Stiassni’s dream diaries

Script Editor
Ewa J Lind

Script Consultant
Nick Gill

1st Assistant Director
Jan Menšík

Production Manager
Jan Hubacek

Production Assistants
Petr Kačírek
Zdeňka Kujová
Karoline Wunschová
Bea Cartwright
Kristýna Rudolfová
Dana Rybníkářová

Stand-by DoP
Radek Loukota

1st Assistant Camera
Marek Schnierer

2nd Assistant Camera
Jan Skrečka

Grip
Pavel Proisel

Grip Assistant
Marek Novoměstský

Gaffer
Vaclav Cermak

Electricians
Zdenek Vodvarka
Roman Tomana

Sound recordist
Klára Jašková

Boom operator
Pavel Vrtěl

Head of Props & Costume
Martina Zwyrtek

Costume assistants
Karolína Srpková
Lucas Trattou

Tailors
Zafer Çelebi
Handan Turan

Prop assistant
Sebastian Frei

Make up artist
Lenka Ngombele

Make up assistant
Nicole Dytrychová

Video Playback
Vladimir Polidar

Lock up manager
Ondřej Klus

Lock up assistant
David Javorský

Set builders
Michal Nový
Michal Procházka

Set building assistants
Petr Hlaváček
Stanislav Šmíd

Casting
Joseph Alford

Child casting
Emily Jones

Set photographer
Anna Leader

Transport
Martin Chlup
Vladimir Polidar
Ondřej Hrejsemnou
Pavel Auzký
Petr Novák

Stunts
Czech Stunts

Catering
Cool Catering

Audio Post Production
SoundNode Ltd

Dubbing Mixers
Daniel Jaramillo G.
David Crane

Sound Designers/Editors
Daniel Jaramillo G.
David Crane
Johan Winstedt

Additional percussion
Willie Wynat

Colourist
Vic Parker

“Madama Butterfly”
sung by Toti Dal Monte
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, 1939

“Un Bel Di”
sung by Miriam Gauci
Performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Licensed by Naxos Music

Translations
Martin Brňovják
Jana Garnsworthy

Chevrolet 1979
Care of Luděk Lefnar

Filmed on location
in Brno, Czech Republic at the Villa Stiassni
with thanks to
Kateřina Konečná
Petr Svoboda
Pavlína Petrová
The Heritage Institute of the Czech Republic

Special thanks
The Martin family
Maureen Paley
Lucy Reynolds
Emily Troscianko
Oliver Evans
Lydia Matthews
The Ruskin School of Art
Ivana Košuličová
Tony Grisoni
Czech Television
Clelia Gwynne-Evans
Rupert Emery
Hotel International, Brno
Vantage Camera
Enzo Lighting
UPP Prague
Film 1635
Atelier Bonton Zlin

Development
Naomi Frederick
Jane Thorne
Theatre O
Carolina Valdes
Mary Bosworth
Louise Braddock
Marie Bridge
Rodolfo Maggio
Zoe Waxman

Funded by

The Barbican
San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum
South Moravian Film Endowment Fund, Czech Republic
University of Oxford
St John’s College, Oxford