In 1946, as the borders dividing Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union were redrawn after the end of World War II, the village of Slemence literally found itself caught in the middle; the new border split the town in two, as Velka Slemence was deemed Czech territory and Male Slemence became part of the Soviet Union. The consequences were both comical and tragic; suddenly people were no longer permitted to visit friends and family on the other side of town, some farmers found that part of their fields were now in another country, and townsfolk would meet at a fence that divided the village and shout messages to one another. While it was possible for those in Velka Slemence to obtain a visa to visit Male Slemence, the reverse did not apply to those on the Soviet side. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Czech Republic's status as part of the European Union, Slemence remains a divided city and no one knows when or if this error will ever be corrected. Filmmaker Jaroslav Vojtek began chronicling the strange state of affairs in Slemence in 2001, and in his documentary Hranica (aka The Border), he follows two people from opposite sides of Slemence as they typify the absurdity of life in the two villages. The Border was an official selection at the 2010 Rotterdam International Film Festival.
by Mark Deming
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