PROJECT HISTORY
By Mika Johnson

Peter and I moved to Prague in November 2003, with a digital video and still camera, a laptop, and less than $3,000 dollars each. With the help of a Czech contact, we rented an apartment in Chodov, a Soviet style block housing community about forty-five minutes outside of Prague. Because we wanted our film to grow out of events, encounters, and dreams experienced while living abroad, we abandoned the idea of having a script, even before meeting in Prague. In this way, the roles of writer and director overlapped, as images, scenes, and a story organically developed, in what became a monochrome filter for our time in the Czech Republic. In the end, this divides YONDER between the categories of documentary and fiction filmmaking, since it doubled as both a story and a ritual.

Our collaboration continued until June 2004, when I moved to Germany and Peter returned to America. After completing the sound and editing, cellist and composer Jakub Omsky completed the score in 2006.

LOCATIONS

While half of Yonder was shot in the historic districts of Prague, the remainder was shot in the Czech countryside, mostly in and around Cesky Raj (Bohemian Paradise). The gothic castle seen near the beginning of the film is Trosky, a massive structure built atop two peaks of basalt, between 1380 and 1390. Steeped in myth, the towering ruin inspired a generation of 19th century Romantic painters and poets, who canonized it as a symbol of Cesky Raj and early Czech culture. The gothic ruin seen at the end is Michalovice. Located in the Jizera valley, near Mlada Boleslave, and famous for its leaned tower, Michalovice was built in the 13th century and abandoned in the 16th. Access to the castle is only possible by getting a key to the gate from house no. 42, in the village just below it.