The Czech Workers’ Party held a demonstration in Litvinov on November 17, 2008. The event was followed by a march of the Autonomous Nationalists to the neighborhood of Janov, mainly inhabited by Romanies. A clash occurred between the police and demonstrators at a roundabout near the neighborhood. Dubbed by the media as the “Battle of Janov,” this event influenced the history because many locals had joined the far right-wing demonstration. A few months later the filmmaker, who had witnessed the events equipped with a camera, invited the various participants in the demonstration back to the traffic circle, where she confronted them with her footage of the clash. Workers’ Party supporters were one side of the roundabout, while participants in the Romanies’ counter-demonstration were on the other; town hall officials, police officers and the journalists who shaped the media’s presentation of the events were also present. The name The Circle refers to the “battleground,” historical contexts, as well as to the complexity of the whole problem.

Writer / Tereza Reichová    DoP / Prokop Souček , Daniel Souček    Editor / Kristýna Toupalová    Sound / Barbora Hovorková , Martin Klusák

Release date / 07 September 2009

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