BRATISLAVSKÁ TOVÁREŇ STOLLWERCK

2026
short documentary film
for TV documentary series Budujeme Slovensko
Writer and director

For more than 130 years, a chocolate factory in Bratislava has watched history unfold. From Stollwerck to Figaro to Mondelez, its name has shifted with the times, as it has lived through the collapse of empires, fascism and socialism, years of Soviet occupation, the birth of independence, and a contemporary Europe being reshaped by war once more. Yet one thing has remained - the sweet smell of chocolate drifting through the streets of Bratislava at dusk. And the women who have always made it.

The short documentary film Bratislavská továreň Stollwerck follows three women whose lives are shaped by the same place across three different eras. In 1939, Franziska Stollwerck gives birth to her son as Europe slips into darkness, slowly realizing that her language, her nationality, and her family name are becoming dangerous. In 1968, sisters Helena and Marta are separated by politics and borders when Soviet tanks enter Czechoslovakia and silence falls between them forever. In 2025, Olga works in the factory gift shop while her family is scattered between Kyiv and Hamburg, her only closeness coming through voice messages sent across a fractured continent.

Through these three intertwined stories, Stollwerck becomes a witness to history and a mirror of it. The film reveals how migration, war, and political shifts echo through everyday lives, and how women across generations carry resilience, tenderness, and quiet strength in times that keep repeating themselves.

Cast: Laura Petersen, Terézia Šušteková, Anna Kvašňovská, Olga Menshykova

Writer and director: Ivana Hucíková
Cinematography & color grading: Lucia Kovalová
Editor: Barbora Búbelová
Sound recording: Denisa Uherová
Sound mix: Igor Jedinák
Music: Keith Kenniff, Tante Elze
Producer: Peter Kerekes, Tereza Tokárová
Executive producer: Alena Kapinajová
Produced by: Kerekesfilm s.r.o., Slovak Film Institute, STVR

Archival footage: Rodinné archívy, Slovak Film Institute, STVR

Runtime: 28 min
Year of release: 2026