In 2024, the Telegraph successfully produced a short documentary about the exhibition Connections. Subtitled To Represent the Indescribable, Michael Bukovansky's film, following the exhibition, charted a look at the work of a selection of Czech artists who are able to detach themselves from their own being and record their innermost experiences through drawing or painting. The debut film was warmly received and shown at selected documentary and art festivals. This enjoyable experience could not have resulted in anything other than further collaborations and other film projects that did not wait long.
So in the summer of 2024, development began on a new film, this time about one of the most visited exhibitions in our gallery's history. The exhibition GOOD BOY by renowned Slovak painter Andrej Dúbravský welcomed thousands of visitors in just a few months. This exhibition reflects on the theme of beauty in art, both from a historical perspective and through the lens of today. In creating the works on display at the Telegraph Gallery, Dúbravský was inspired by Rococo works, through which he reflects on the perception of his own body and the associated self-representation, for example on social media. The exhibition was also complemented by ecologically themed works with natural motifs, which the artist allows himself to be surrounded by on his country estate. In his paintings of caterpillars, bees and chickens, the painter rediscovers romantic tendencies, which are mixed with painterly expression and impressionistic depiction of the atmosphere.
The documentary film about the GOOD BOY exhibition is being made this time, and in addition to introducing the exhibition and Dúbravský himself in more detail, it also attempts to cover a much broader thematic scope. The film is not merely an introduction to the works on display and an explanation of the artist's inspirations, but offers a glimpse into the controversy that preceded the Telegraph exhibition. At the time, Slovak Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová objected to the display of Andrej Dúbravský's painting at the exhibition in the Slovak Radio building because it depicted two naked men kissing. The case has opened up the much-discussed topic of freedom in artistic expression and the position of the LGBT community in Slovakia. Šimkovičová, as a former presenter of TV Markíza and now as a prominent figure in the Slovak disinformation scene, faced crowds of several thousand people and protest rallies demanding her dismissal or resignation for her decisions and for alleged ideological purges in the leadership of the main state cultural institutions. In vain.
In fact, the current government of Robert Fico has an undisguised opposition to free artistic creation and the representation of sexual minorities, and this is exactly what a new documentary from the Telegraph and the Olomouc audiovisual production StoryFactory captures. The film's title is a direct reference to Dúbravský's exhibition GOOD BOY and is subtitled FROM SLOVAKIA. The first screening of the film will take place in April in Olomouc and Bratislava with the participation of the filmmakers and the protagonist. Members of TLGRPH Club will have a special chance to see the film in advance at a special screening. The audience can look forward to the first public screening in May 2025. The film will be followed by a debate with the participation of the director Michael Bukovanský, the curator of the exhibition Erika Kovačičová, who is accompanying the film, and the artist Andrej Dúbravský himself.
Documentary short
Czech Republic, 2025, 25 min
GOOD BOY FROM SLOVAKIA
direction, editing Michael Bukovanský
camera Dan Tyrlík
sound Richard Beran
screenplay Michael Bukovanský, Erika Kovačičová
narration Andrej Dúbravský, Mira Macík
poster Jakub Kovařík
production TELEGRAPH GALLERY
