Czech Film Center

Synopsis

The Czech Workers’ Party held a demonstration in Litvinov on November 17, 2008. The event was
followed by a march of the Autonomous Nationalists to the neighborhood of Janov, mainly inhabited by
Romanies. A clash occurred between the police and demonstrators at a roundabout near the
neighborhood. Dubbed by the media as the “Battle of Janov,” this event influenced the history because
many locals had joined the far right-wing demonstration. A few months later the filmmaker, who had
witnessed the events equipped with a camera, invited the various participants in the demonstration back
to the traffic circle, where she confronted them with her footage of the clash. Workers’ Party supporters
were one side of the roundabout, while participants in the Romanies’ counter-demonstration were on the
other; town hall officials, police officers and the journalists who shaped the media’s presentation of the
events were also present. The name The Circle refers to the “battleground,” historical contexts, as well
as to the complexity of the whole problem.