Reunited after 25 years thanks to one photograph: the story of an iconic shot from the muddy Pohoda festival continues

Some photographs capture a moment. Others become the symbol of an entire generation. And only rarely does one go on to write another chapter of its own story a quarter of a century later.

16. July 2026

That's exactly what happened with Radovan Stoklasa's iconic photograph from the legendary "muddy" Pohoda festival in 2001.

A few days before the festival's 30th anniversary edition, together with the photographer we launched a search for the pair captured in the photo, which over the years has become one of Pohoda's symbols. We believed the power of our community could work miracles. And it did.

Photo: Radovan Stoklasa 2001/TASR

Just a few hours after the appeal was published, they were found.

At Pohoda 2026, Alena Antušová from Martin and Radovan Jacko from Bukovec near Košice met again for the first time in 25 years. Photographer Radovan Stoklasa handed them a large-format print of the photo right at Trenčín airport — an image that has since become part of the festival's history.

Photo: Pohoda/Zuzana Viktória Voštinárová

The most beautiful part of the whole story is that the people in the photo were never a couple in love, as many had assumed for years. Quite the opposite.

In that muddy moment, they were seeing each other for the very first time. After the festival, each of them went home; the photo was only discovered later in the newspapers, and in an era without social media, they had no way of finding out who the other person in the shot was. Until now.

Photo: Radovan Stoklasa 2001/TASR

"I didn't even know it was me in the photo. My mother and daughter recognized me. I'm grateful to Radovan for taking that picture — back then there were no mobile phones or digital cameras," Alena recalls to MY Trenčianske noviny.

"I got tears in my eyes. It's beautiful. Pohoda hasn't changed at all — people still feel free here. Back then we had no money, two of us slept in one sleeping bag, you got covered in mud and you loved it," adds Radovan Jacko to the daily SME.

The couple in the photo, Radovan Jacko and Alena Antušová, along with photographer Radovan Stoklas (photo: Pohoda/Adam Zvolenský)

Radovan had bought his ticket to the anniversary Pohoda long in advance. We invited Alena and her family as our guests. At the airport they received the photograph signed by its author and, after 25 years, symbolically recreated the iconic shot.

The whole story came about thanks to photographer Radovan Stoklasa, who had carried the idea of finding the pair in the photo in his mind for years.

Photo: Pohoda/Zuzana Viktória Voštinárová

For him, Pohoda 2001 was the first festival he photographed as an agency photographer. He was still shooting on analog film, where every frame was precious. On top of that, he was running back and forth that day between the festival and a football match; he developed the film under time pressure, and one roll was even processed with the wrong method by mistake. That's partly why only a cropped section of the photo survived — the one that later became iconic.

The couple in the photo, Radovan Jacko and Alena Antušová, are posing for a photo taken in 2001. A couple who had gotten married the day before at Pohoda also came to see them (photo: Pohoda/Adam Zvolenský)

"I picked out a group who were laughing and goofing around in the mud. Those are exactly the moments we as photographers want to capture — ones with energy and soul," Radovan Stoklasa recalls.

At the anniversary edition of Pohoda, this story came full circle. Or maybe, quite the opposite — it got a new chapter. Because Pohoda was never just about concerts.

It's about people. About chance encounters that turn into memories. About photographs that outlive decades. And about a community that, even after 25 years, can find two strangers in one muddy photograph.

Photo: Pohoda/Adam Zvolenský

Thank you to Radovan Stoklasa for this beautiful idea. And thank you to everyone who helped write the rest of this story.

Moments like these remind us why we make Pohoda.

I'M GOING TO THE 31ST ANNUAL POHODA FESTIVAL — JULY 8–10, 2027