She Grazed Horses on Concrete | |
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Directed by | Štefan Uher |
Written by | Short stories: Milka Zimková Screenplay: Milka Zimková Štefan Uher |
Starring | Milka Zimková Veronika Jeníková Marie Logojdová Peter Staník Ľubomír Paulovič |
Cinematography | Stanislav Szomolányi |
Edited by | Maxmilián Remeň |
Music by | Svetozár Štúr |
Release date |
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Running time | 78 minutes |
Countries | Slovakia Czechoslovakia |
Language | Slovak |
She Grazed Horses on Concrete (Slovak: Pásla kone na betóne) is a 1982 Slovakian-Czech comedy-drama film exploring themes of female sexual mores and abortion, holding out in society balanced with comedy and irony[1] in proportions that instantly made it one of the biggest domestic blockbusters in Slovak cinema.[2]
A quarter of a century later, its DVD release sold out within weeks. The film, directed by the reputed Štefan Uher, made the women at its center stage stand for humankind as matter-of-factly as much of Central European filmmaking had been portraying men's worlds, the quiet turnaround never even became a talking point. It was also the first film that employed a regional variety of the language that would be naturally used where the story took place,[3] which provided an additional layer of humor whose novelty had people rolling in the aisles.
Its baffling title quotes a verse from a fresh folk song about a woman striving to accomplish impossible feats. Attempts to render it in English resulted in the film being shown and quoted under a range of titles that have included She Kept Crying for the Moon, She Kept Asking for the Moon, A Ticket to Heaven (also the erroneous A Ticket to the Heaven), and Concrete Pastures.
The film was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver Prize.[4]