What are the origins of the story you tell in "Divided We Fall"?

We were inspired in part by the story a friend told us, about a family who hid a Jewish man during the war, and to protect themselves from suspicion they started to collaborate. Their neighbours hated them for it, not knowing the truth. We were interested in the paradox of that situation. The second was the birth of the child, in these very strange surroundings - that actually happened to the son of a famous Czech poet. The third was the German officer, who we learned about from another friend of ours. The scriptwriter, Petr Jarchowský, collected all these ideas together and wrote the story.

After your film and "Dark Blue World", have some critics suggested that Czech film makers should make modern stories, not just wartime ones?

Of course we are being told that we should make films set in contemporary society. Some of my colleagues are doing that, reflecting modern life. But I still feel that although films like this take part in the past, they still talk to contemporary audiences. Otherwise they wouldn't go to the cinema to see them.

The first impulse of your lead character, Josef, is to do 'the right thing', never thinking of the consequences until later. Does this imply a sense of optimism in the underlying goodness of human nature?

Definitely. I feel this might be the most important thing, that the person makes this decision and then afterwards can't take it back. He can leave the man he is sheltering, but the moment he decides to go back for him, that's the starting point for everything. And that's what we were touched by, by this kind of hero.

Have different generations back home responded to the film in different ways?

The big advantage of our film is that it is very simple. It's easy to understand, and it's proved itself able to travel, playing at Sundance for instance. The generation who remember the war gave us our biggest praise when they told us this is what it was like in the war, and people did behave like this. But younger people who've enjoyed the film have been touched by the story, which is really nice too.