The story begins in 1989 when she’s a one-year-old and the Velvet Revolution is about to bring down the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Following their victory, almost none of the revolutionary leaders want to occupy important government positions. They organize an open call for the position of Minister of the Interior, and an unknown lawyer
from a small town, Vladimir Meciar, vies for the job. He wins and proceeds to rise to the very top.

While governing he becomes a benevolent dictator, ruling the country using tools of corruption, propaganda and organized crime. While events like the division of Czechoslovakia or the kidnapping of the President's son unfold, Tereza and her friends are playing children's games of politics, casting Meciar in the lead role.

The documentary LUST FOR POWER doesn’t only cover one chapter in Slovak political history. It raises universal and very current questions, because Meciar-like political archetypes keep popping up all over the world.
Are we ever going to find out, why we tend to put blind faith in authoritarian leaders?

When I was ten years old, my friend and I used to roleplay, and we’d always be Winnetou, E.T. and Mečiar. Back then I didn’t think of him as being real, even though he was everywhere: on TV and posters, in my parents’ conversations, and in our heads. Now that I’m a grown-up, I want to find out who he really was, where he’d come from, and what he’d done to our country, because I see similar stories playing out all over the world.

Tereza Nvotová was born and grew up in Bratislava and currently lives in Prague. She graduated from FAMU with a Master's in Directing in 2017. In the same year, she finished her debut feature film FILTHY (Best Feature film, Czech Film Critics Award; Best Feature film, FEST, New Directors New Films, Espinho, Portugal) and her second feature documentary about former Slovak PM Vladimir Mečiar ThHE LUST FOR POWER.

Filmography:
2017 - THE LUST FOR POWER, doc
2017 - FILTHY
2013 - DISCOLAND, short
2011 - GYPSY SUPERSTAR, short doc
2010 - PLAYERS
2010 - IN THE GARAGE, short doc
2009 - TAKE IT JEASY, doc
2009 - ARTIFICIAL INSIGHT, short