Kathryn Pinto comes from Seattle and studies film production and international relations in Pennsylvania. She came to Masaryk University for a three-month internship as part of the CzechMates programme. She ended up filming documentaries about soldiers who fought in World War I, which has since become her life’s passion.
Kathryn had previously considered studying abroad. When she received an email from Masaryk University offering her an internship in the Czech Republic, with the added bonus of travelling to Poland and Austria, she didn’t hesitate. “I had always wanted to visit these countries, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity,” she recalls. From the beginning, she knew she wanted to do an internship in documentary filmmaking, ideally in something related to military topics. However, she did not have any specific ideas.
What attracted her to the CzechMates programme was its structure: a month of study followed by two months of practical training – and also the promise of a community. “It seemed like a small, close-knit group where you could really get to know people. And that’s exactly how it turned out to be. I became very close with the others and really enjoyed the environment,” says Kathryn.
Internship at Signum belli 1914
After a month of studying globalisation, Kathryn immersed herself fully in practical work. By chance, she came across the Signum belli 1914 association, which maps the fates of Czech soldiers in World War I. The programme coordinator suggested that she help him search for military history clubs in and around Brno. She came across Signum belli 1914 online and added it to her list without expecting anything to come of it. Then she got a phone call: “The coordinator told me they wanted me for a documentary project. They even wanted to take me to Poland to film in the Eastern Front trenches there... I was thrilled. I agreed immediately.”
In the footsteps of soldiers
Until then, she had mainly been familiar with stories about the Western Front. “I’ve been interested in World War I since I was a child, but most of what I knew was about France and the West. I knew very little about the Austro-Hungarian side and the Eastern Front,” Kathryn admits. But that quickly changed. With her camera, she visited families who were searching for their ancestors who had fallen in the war. These stories became the basis for the documentary. She travelled to Zlín, Prostějov, as well as Baligród and Gorlice in Poland to gather material. “We also filmed in the archives in Prague,” she adds.
The most vivid memory she has is of the moment when she and her team accompanied a family to the long-sought grave of one of the soldiers: “Two grandsons from this family travelled with us to Poland and we filmed them visiting the grave. It was a really powerful moment.”
From post-production to premiere
Kathryn’s main responsibilities throughout the process were filming and editing, and she also took on the role of director for one of the documentaries. “I was surprised at how much I immersed myself in it. In the end, it turned out to be much more than just an internship,” she admits. But it wasn’t always easy – she had to work through dozens of hours of footage and transcripts and she struggled with the language barrier, which proved to be the biggest challenge. “I don’t speak Czech, but most of the interviews were in Czech,” she explains. “So we had to come up with a system – I sent the raw footage to my supervisor, he transcribed it, selected the important parts and sent back the timestamps for me to edit the footage. It was complicated, but in the end we managed to create something good.”
Their labour resulted in two short documentaries: one twelve minutes long and the other almost twenty minutes long. They were screened in the Czech Republic and the US and received positive feedback. “I think these stories resonate with many people. They are about loss, sadness, but also about rediscovering forgotten parts of history,” explains Kathryn.
To be continued...
Shortly after the premiere, another surprise came. The Jesenicko Ethnographic Museum offered to work with her on a new film. “I was surprised, in a good way. They told me they wanted something similar to what I had done before, only bigger. I knew I had to go back,” she says, looking forward to her next trip to the Czech Republic.
In the meantime, she has also gained experience in other countries. In Slovenia, she filmed a project for her bachelor’s thesis together with the Walk of Peace organisation. “They manage a trail that connects historical World War I sites from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea.” She came across them in the materials of the Signum belli 1914 association. “Fortunately, my supervisor at Signum belli 1914 had previously worked with the organisation and was able to put me in touch with them. That’s one of the amazing things about studying the military history of WWI: it’s a truly international community. That feeling of connection makes everything absolutely extraordinary,” she says.
What began as a school internship turned into a life’s mission. “I honestly don’t know what my life would be like today without Austro-Hungarian military history. It has become a huge part of my academic and creative interests. I just love it,” Kathryn concludes.