(The Phenomenon of Marian Apparitions at Zvir Mountain in Film)

Abstract: This study provides a comparative analysis of two documentary films capturing the same event: the Marian apparitions on Mount Zvir in the 1990s. Given the significant differences in how Czech and Slovak societies perceive religiosity and Catholicism, the study aims to compare the Czech and Slovak approaches to the theme of supernatural and spiritual experience. Vít Janeček’s Czech film, Ivetka a hora, focuses on the intimate, subjective evolution of one of the visionaries, Iveta. Janeček avoids investigative scepticism, instead treating the apparition as a psychological and spiritual “given”. The study identifies elements of the “spiritual film” style in Janeček’s work: the use of long, contemplative shots, the framing of characters within natural landscapes, and a soundscape dominated by nature and silence rather than institutional religious music. Paradoxically, the Czech filmmaker portrays the Slovak periphery as a “God’s garden” – a place of pure, non-institutional spirituality that serves as a complementary counterpoint to the rational, urbanized, and secular Czech society. In contrast, Jaro Vojtek’s Slovak film, Vtedy na východe, adopts a more sociological and critical perspective. Vojtek focuses on the village of Litmanová as a site of social exclusion and economic migration. He contrasts the “pilgrimage of faith” (people coming to the mountain) with the “pilgrimage of necessity” (locals leaving for the West to find work). Unlike Janeček’s poeticized view, Vojtek employs irony and “othering” through “desacralization”.

Author: Starinská Kacarová, Diana – Gallik, Ján

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2026.19.1.92-104

Publication order reference:
Mgr. art. Diana Starinská Kacarová; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Central European Studies, Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe, Dražovská 4, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia; email: diana.starinska.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Doc. PhDr. Ján Gallik, PhD.; Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Central European Studies, Institute of Languages and Cultures of Central Europe, Dražovská 4, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4125-8887, WOS Research ID: AAE-2806-2020, SCOPUS Author ID: 56800822900

Source: Konštantínove listy, 2026, vol.: 19, issue: 1, pages: 92-104 (PDF file)

Keywords: SPIRITUAL FILM, MARIAN APPARITIONS IN LITMANOVÁ, IMAGOLOGICAL COMPARISON, NATIONAL IDENTITY, DOCUMENTARY FILM, CENTRAL EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE

Language: SLOVAK

Recommended Citation:
Starinská Kacarová, Diana – Gallik, Ján. 2026. Fenomén mariánskych zjavení na Hore Zvir vo filmovom spracovaní (The Phenomenon of Marian Apparitions at Zvir Mountain in Film). In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 19/1, 92-104.