Updated 2:33 p.m
Relatives, friends and supporters said goodbye to the legendary Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko on Saturday. He died last Friday at the age of 84. According to former Czech President Václav Klaus, a unique personality has left us.
The last farewell was held in the Cathedral of St. Vit, where Cardinal Dominik Duka celebrated the funeral mass from 1 p.m. Moderator and singer Martina Kociánová read from the book of Job. Director Jiří Strach together with actress Petra Vančíková-Kolevská were in charge of intercession. The singer Katarína Knechtová also performed in the cathedral with the song Muoj Bože.
The main speaker was family friend and Czech ex-president Václav Klaus. “Last Saturday, it snowed early in the morning. It was white and there was a glorious silence. This idyllic moment was suddenly interrupted by the completely unexpected sad news of the death of Juraj Jakubisk. Of course, many of us knew about his poor health, but this news was still unexpected,” Klaus began.
Just being asked by the family to give a speech at the cathedral ceremony was a great honor for Klaus. “I take it as if it were directly from Juraj,” he stated.
According to Klaus, Jakubisko was a great and good person and an amazing filmmaker of Renaissance proportions. “His life hung in the balance several times, but we still knew that he was always happy about his life and his new heart. We noticed his other health ailments, but we pretended that Juraj is immortal just like his films. It’s sad to find out that it is not possible to arrange for that to happen,” the former president lamented.
The ex-president highly appreciated that Jakubisko never emigrated from communist Czechoslovakia. “I knew that if I slipped and the regime fell, I wouldn’t have the right to make films here,” Klaus quoted the director as saying. “This statement must not be forgotten. Especially in today’s overly cosmopolitan world,” Klaus added.
“He was referred to as Fellini’s East. This statement is very inaccurate. Juraj was not a repetition of Fellini. He was himself, Juraj Jakubisk,” the former Czech president pointed out.
Jakubisk’s hat, which he liked to wear, was placed on the coffin. Next to it was placed a black-and-white photo in which the famous director is smiling from ear to ear and enjoying a cigar.
Director FA Brabec, Jan Hřebejk, Zdeněk Troška, actress Bára Štěpánová, actor Václav Upír Krejčí or Jaromír Nosek, model Andrea Verešová and music composer Ondřej Soukup came to say goodbye to Jakubiska. Current President Miloš Zeman sent a wreath with the ribbon of the President of the Republic. President Zuzana Čaputová also sent a wreath to the native of Slovakia.
The famous filmmaker breathed his last last Friday while being transported to the hospital. The director struggled with serious health problems for many years. He underwent a heart transplant at IKEM 11 years ago and has been battling cancer for the last few years. Only a few days ago, according to his wife, he heard the good news from the doctors that the tumor was in remission.
The most famous Slovak filmmaker left behind dozens of feature films and documentaries, which won a number of prestigious awards. His most famous films include Perinbaba, I’m sitting on a branch and I’m good, The Thousand-Year-Old Bee or the epic co-production historical drama Bathory.
eva, TN.cz
