If Pigeons Turned to Gold

Over a five-year period, Pepa Lubojacki documents the lives of four family members, first and foremost his brother David who is an alcoholic and homeless. Using a highly personal, diary-like collage, Lubojacki attempts to lay bare the roots of intergenerational misfortune repeatedly manifested in severe addiction. Text sculptures, long-term observations, synth-infused beats and AI-animated childhood photos merge here into a striking and playful, unsparing yet loving revelation. If Pigeons Turned to Gold is both an act of surrender and a shimmer of hope, a show of strength and a process of resolution. Pepa Lubojacki thus brings the past to life, creating a context that shields David and their cousins, also suffering from addiction, from the judgmental gaze of the outside world – and its ignorance. In their gentle encounter, for one moment they become lonely children once again. Not so much in search of guilt but more healing, the end brings the possibility of a transformation, symbolised in the father’s dilapidated house that Pepa transforms into a safe space: Home, I’m coming.
by Pepa Lubojacki (Director, Screenplay)
with David Richter, Pepa Lubojacki, David Lubojacki, Marco Arnone
Czechia / Slovakia 2026 Czech, English 110' Colour World premiere | Debut film | Documentary form

With

  • David Richter
  • Pepa Lubojacki
  • David Lubojacki
  • Marco Arnone

Crew

Director Pepa Lubojacki
Screenplay Pepa Lubojacki
Cinematography Pepa Lubojacki, Tomáš Šťastný
Editing Pepa Lubojacki
Music Adam Matej
Producers Klára Mamojková, Wanda Kaprálová
Co-Producer Matej Sotník

Produced by

CLAW films

Prag, Czechia

Co-produced by

GUČA films

Bratislava, Slovakia

World Sales

Split Screen

Zagreb, Croatia

Pepa Lubojacki

Pepa Lubojacki (they/she) is a Prague-based screenwriter and documentary film director whose work focuses on topics such as gender binarity and stereotypes, addiction, and intergenerational trauma. Pepa loves strawberries, bats, and pigeons, and they are vegan for the animals, having cared for many, including a 20-year-old cat, fifty water snails, and baby sheep. For the past few years, they have been working on a novel about human-eating creatures and addiction.

Filmography

2019 O-chlup (About-hair); short film 2026 If Pigeons Turned to Gold

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026