BATAstories is a sweeping documentary driven by the voices of ‘Batamen‘ worldwide, stories from Baťa-built towns, and reflections from Baťa’s descendants. It traces the extraordinary rise of Czech entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa – the visionary cobbler’s son who transformed a small-town workshop into a global industrial shoe empire.
Directed by the master documentarist Peter Kerekes, the film weaves together three strands: Baťa’s memoir (narrated by Bolek Polívka), a reflection on the birth of modern global capitalism, and a mosaic of personal stories.
Spanning Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia, BATAstories moves between past and present, blending archival and contemporary footage. From the industrial city of Zlín to purpose-built communities across the world, it reveals a bold social experiment where factories became towns and employees became stakeholders.
At once intimate and expansive, BATAstories is a vivid exploration of ambition, ideology, and the human stories behind a global empire.
Dir. Peter Kerekes, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2018, 78 min, English subtitles / With Bolek Polívka and Zuzana Stivínová
Responses