The Professional Foreigner

Shortly after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, 18-year-old Irena Brežná unwillingly followed her parents to exile. She had to face not only new culture that was inconceivable to her but also remorse that she failed to fight for her homeland. That is why she went on to write about the dissent movement in Eastern Europe and about the Russian invasion to Chechnya. Gradually we discover how she managed to create an inspiring "patchwork identity", which is geographically situated not only between Switzerland, Germany, France, and Slovakia but reaches out as far as the African continent and Russia. In her homeland called emigration, many languages are spoken and many interesting and diverse people dwell. The film provides unique archival footage and fresh tears and laughter. (IFF Bratislava)