Vertigo Girgle Patrik (2016)

This Czech-language novella is set in the 1990s, a period brought to life through colloquial language, sarcasm, helplessness and widespread disillusionment. At their intersection, the story of Duan takes shape. Seventeen-year-old Duan comes of age amid years of possibilities, privatisation, bankruptcies and personal tragedies, living slowly through the post-revolutionary turmoil while hormones and parental misunderstanding fight for his place in the sun. As he wanders around, drinks beer, listens to music, poaches fish and watches his female classmates, his first great love begins to emerge. Like such loves often do, it shines like a comet, dazzling him and causing vertigo, then disappears, leaving an open door to adulthood.