Czech films in programme | Interviews | Profiles | Industry events
CZECH FILM at the 2015 Karlovy Vary IFF
14 CZECH DEBUTS in 50th KVIFF Programme
ONDŘEJ HUDEČEK in Future Frames
PITCH & FEEDBACK Seven Fresh Projects Face Decision Makers
Check the Czechs at KVIFF 2015
Friday 3 July US 2 Aferim! Sunrise Supervising
12:30 Cinema B 17:00 Drahomira Cinema 18:30 Cinema B
Saturday 4 July Nipomo wave vs. shore The Gospel According to Brabenec Places Three Brothers US 2 Journey to Rome Koza Daniel’s World Photographer
19:00 Husovka Theatre 22:30 Lazne III
Wednesday 8 July 12:30 Cas Cinema 13:00 Husovka Theatre 13:30 16:30 16:30 17:00 18:30 18:30 19:00 19:30
Richmond Richmond Lazne III Drahomira Cinema Karlovy Vary Theatre Cinema B Husovka Theatre Lazne III
11:30 12:00 13:00 15:30
Drahomira Cinema Karlovy Vary Theatre Husovka Theatre Cas Cinema
16:00 16:00 19:00 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:00 21:30 23:59
Husovka Theatre Narodni dum Husovka Theatre Congress Hall Lazne III Grand Hall Drahomira Cinema Cinema B Cas Cinema
11:30 11:30 13:00 13:00 15:30 15:30 16:00 16:00 17:00 18:30 20:00
Drahomira Cinema Grand Hall Narodni dum Karlovy Vary Theatre Small Hall Cas Cinema Pupp Narodni dum Drahomira Cinema Cas Cinema Grand Hall
10:00 13:00 14:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:00 19:00 19:00
Husovka Theatre Pupp Drahomira Cinema Cinema B Husovka Theatre Richmond Drahomira Cinema Grand Hall Congress Hall Richmond
Sunday 5 July Always Together Shop on the High Street oV Amerika The Gospel According to Brabenec Little from the Fish Shop Lost Case Schmitke Journey to Rome Home Care wave vs. shore Long Live Hunting! The Greedy Tiffany
The Gospel According to Brabenec Places
The Snake Brothers Aferim! David Always Together Lost Case Schmitke Through the Eyes of the Photographer Zero Film Adventurer Karel Zeman wave vs. shore Daniel’s World
10:00 11:30 12:30 13:30 15:30 16:00
Pupp Grand Hall Cas Cinema Richmond Cinema B Husovka Theatre
16:00 Congress Hall 16:00 Karlovy Vary Theatre 18:30 Cinema B 19:00 Richmond 20:00 Drahomira Cinema
Thursday 9 July Home Care Little from the Fish Shop Daniel’s World Shop on the High Street oV Zero Coach to Vienna Film Spa Dust of the Ground Aferim! How About a Plate of Spinach? The Greedy Tiffany
9:00 10:30 12:30 12:30 13:00 13:30 16:00 18:30 19:00 22:00
Drahomira Cinema Richmond Cinema B Small Hall Husovka Theatre Lazne III Karlovy Vary Theatre Cinema B Pupp Pupp
23:00 Open Air Cinema 23:59 Small Hall
Monday 6 July Long Live Hunting! Koza Film Spa May Fairy Tale Peacock Resort Home Care Sunrise Supervising Amerika Mallory The Red Spider
Tuesday 7 July Always Together The Red Spider Mallory oV Little from the Fish Shop Three Brothers Resort The Snake Brothers David Photographer
Friday 10 July The Red Spider Through the Eyes of the Photographer Film Adventurer Karel Zeman The Snake Brothers Koza Long Live Hunting! Sunrise Supervising Nipomo Film Spa Dust of the Ground Schmitke Peacock Invention for Destruction Places US 2
9:00
Drahomira Cinema
10:00 Husovka Theatre 10:30 11:30 12:30 13:00 13:30 15:30 16:00 16:30 16:30 19:30 20:00 22:00 22:00
Congress Hall Drahomira Cinema Small Hall Husovka Theatre Richmond Cas Cinema Husovka Theatre Lazne III Richmond Lazne III Grand Hall Husovka Theatre Richmond
Saturday 11 July Three Brothers Lost Case Photographer
10:00 Cinema B 12:30 Cinema B 18:30 Cinema B
Contents 4-6
O
RESORT
12-13
E
10-11
OFFICIAL SELECTION
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Home Care / Slávek Horák (interview) The Snake Brothers / Jan Prušinovský (interview) The Red Spider
EAST OF THE WEST
Amerika Resort Mallory / Helena Třeštíková (interview)
Journey to Rome / Tomasz Mielnik (interview) Dust of the Ground / Vít Zapletal (interview) Zero
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14
FORUM OF INDEPENDENTS
FUTURE FRAMES
14
HORIZONS
Peacock / Ondřej Hudeček (interview)
16-17
D
7-9
C
David / Jan Těšitel (interview)
Aferim!
18-19
OUT OF THE PAST
15
IMAGINA
15
MIDNIGHT SCREENING
20-23
P PITCH & FEEDBACK
CZECH FILMS 2014-2015
Il Boemo / Petr Václav (interview) Fish Blood / Ondřej Provazník (interview) Snowing / Kristina Nedvědová (interview) Zátopek / David Ondříček (interview)
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WORKS IN PROGRESS
25
DOCU TALENTS FROM THE EAST
25
CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA 3
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OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION
Home Care
SCREENING
316 Sun 5 July 20:00 Grand Hall 4P3 Mon 6 July 16:00 Pupp 7K1 Thu 9 July 09:00 Drahomira Cinema
Domácí péče
Director:
Slávek Horák
Czech Republic, Slovakia | 2015 | 92 min | world premiere Everyone knows about the finality of human existence, but the realization of life’s actual limits comes to each of us individually and often unexpectedly. Dedicated home-care nurse Vlasta (Alena Mihulová) lives for her husband Láďa (Bolek Polívka), her daughter, and her patients. But then one day things change and Vlasta is forced to react. This mature debut portrays deadly serious issues with a gentle humour.
Slávek Horák graduated from Zlín Film School and studied film directing at FAMU in Prague. His rapid career growth as a director of commercials prevented him from finishing his studies at FAMU, but also earned him several awards at international advertising festivals. He shot two shorts for the international project Straight8 that were screened at Cannes. He also worked as an assistant director with Jan Svěrák on his Academy-Awardwinning film Kolya (1996). Horák’s feature debut Home Care, produced by his own production company Tvorba Films, is inspired by the stories told by his mother, who works as a home-care nurse.
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From Commercials (interview with Slávek Horák) to Home Care You’ve always been very active and successful in the field of commercials. Your debut is a very sensitive, human story though. Could you comment on this major genre shift? For any director feature film is the ultimate challenge, sort of a “holy grail”, so I waited till I was ready and had matured enough to make something profound. And after 20 years I realized that with this kind of approach it’s never going to happen. So I stopped waiting and started working. Did everything live up to your expectations? Cast, locations, crew... It all turned out well; even the grass in my parents’ home
garden started to grow again! We filmed a wedding scene there. All of us – the actors, crew, my parents and the other people living in the area – they were all unbelievably helpful, and thanks to them I had ideal working conditions. What were the easiest and hardest parts of the whole project? The easiest part was working with actors, which came as a shock to me. But they all understood their parts right away, and the fact that it was my first time working with REAL ACTORS never came up, since in commercials I’ve mostly just worked with models and orange-juice packs.
The hardest part was getting up every day by the alarm clock, often before lunch – but that’s the hardest thing about life in general, so my next film is definitely going to take place at sunset. Who would you recommend see the movie? Who did you make it for? I would send everybody to see it! It’s compulsory! Including newborns, infants and toddlers, because they are often overlooked as a target audience, but even they will someday be confronted with their own mortality, so they’d better be ready. Not to mention the older ones.
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OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION
The Snake Brothers
Kobry a užovky SCREENING
Jan Prušinovský Director:
Czech Republic | 2015 | 111 min | international premiere This uncompromising drama tells the story of two brothers who answer to the nicknames Viper and Cobra, each dealing in his own way with the bleakness, lack of funds, and alcohol-filled evenings repeated ad nauseam in their small Central Bohemian town. Brothers Matěj and Kryštof Hádek excel in one of the must-see domestic films of the year.
514 Tue 7 July 17:00 Grand Hall 6P1 Wed 8 July 10:00 Pupp 8K2 Fri 10 July 11:30 Drahomira Cinema
Hádek Means “Snake”
(interview with Jan Prušinovský)
What is the film about? Simply put, it is about the elementary desire to be happy, what that means and what a person is willing to sacrifice for its sake.
in drama you can flirt with humour, usually a bit of black, absurd or even inappropriate humour. It’s not buffoonery, it is more about perspective.
What can you say about the film’s genre? The Snake Brothers is not a comedy; it is a drama. It was very important to me for everything to be extremely authentic in this film. I don’t like dramas that suffocate the viewer with doom and gloom. Even
Why did you cast the Hádek brothers in the main roles? I consider the casting of Matěj and Kryštof Hádek to have been a major opportunity, as only real biological brothers could render certain nuances of the main characters’ relationship.
Jan Prušinovský Jan Prušinovský graduated in screenwriting from Prague’s FAMU. His directing debut was the short Bubble Bath is the Best (2005), which was awarded several prizes at various international festivals. Before he directed his first feature, Frankie the Womanizer (2008), he wrote several screenplays for other directors. He also worked on TV projects such as Sunday League (2010) and Fourth Star (2014). The Snake Brothers is his third feature film, based on a script by young author Jaroslav Žváček.
The Hádek Brothers Both brothers entered the world of acting as teenagers while studying at the Prague Conservatory. Matěj, the older one, first attracted attention as early as 1997 in Ivan Vojnár’s The Way Through the Bleak Woods, and he also starred in the films Non Plus Ultras and Storyteller. Kryštof also studied acting at the Academy of Music and Drama Art in London and got his first big break in Jan Svěrák’s Dark Blue World (2001). In 2010, he earned the Czech Film and Television Academy award (Czech Lion) for Best Actor for his performance in 3 Seasons in Hell. He participated in European Film Promotion’s programme Shooting Stars at Berlinale 2010.
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OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION
The Red Spider
SCREENING
416 Mon 6 July 20:00 Grand Hall 5P2 Tue 7 July 13:00 Pupp 8K1 Fri 10 July 09:00 Drahomira Cinema
Czerwony Pająk
Director:
Marcin Koszałka
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia | 2015 | 95 min | world premiere
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This feature debut by a leading Polish documentarist and cinematographer was inspired by actual mass murders committed in the 1960s. A precisely constructed psychological thriller, the film delves into an intricate story of the fascination with evil that hides in places we would never expect.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – OUT OF COMPETITION
Koza
Director:
Ivan Ostrochovský
Slovakia, Czech Republic | 2015 | 75 min A para-documentary road movie by Ivan Ostrochovský about a former boxer who puts on the gloves one final time to earn the money for his girlfriend’s abortion.
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SCREENING
254 Sat 4 July 18:30 Cinema B 412 Mon 6 July 11:30 Grand Hall 822 Fri 10 July 12:30 Small Hall
The Grand Jury The Grand Jury consists of five internationally recognized film professionals who represent different spheres of the industry. Tim League, American cinema owner and distributor, among other things established the distribution company Drafthouse Films, concentrating on releasing European art-house cinema. Director, screenwriter and producer Angelina Nikonova is already well known to Karlovy Vary’s audiences, as her second feature Welkome Home competed at last year’s festival. Actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson has the experience of working with both Icelandic and American filmmakers, and he is well known for his parts in Balthasar Kormákur’s The Deep and Cary Fukunaga’s TV series True Detective. Producer and sales agent Hengameh Panahi, founder of the company Celluloid Dreams, has cooperated with award-winning directors such as Jafar Panahi, Jaques Audiard and Todd Haynes, and finally, the Czech member of the Grand Jury, Ondřej Zach, is Senior Vice President for programming at HBO Europe. He has extensive experience in festival and TV programming, having worked for various Czech and Slovak TV stations as well as the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
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DOCUMENTARY FILMS – COMPETITION
Documentaries in this section are divided into two categories: films up to 30 minutes in length and films over 60 minutes in length.
Amerika
Resort
Director: Jan Foukal Czech Republic | 2015 | 67 min | world premiere
Director: Martin Hrubý Czech Republic | 2014 | 25 min
A non-traditional documentary road movie or a staged meditation? However we perceive this story of a couple wandering through the Czech countryside, we can best experience it by yielding to the calm tempo of their journey through the shady woods. Amerika isn’t a portrait of specific individuals but rather an exploration of the Czech phenomenon of “tramping”.
In the 1960s an architecturally unique resort built on the banks of the Orlík Reservoir became the secret getaway of the communist establishment, then later passed into the hands of notorious businessmen during the early days of unrestrained capitalism. Suffused with an air of mystery, this portrait captures the genius loci and turbulent history of a hidden summer paradise that was left off every map.
SCREENING
3C3 Sun 5 July 15:30 Cas Cinema 4K4 Mon 6 July 17:00 Drahomira Cinema
SCREENING
4C3 Mon 6 July 15:30 Cas Cinema 5K4 Tue 7 July 17:00 Drahomira Cinema
Tramping
Background Films
is a typically Czech and Slovak 20th-century folk movement inspired by woodcraft, Scouting and the American Wild West. The name of this social phenomenon originally comes from English word “tramp”, and it developed among teenagers typically coming from working-class circumstances in Czechoslovak towns and cities after 1918. Tramping allowed them to realize their romantic dreams of adventure, relationships based on friendship and a simple way of living in harmony with nature.
is a young production company focused on the production of feature films and documentaries with the highest artistic ambition and co-production potential. The company consists of three producers – Mikuláš Novotný, Klára Žaloudková and Radim Procházka. Besides Journey to Rome, they also produced the short documentary Resort and were involved in the production of Schmitke.
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DOCUMENTARY FILMS – COMPETITION
Mallory
Director:
SCREENING
4C4 Mon 6 July 18:30 Cas Cinema 5K3 Tue 7 July 14:00 Drahomira Cinema
Helena Třeštíková
Czech Republic | 2015 | 97 min | world premiere Life hasn’t been easy on Mallory but after the birth of her son she tries desperately to kick her drug habit and stop living on the street. She wants to turn her back on her dark past and help those she knows best – people on the fringes of society. In her latest time-lapse documentary, Helena Třeštíková demonstrates that even seemingly hopeless lives needn’t be cut short halfway.
Mallory Brings (interview with Hope Helena Treštíková) Your films have been featured at Karlovy Vary many times before. Do you remember when the first time was? The first time was in 1998 with The Sweet Century, then in 2003 it was Marcela, in 2008 René, Katka in 2010, Private Universe in 2012 and the Life with Jester in 2013. Having my films screened at Karlovy Vary IFF has greatly helped them to go further in the world. How did you find Mallory, the protagonist of your new film? I met her for the first time in 2002, in a group home. I was shooting an episode for a TV series dealing with drugs. My subject was women and drugs, and the producer wanted to have a woman in the film who had stopped taking drugs after the birth of a child – and that was Mallory. From the first time I met her, I knew she was a very interesting woman. How do you decide when to finish a time-lapse documentary? The end of a time-lapse documentary is given by producer’s agreements, in the financing contracts. They state when the project should be finished. My task is to use time given to me purposefully and deliver a story in the form of film. Do you have a favourite among your time-lapse documentaries? My relationship to my films is comparable to the one you have with your kids. So I don’t make distinctions between them. I left a piece of my life in each of them.
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Helena Třeštíková is one of the world’s pioneers of time-lapse documentaries. She has directed more than 40 documentaries shown at several international film festivals, many of which she has also produced. In 2007, she was awarded a prize for the Best European Documentary at the Seville European Film Festival for Marcela, and one year later she won the European Film Award Grand Prix for her documentary René. Helena Třeštíková’s films treat various social phenomena of our time, issues of human rights and the stories of great Czech individuals.
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DOCUMENTARY FILMS – OUT OF COMPETITION
Daniel’s World Danielův svět Director: Veronika Lišková Czech Republic | 2014 | 74 min Daniel is the sole member of the Czech paedophile community to choose to come out publicly. Screened in the Panorama section at this year’s Berlinale. SCREENING
2H4 Sat 4 July 19:00 Husovka Theatre 6K5 Wed 8 July 20:00 Drahomira Cinema 752 Thu 9 July 12:30 Cinema B
The Gospel According Long Live Hunting! Lovu zdar! to Brabenec Evangelium podle Brabence Director: Miroslav Janek Czech Republic | 2014 | 90 min Miroslav Janek draws on informal interviews of Renata Kalenská with poet, gardener, and current leading figure of the legendary rock band The Plastic People of the Universe, Vratislav Brabenec. SCREENING
2R2 Sat 4 July 13:30 Richmond 3H3 Sun 5 July 16:00 Husovka Theatre 5H4 Tue 7 July 19:00 Husovka Theatre
Always Together Stále spolu Director: Eva Tomanová Czech Republic | 2014 | 74 min Director Eva Tomanová’s film faithfully captures the life of an 11-member family who live in primitive conditions in the Bohemian Forest, guided by their father’s extremely rigid view of paternal authority. Screened in competition at IDFA 2014. SCREENING
3K2 Sun 5 July 11:30 Drahomira Cinema 5H1 Tue 7 July 10:00 Husovka Theatre 6R2 Wed 8 July 13:30 Richmond
Director: Jaroslav Kratochvíl Czech Republic | 2014 | 66 min The debuting director selects three unconventional protagonists to assist him in capturing the contradictory nature of the hunting phenomenon, Central European style. SCREENING
355 Sun 5 July 21:30 Cinema B 4K2 Mon 6 July 11:30 Drahomira Cinema 8H2 Fri 10 July 13:00 Husovka Theatre
wave vs. shore
Through the Eyes of the Photographer
vlna vs. břeh
Očima fotografky
Director: Martin Štrba Czech Republic, Slovakia | 2014 | 88 min
Director: Matej Mináč Czech Republic, Slovakia | 2015 | 81 min
This likable and lively documentary investigates a generation of photographers for whom playfulness, freedom of gesture, and irony became essential elements of artistic expression.
A partly staged documentary about Zuzana Mináčová, who has influenced the shape of Slovak and Czech photography. Her photos of film stars, immortalised during her many years working with the Karlovy Vary IFF, are simply legendary.
SCREENING
2H2 Sat 4 July 13:00 Husovka Theatre 3K5 Sun 5 July 20:00 Drahomira Cinema 6R4 Wed 8 July 19:00 Richmond
SCREENING
355 Wed 8 July 16:00 Congress Hall 4K2 Fri 10 July 10:00 Husovka Theatre
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SCREENING
EAST OF THE WEST
2D6 Sat 4 July 18:30 Karlovy Vary Theatre 3L5 Sun 5 July 19:30 Lazne III
Journey to Rome Cesta do Říma
Director:
Tomasz Mielnik
Czech Republic, Poland | 2015 | 100 min | world premiere There are as many stories in the world as there are people, and Vašek, a timid guard at a gallery who becomes a reluctant painting thief, hears plenty of them on his train trip to Rome. This multilevel comedy road movie (on a train) and quest for the meaning of life is director Tomasz Mielnik’s feature debut.
On Fate and Art (interview with Tomasz Mielnik) You deal with very serious topics in your film. Which is the most important to you? I am very interested in the theme of fate. Could the fact that my nose looks like a potato and I walk like Chaplin combined with Isaac de Bankolé have a bad influence on my life? Or whether I was born under a lucky or bad star? And what does it actually mean to be born under a lucky star? Miloš Forman was surely born under one, because at my age he already had 10 Oscars... But under what star were Nietzsche, Jesus Christ or the Dalai Lama born? And what does it really mean to live a happy life? I must admit I am troubled by this question at times, and I hope this is evident in my film. Why did you opt for such a strongly stylized visual form? The stylized form of my film was inspired by art, namely the period of transition between Gothic and the Renaissance, with its characteristic flatness and centred composition. The unrealistic nature of such stylization enables you to more easily mingle reality and fantasy, which you can use to comic effect. Art references deepen the meaning of the film. Or at least they give that impression.
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How long did you prepare the film, and what was the most complicated part of the development process? Waiting for funds for the film was very difficult for me. I spent endless hours in pubs, hospital and on the roofs of high buildings with beautiful views. I got the feeling I missed the boat and should have stopped making films and left for a faraway Greek island to paint live models. And writing the script was also very difficult. If it is at all interesting, then it is thanks to the ideas of my friends, Martin Jelínek, Vít Zapletal and Vít Poláček. What are your future plans? I always wanted to be a rock star, but I must admit I can’t sing. I’m a grown-up now, so I have to think rationally. I graduated in art history. Now I finished the directing programme at FAMU. At the moment I’m considering studying something new, this time a more serious subject. Heart surgery, for instance, law or conducting. Doctors, lawyers and conductors seem so classy. They must have a lot of money and girlfriends. I’m not sure what would make me happier. I’ll admit I’m still looking for something.
Tomasz Mielnik studied art history at the University of Wrocław and directing at FAMU in Prague. During his studies he made several shorts (On Sunday, Remembering Mother, Anonymous). His bachelor film Girl 180 (2010) was shown at various festivals around the world, including the Molodist IFF in Kiev. In 2013 Mielnik attended a workshop organised by the International Filmmaking Academy headed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Gian Vittorio Baldi and Abbas Kiarostami.
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EAST OF THE WEST
Dust of the Ground Prach Director:
Vít Zapletal
Czech Republic | 2014 | 95 min | world premiere Two brothers, the elder married, the younger with a lover and a young child, meet at their parents’ country home after their father has a stroke. A subtle family drama from debut director Vít Zapletal that distinguishes itself from the usual Czech production through its unaffected accent on the Christian faith. SCREENING
7P4 Thu 9 July 19:00 Pupp 8L4 Fri 10 July 16:30 Lazne III
Vít Zapletal studied directing at FAMU in the class of the well-known director Jan Němec. Before making his thesis film Dust of the Ground, he directed several shorts which were successfully screened at various international film festivals. His first student film Room was awarded the Silver Dinosaur at the Krakow Film Festival, while the experimental Life Ahead of Me was screened in the Official Competition at Fresh Film Fest. Zapletal also participated in the production of Olmo Omerzu’s A Night Too Young, which was premiered at the Berlinale.
What is the Meaning of Pain? What is the main subject of your film? In the beginning I had just a formal subject. I was interested in the “Er-form”, how to use it and how to work with the film rhythm, which affects the viewer regardless of the film’s plot. I wanted to make a pleasant, quiet film. Only then did I start to look for – to exaggerate a bit – any story, without a need for a clear subject. In the end, it’s probably a film about pain and what meaning pain has. But it’s neither definite, nor very important to me. Your film often touches on the theme of religion. Do you think this is in any way important for a contemporary person? I touch on the theme of the Christian religion,
Director:
(interview with Vít Zapletal) as I don’t feel competent to comment on other religions. And Christianity is in my eyes equally important for people today as it was in the past and will be in the future. Are you preparing another film at the moment? At the moment I am working with Radim Valak on a script from the early 1970s about a young man whose girlfriend emigrates to the West without warning him beforehand. The compulsory two-year military service is pending and he decides to hide in the loony bin, where he finally stays longer than planned. Again, I want it to be a quiet, meditative film, this time with a clear subject, which is the way to elude bitterness and hopelessness.
Gyula Nemes
Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany | 2015 | 83 min | world premiere
Zero
It’s 2017. Bees are dying out and, in the words of Albert Einstein, humanity has only four more years left. Young radical ecologists set out to wage a ruthless battle for their survival. A formally inventive and thoroughly nonconformist vision of the fight against globalization. SCREENING
6D5 Wed 8 July 16:00 Karlovy Vary Theatre 7L3 Thu 9 July 13:30 Lazne III
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FUTURE FRAMES
They are at the very beginning of their careers, highly creative, and are coming from film schools throughout Europe where they have just completed their first films. Ten film students and graduates have been chosen to take part in European Film Promotion’s (EFP) new programme Future Frames: Ten new filmmakers to follow at the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Working in close cooperation with the festival, EFP will introduce the young directors and their films – all Czech premieres – to the public, film industry and press during the two-day event running 5 and 6 July. The participants were nominated by the EFP member organisations, with respect to the artistic quality, content and international appeal of their work, with the final selection being made by KVIFF. Czech Film Center, the member of EFP representing the Czech Republic, proudly introduces Ondřej Hudeček, a promising film director from FAMU.
Peacock Furiant
Director:
Ondřej Hudeček
Czech Republic | 2015 | 26 min | world premiere
Bohemia, 19th century. Ladislav, the mischievous son of a landlord, terrorizes the village with cruel jokes. War breaks out and Ladislav is forced to hide in a monastery, where he unexpectedly discovers his hidden desires. He returns home and befriends Jan, a sensitive young poet. Together they experience moments of undiluted happiness. However, passionate Ladislav soon becomes jealous, and his endeavour to dominate Jan triggers a series of grievous events... A dramatic story of the rise of one of the most influential Czech writers, paved with flesh, bones and blood. A black comedy based on a true story, a queer literary encyclopedia, and a historical picture book in one.
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SCREENING
423 Mon 6 July 15:30 Small Hall 8L5 Fri 10 July 19:30 Lazne III
Stories Keep Repeating (interview with Ondřej Hudeček) Peacock is inspired by the life of Czech dramatist Ladislav Stroupežnický. How did you learn about his story? And what attracted you most about it? In 2012 I had to present an idea for my bachelor’s thesis film at FAMU. I knew I wanted to make a period piece, set in 19th-century Bohemia. So I talked about it with my production manager, Kamila Dohnalová, and she told me this incredible story, and I just fell in love with it. A character that is pushed to his limits, makes a wrong decision, reaches the bottom of his existence, but ultimately survives – I think such a character knows more about what it means to be a human being than most of us. Form plays an important role in your film. How did you decide to tell the story in this particular way? I would say that for me the form is more important than the story itself. Stories keep repeating; it’s form that is constantly evolving. So I focus a lot on how I tell the story and why. With Peacock, the idea was basically to place the audience in an art gallery, give them headphones, push them in the direction of the exhibition, let them look at the paintings, read the notes, listen to the voice of the guide, and put the story together step by step.
You’ve made a great many short films. Is it your favourite genre? I enjoy making short films because they provide so much space to play around. If you want to make a short film today, you can just go and do it. There is no excuse not to anymore. Obviously, feature films are more expensive than shorts, so there is a tendency to play it safe. In a short film you can do whatever you want. I’m sure there is a whole new film language out there and I’ll bet it’ll be discovered through short films.
What do you plan to do next? My goal now is to expand Peacock into a feature-length film. The short will function as an introduction to the feature. The main part of the film will take place 20 years later, when Ladislav is already a well-known dramatist, facing the ghosts of his past that threaten him with losing everything he’s worked so hard to gain. Apart from that I’m working on a couple of other feature-film scripts and TV shows. And I’d love to direct a stage play again, so I’m toying with toying with that idea, too.
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FORUM OF INDEPENDENTS
SCREENING
535 Tue 7 July 19:00 Congress Hall 6C2 Wed 8 July 12:30 Cas Cinema
David
Jan Těšitel Director:
Jan Těšitel
Czech Republic | 2015 | 78 min | world premiere At age 20, David is increasingly aware of how his mental illness influences his parents’ behaviour. So one evening he decides to run away to Prague where, alone, he has to face numerous tricky situations – as well as his own thoughts. This courageous and moody debut is crowned with a fine lead performance from Patrik Holubář.
A Search for (interview with Limits Jan Těšitel) What is your film about? The film is the story of David, a mentally disabled young man who lives in the safety of his family. The problem is that he is aware of his handicap. He becomes a kind of existential character who decides to leave the security of his family and embark on a journey to search for the limits of his own existence.
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How did you find the lead actor? I had a clear image of how David should look. Years ago I saw Anton Corbijn’s film Control, with Sam Riley in the lead role. He is a British actor with expressive eyes and a clear-cut face. I started to look for a similar face with similar energy. When I met Patrik Holubář, an actor from DAMU, he was even more interesting than his British “prototype”, and the energy of his personality even more fitting. His diction, his posture, his gait, his eyes.
is a prominent figure of the youngest generation of directors and a FAMU graduate. Besides his student shorts, he has also directed several commercials, and his western episode The Magnificent One (a part of the series Samosebou.cz for the client EKO-KOM) was shortlisted for the 2012 Louskáček Prize. He was nominated for the Magnesia Prize for his short film People Involved and was awarded the Prize for the Best Short Film Project from Midpoint Script Center for David, from which he then developed his feature debut.
What are your plans with the film? I don’t have any illusions that David will attract many people to the cinema. It is a film which tries to go deeper, and in many aspects it is radical. But a film needs its viewers, needs feedback. That’s why it’s important to me to show it at film festivals and find its viewers there. In this sense Karlovy Vary is a great beginning.
Radu Jude
Director: Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic | 2015 | 108 min A black-and-white “Eastern” exploring Romania’s collective memory. New Wave director Radu Jude’s third motion picture took the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale.
HORIZONS
SCREENING
Aferim!
1K4 Fri 3 July 17:00 Drahomira Cinema 612 Wed 8 July 11:30 Grand Hall 7P5 Thu 9 July 22:00 Pupp
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IMAGINA Director: Roman Štětina Czech Republic | 2014 | 58 min This compilation film by Jindřich Chalupecký Award winner Roman Štětina employs scenes from the cult series Columbo to create an entirely new story that highlights moments we would not have expected from the original.
Lost Case
SCREENING
3H4 Sun 5 July 19:00 Husovka Theatre 653 Wed 8 July 15:30 Cinema B 952 Sat 11 July 12:30 Cinema B
Ztracený případ
No Boundaries!
(interview with programmer Viktor Palák)
What is the audience reaction to Imagina? It would be hypocritical to pretend that Imagina is for everyone. At the same time it is its relative extremity that makes it a bit easier to stand out and find its spot on the map, which I am confident enough to say it already has. What are the trends in experimental filmmaking?
Nipomo
Experimental cinema is a field of truly boundless imagination, trends do not tend to find a fertile soil in its realm. But it is true that new technologies frequently modify what happens and thus we see a rising number of experimental artists working in 3D. Ken Jacobs, Johann Lurf and Virgil Widrich could serve as examples. The recent works of the latter two will be presented in Karlovy Vary, too.
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MIDNIGHT SCREENING
The Greedy Tiffany Nenasytná Tiffany
Director: Marek Partyš Czech Republic | 2015 | 5 min
Director: Martin Blažíček Czech Republic, Hungary | 2014 | 6 min
Director: Andy Fehu Czech Republic | 2015 | 75 min
Dva is an unrelentingly imaginative Czech band. Nipomo is the name of their successful album and also of the inspired and playful song chosen by Marek Partyš for his first music video, which won Best LoFi at the Berlin Music Video Awards.
Foggy memories of a French nightclub from the mid-20th century; glitchy stuttering electronic music by Lanuk, 2014. A video edited in real time by a leading Czech experimenter which revitalizes the voyeuristic nature of the film image.
A rube named Pepa robs cottages for cash and spends his free time swilling rum at fourth-rate establishments. The discovery of a strange video recording points him to a place where he’ll find a treasure of immense value. The mysterious place in northern Bohemia, however, awakens avarice far and wide, and it's apparently got a plan for all those who turn up…
SCREENING
2C2 Sat 4 July 12:30 Cas Cinema 8C3 Fri 10 July 15:30 Cas Cinema
SCREENING
3H2 Sun 5 July 13:00 Husovka Theatre 553 Tue 7 July 15:30 Cinema B 7H2 Thu 9 July 13:00 usovka Theatre
SCREENING
3C6 Sun 5 July 23:59 Cas Cinema 726 Thu 9 July 23:59 Small Hall
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CZECH FILMS 2014 – 2015
Photographer
Places
Fotograf
Místa
Director: Irena Pavlásková Czech Republic | 2015 | 133 min
Director: Radim Špaček Czech Republic, Slovakia | 2014 | 108 min
Scenes from the unruly life of a popular artist-turned-celebrity, based on the fortunes of photographer Jan Saudek (b. 1935), who was also involved in creating the screenplay. This acerbic comedy focuses on the maestro’s relationships with women, particularly the initially submissive Líba (in real life his former partner Sára).
After his triumph with the Normalisation-era drama Walking Too Fast, director Radim Špaček turns his attention to the 1990s. Casting fresh young actors in an industrial setting in North Bohemia, he shot a film about two boys whose hometown is beginning to make them feel claustrophobic.
SCREENING
2L5 Sat 4 July 19:30 Lazne III 5R4 Tue 7 July 19:00 Richmond 954 Sat 11 July 18:30 Cinema B
SCREENING
2R3 Sat 4 July 16:30 Richmond 5L6 Tue 7 July 22:30 Lazne III 8H5 Fri 10 July 22:00 Husovka Theatre
US 2
Little from the Fish Shop
MY 2
Malá z rybárny
Director: Slobodanka Radun Czech Republic | 2014 | 99 min
Director: Jan Balej Czech Republic, Slovakia, France | 2015 | 72 min
A love story about a surprise romance between a deceived wife and her gay hairstylist. The debut by Slobodanka Radun unfolds in contemporary Prague which, thanks to the film’s clear artistic vision, makes the impression of a modern and volatile metropolis.
Everyone’s familiar with Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”, the story of a love capable of forgiving even the greatest betrayal. In Balej’s film – a work filled with wonderful animation, expressive puppet designs and an imaginative, shifting score from French composer Chapelier Fou – the fairy-tale romance is replaced with a bleak portrayal of life in a city harbour, yet its enduring message remains. One of the first Czech feature-length puppet films to use both stop motion and CGI.
SCREENING
152 Fri 3 July 12:30 Cinema B 2K4 Sat 4 July 17:00 Drahomira Cinema 8R5 Fri 10 July 22:00 Richmond
SCREENING
3N3 Sun 5 July 16:00 Narodni dum 5H3 Tue 7 July 16:00 Husovka Theatre 7R1 Thu 9 July 10:30 Richmond
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CZECH FILMS 2014 – 2015
Sunrise Supervising
Three Brothers
Odborný dohled nad východem Slunce
Tři bratři
Director: Pavel Göbl Czech Republic | 2014 | 72 min
Director: Jan Svěrák Czech Republic, Denmark | 2014 | 90 min
A black-and-white flick set in North Bohemia where three exprisoners are determined to get even with a local pub owner who wrecked their lives some years back. This Eastern comedy by director Pavel Göbl brings Vratislav Brabenec to the big screen, saxophonist of the rock band The Plastic People of the Universe, supported by Jiří Lábus in the role of the former secret police agent.
Three brothers set out into the wide world to gather experience, and along the way, they get caught up in the familiar settings of celebrated fairy tales, where they have to deal with various pitfalls and unexpected situations, but they might also find love... A major part in this epic film fairy tale is played by the catchy songs created by popular duo Zdeněk Svěrák and Jaroslav Uhlíř.
SCREENING
154 Fri 3 July 18:30 Cinema B 4N3 Mon 6 July 16:00 Narodni dum 8R2 Fri 10 July 13:30 Richmond
SCREENING
2L4 Sat 4 July 16:30 Lazne III 5R3 Tue 7 July 16:30 Richmond 951 Sat 11 July 10:00 Cinema B
Awards • 10 nominations and three Czech Film and Television Academy Awards (Czech Lions) for Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Best Stage Design • Audience Award at Finále Plzeň 2015 • Top cinema attendance in 2014 – 661 378 admissions
Schmitke Director: Štěpán Altrichter Czech Republic, Germany | 2014 | 94 min This graduate film by Štěpán Altrichter is a visually enchanting comedy mystery set in the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory), which form a natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic. A levelheaded engineer played by familiar German actor Peter Kurth arrives to repair a creaking old wind turbine. Out there in the misty woods he also goes in search of something else deep inside him. SCREENING
335 Sun 5 July 19:00 Congress Hall 6H3 Wed 8 July 16:00 Husovka Theatre 8R3 Fri 10 July 16:30 Richmond
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OUT OF THE PAST
Film Spa Filmová lázeň Director: Miroslav Janek Czech Republic | 2015 | 79 min The history of the Karlovy Vary IFF, from its founding in 1946 and the first non-competitive years to its 50th edition. In addition to ample archive materials, director Miroslav Janek makes use of interviews with those who attended (through good times and bad) the largest film event in Eastern Europe. SCREENING
4N2 Mon 6 July 13:00 Narodni dum 754 Thu 9 July 18:30 Cinema B 8H3 Fri 10 July 16:00 Husovka Theatre
The History of the KVIFF in (interview with 70 Minutes Miroslav Janek) How did you tackle such a long history? Did you concentrate on some periods more than others? Based on my own curiosity, I worked on the assumption that a viewer is more interested in things they don’t know. History always seems to be more fascinating than the present. Perhaps the present will be fascinating in the future. We are also talking about a 70-year history, and our film is 70 minutes long, so each period appears in it relatively briefly, and just its most characteristic features, not in depth. Did anything you found out during your research surprise you? Not many things surprised me, as I suspected or knew a lot already. But still, for example, the fact that the films of the Czechoslovak New Wave have practically never been shown at KVIFF. Or that thanks to A. M. Brousil, many films from Latin America, Asia and the Indian subcontinent have been shown at the festival. Only much later did this become standard at all major international film festivals. In making Film Spa you cooperated a lot with Eva Zaoralová, who was the programme director of the festival for many years. How did it go? Luckily, Eva had the task of writing a book with more or less the same subject as our film. That’s why we joined forces and decided to be a kind of resource for each other. Together we picked which people from the past, film theorists and historians we wanted to address. Eva then interviewed them and I assisted with my camera, gaining the material for the film. In return, we provided Eva with the transcripts of all the interviews for her book.
May Fairy Tale
Shop on the High Street
Pohádka máje
Obchod na korze
Director: Karel Anton Czechoslovakia | 1926 | 115 min
Director: Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos Czechoslovakia | 1965 | 125 min
A lyrical tale of the pure, vernal romance between a diffident, somewhat naïve girl from a rural backwater and a fairly dissolute, but kind-hearted law student from Prague.
This intimate Oscar-winning drama, shot 50 years ago, is set during WWII when Jews were persecuted by the Slovak state. Through the main character, the film gains the currency of a timeless statement on the tragic consequences of moral compromise.
SCREENING
4D3 Mon 6 July 13:00 Karlovy Vary Theatre
SCREENING
3D2 Sun 5 July 12:00 Karlovy Vary Theatre 722 Thu 9 July 12:30 Small Hall
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OUT OF THE PAST
Film Adventurer Karel Zeman Filmový dobrodruh Karel Zeman Director: Tomáš Hodan Czech Republic, Canada | 2015 | 101 min
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Famous Czech actress Iva Janžurová to receive the Karlovy Vary IFF President’s Award. Iva Janžurová has been always considered a great comic actress above all, but the wide range of her talent is also evident in her several dramatic roles. The festival will show both faces of the actress: the serious one in Coach to Vienna and the comic one in How About a Plate of Spinach?
A delightful documentary on the life and work of an exceptional filmmaker that regales us with interesting facts and skilfully conveys Zeman’s passion for the world of special effects and animation. This resourceful film shows us how his enchanting ideas came to life, and how imagination thrives in conjunction with tireless application. SCREENING
654 Wed 8 July 18:30 Cinema B 832 Fri 10 July 10:30 Congress Hall
Coach to Vienna Kočár do Vídně Director: Karel Kachyňa Czechoslovakia | 1966 | 76 min In its day, this drama of revenge sought by a countrywoman against two soldiers of the Wehrmacht was a radical negation of how the war had usually been viewed.
Invention for Destruction Vynález zkázy
SCREENING
7D5 Thu 9 July 16:00 Karlovy Vary Theatre
Director: Karel Zeman Czechoslovakia | 1958 | 84 min Poetic adaptation of Verne’s novel Facing the Flag, masterpiece of Czech cinema and winner of prestigious international awards, selected for the digital restoration programme. SCREENING
816 Fri 10 July 20:00 Grand Hall
How About a Plate of Spinach? Což takhle dát si špenát
Karel Zeman
is one of the few Czech directors to be universally recognized in the world of cinema. Zeman, sometimes called a true successor to Georges Méliès and a wizard of the big screen, created, in the poorly equipped film studios in Zlín, the world-famous films Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955) and The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1959). He then continued to develop his highly successful use of special effects in The Fabulous Baron Munchausen and the two Jules Verne adaptations that followed.
Director: Václav Vorlíček Czechoslovakia | 1977 | 86 min A cult Czech sci-fi comedy about two former thieves who help an assistant professor at a research institute copy a sensational invention – a regeneration apparatus. SCREENING
Thu 9 July 23:00 Open Air Cinema
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PITCH & FEEDBACK
Tuesday, 7 July 2015, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Barrandov Studios Villa The aim of Pitch & Feedback since its first edition in 2012 has been to establish an effective platform for selected Czech and Slovak film projects with a potential for international co-production. These seven projects, selected each year by the Czech Film Center and Slovak Film Institute in co-operation with Midpoint Script Center, are given an extraordinary opportunity of assessment from multiple film-industry angles. During the presentation event, the producers, directors and scriptwriters,
in a seven-minute pitch, introduce their projects to five important representatives and decision makers from various areas of the international film industry and directly receive their valuable feedback and advice. After the public part, the feedback continues in the afternoon behind closed doors. The presenting filmmakers get a chance to go deeper into the comments of the experts and discuss the strong and weak points of their projects in a more informal atmosphere.
“Pitch & Feedback is a great platform that works in two ways. It allows the selected projects to get professional feedback from international industry representatives and to do intense networking. At the same time, the experts from markets, sales, training and financing can get acquainted with up-andcoming producers and fresh projects from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” says Kristina Trapp from EAVE, one of the experts for 2015.
Pitch & Feedback experts Besides Kristina Trapp, currently the CEO of EAVE, who has worked in the film industry in Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg since 1999, the Big Five of this year’s experts will consist of Katriel Schory, the Director of the Israel Film Fund, facilitating the production of Israeli feature films and supporting their marketing and distribution; Christoph Thoke, a very active producer and founder of Mogador Film; Tassilo Hallbauer, sales executive at BETA Cinema; and Angeliki Vergou, the Coordinator of Crossroads Co-production Forum and Agora Works in Progress.
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PITCH & FEEDBACK
IL BOEMO
Czech Republic Director: Petr Václav Scriptwriter: Petr Václav Producer: Jan Macola – Mimesis Film
Il Boemo is the story of Josef Mysliveček, who rejected his comfortable bourgeois destiny as the eldest son of a Prague master miller to pursue his dream of becoming a composer in Italy. It is a tale of ambition, identity and love. While Josef has no qualms about exploiting the passions his music arouses in women to advance his career, he finds the one woman he truly loves is beyond his grasp. In the late 18th century, Il Boemo, as he came to be known, was one of the most popular and prolific composers of Italian opera seria. He was also the friend and mentor of young Mozart.
A Composer with a Greater Chance of Failure than (interview with Petr Václav Success
and Jan Macola)
What does this project mean for you as a producer? Jan Macola: The project Il Boemo played a crucial role in my decision to become a producer. When I read the story of the film for the first time, I was still working at Barrandov Studios. The text absolutely fascinated me. It was so exceptional both in its subject and the quality of its treatment that I immediately arranged to produce the film. What was so special for you about the project? What is its main subject? Jan Macola: Mysliveček’s life speaks to us because it is the story of an immigrant who leaves his obscure provincial birthplace to seek his fortune in what at the time was the most fashionable country in his field. If the change of climate is highly stimulating, the immigrant’s survival is by no means assured. The land in which he arrives with neither friends nor protectors is already bursting with talented rivals and controlled by people in established positions. Our protagonist has a greater chance of failure than success. Mysliveček’s fate tells how a career can be made. And how, like love, it can just as easily be lost… ” What did you base your vision of Mysliveček on, when so little is known about him? Petr Václav: My vision of Mysliveček is drawn from the three works about him that have been published in the last 30 years, as well as from interviews with two of the authors. If he is famed in the Czech Republic for having “conquered Italy” and being “the friend of Mozart”, the name of Josef Mysliveček is familiar in Italy and the opera world to only a few specialists and hardly known at all anywhere else. He would probably have been forgotten entirely if he was not mentioned with admiration by Mozart in his
letters. It is in this correspondence that the only physical description of him may be found. Otherwise, all that remains of Mysliveček are a few of his letters, some legal documents, critics’ notices and public announcements. And his music. How extensive was the research required to reconstruct Mysliveček’s life? Petr Václav: The grey areas of Mysliveček’s life are more extensive than what we know. To be able to imagine the world of ideas and mores that surrounded my character, to grasp his lifestyle, his work, his professional relations, his way of dealing with impresarios and people likely to commission works from him, I had to study the life of Mozart, of Salieri, and of the Italian composers of the time. I also had the great pleasure of plunging into Casanova’s The Story of My Life, a precious source of information about the libertine spirit of the time. What inspired you most during your research? Petr Václav: Texts describing the ascension of young men of modest origins, as well as accounts of the Grand Tour (de Sade, Brosses, Barthélémy etc.). To go behind the curtains of the opera world in Naples of the period, I studied the essential Managing Opera and interviewed its author, Melanie Traversier. To better comprehend their atmospheres, colours, and climates, I visited the cities where Mysliveček lived and worked, and I took the same roads as the composer as he journeyed through the Italian landscape. While I have been faithful to biographical facts and to the spirit of the 18th century, the story that follows nevertheless remains – and could never be other than – a freely interpreted portrait of a historical figure who has since become fictional.
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PITCH & FEEDBACK
FISH BLOOD
SNOWING!
Rybí krev
Sněží!
Czech Republic Director: Ondřej Provazník Scriptwriter: Ondřej Provazník Producer: Jakub Mahler, Tomáš Michálek – MasterFilm
Czech Republic Director: Kristina Nedvědová Scriptwriter: Kristina Nedvědová Producer: Jitka Kotrlová – Frame Films
After 20 years abroad, Hana returns to a half-flooded village in southern Bohemia where she grew up. Years ago, when the government revealed its plans to build a power station here, she fought for the survival of the village community. She lost the battle, and betrayed by all, she left for abroad. Now, she has to decide again whether to forgive what remains of her family and friends and stay – or whether to leave for good.
Tereza is coming back home for her father’s birthday party, where he announces his plans to marry for the second time. After the divorce with Tereza’s father, her mother decided to take care of Tereza’s old and deranged grandmother. Tereza is troubled by the whole situation and decides to stay, hoping that her presence will give the family a new sense of order and motivate her relatives to rebuild the broken family bonds.
Searching for roots Stay and fight, or leave? (interview with Ondřej Provazník)
(interview with Kristina Nedvědová) What is the main theme of Snowing!? The main idea of the story is a family as a very specific system with a specific order. The most important element is to show that death is also present among our loved ones, and it’s no use fighting it. Through the character of the grandma, we want to demonstrate our respect towards all the grandmothers and grandfathers around us, even if they are already heading to the other side. It is a film about dreaming, about nature and our belonging to it.
What attracted you most about the Jiří Hájíček book the script is based on? The main character of Hájíček’s novel, Hana Tomášková, seems to me to be an embodiment of an old Czech dilemma: stay and fight all the bad circumstances and catastrophes – or leave the countr y? At the end of the 80s Hana is a strong, stubborn young girl who decides to fight the construction of a nuclear power station that would destroy her home village. And then she’s a self-confident woman in her 40s struggling with a mid-life crisis while returning to the countr y she decided to leave long ago. Now, she has to reconsider if that decision was right. The two timelines – the present and the end of the 80s – collide in a remarkable way. Her patriotism and subsequent contempt – sentiment and love for her countr y turns into a disgust for its character and situation, while the effor t to become a useful member of its society is replaced by a resignation, a desperate need to escape, emigrate. And all this is illustrated through ver y specific, believable situations, which the young girl – later a mature homecoming woman – gets herself into.
You’ve already participated in the Midpoint workshop with this project. What is the benefit of the events like that, including Pitch & Feedback? First of all, you hear everything you don’t want to hear. For example that the story doesn’t work, that you aren’t precise enough. But at the same time you come to understand that the story is universal (thanks to the international instructors) and you can work on it. For us it’s also very important that we grew closer as a team. The producer started to understand the grief of the scriptwriter, and I got to appreciate the persistence of the producer. We met many new friends whose support motivated us in our further work.
How far along are you with the project? The project is in its early stages; now we are mostly working on script development. We’ve been seeking out shooting locations as well as a narrative style. We have star ted talks with potential co-producers and will star t casting the main roles soon.
How far along are you with the project? We have dedicated more than two years to our protagonists. Now we are trying to get the financing ready and prepare for the production. We already have a film crew, we get a lot of support from them, and that is important. The changes in the script will depend on the production circumstances.
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Czech Republic, Finland Director: David Ondříček Scriptwriter: David Ondříček, Jan P. Muchow Producer: David Ondříček, Kryštof Mucha – Lucky Man Films
PITCH & FEEDBACK
ZÁTOPEK
The story of an exceptional athlete, and his journey from ordinary child to great triumph and worldwide fame. It is a story that is at once thrilling and easy to understand, both for viewers who are very familiar with Zátopek and those who have never heard of him. Even today, Emil Zátopek remains a cult figure for athletes around the world.
Zátopek: An athlete who became a legend (interview with David Ondříček) Why did you decide to make a film about Emil Zátopek? The life story of Emil Zátopek is an enormous challenge for me. Zátopek is the story of an outsider, a kid with a squeaky voice, often mistaken for a girl, described by his own mother as a weakling, and essentially lacking in athletic talent. At the same time, it’s the story of a man with an enormous will and yearning to win, a dogged and indomitable athlete who became a legend. For me, Zátopek is an immensely interesting and colourful character. A loner, a contemplative runner who overcomes unbelievable distances every day, and at the same time a happy chatterbox who longs for admiration. An athlete with a great desire to defeat his rivals and then affectionately present them with his own gold medal.
editor’s comments made for a better structure of the story as a whole, and the version we have at present is the third. At the moment we’re looking for suitable locations. With that first round of “reconnaissance surveys” behind us, we’re planning to do more extensive location scouting this summer in Finland. We plan to begin shooting at the start of 2016. Do you already know who will play the lead role? For the lead role I have chosen one of the most talented Czech actors, Václav Neužil. I have been following him for longer than the idea of the Zátopek film has been around, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with him both onstage and onscreen. Václav and Zátopek share a similar character. He has tremendous willpower as well as a sense of humour and an ease about him. He sees the role of a lifetime in Zátopek, and I, on the other hand, feel that the requirements of the role won’t be a hindrance for him. Václav has been training weekly since last year under the supervision of a professional athletic trainer recommended by the Czech Olympic Committee. So we’re able to constantly monitor the changes to his physique and the improvements, not only to his running style, which is a must for the character’s authenticity, but also in terms of stamina and the overall physical condition he is going to need for the shoot. Actress Martha Issová, who has been cast in the role of Emil’s wife, Dana, has also started training with the javelin, and is doing so with the same coach who previously trained Olympic champion Barbora Špotáková.
How far along are you with the project? Over the last year we went from the storyline, to an extended outline story, to the first version of the screenplay. The script
Three Slovak projects will also be presented: The Disciple By a Sharp Knife Schengenstory Dir. Ivan Ostrochovský Dir. Theodor Kuhn Dir. Peter Bebjak Punkchart films Madness Productions Wandal Production
How are the projects from the previous editions of Pitch & Feedback faring? Family Film directed by Olmo Omerzu, will be released later in 2015. After its pitch at Karlovy Vary 2012, the project participated in Torino Film Lab and ended up as a large coproduction between the Czech Republic, France, Slovenia, Slovakia and Germany. The shooting took place last autumn in Thailand. Slovak-Czech co-production Wilson City, directed by Tomáš Mašín, was premiered at this year’s Marché du film at Cannes and will reach Czech cinemas in October. Little Crusader – a Czech-Slovak project by director Václav
Kadrnka – won the Eurimages Award at the New Cinema Network co-production forum in Rome in 2013. Recently, the project has received substantial support from the Czech Republic State Cinematography Fund. The co-production project Out, directed by György Kristóf, was selected for the 2015 Cinéfondation L’Atelier at Cannes. Cook, F**k, Kill, another Slovak-Czech project, written and directed by Mira Fornay, has a new co-producer – French company Slot Machine.
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WORKS IN PROGRESS
Monday 6 July, 1:30 – 5:00 p.m., Congress Hall, Hotel Thermal
Every year, producers and filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey and the countries of the former Soviet Union present their latest feature productions at KVIFF’s Works in Progress. This one-day presentation, intended for international sales agents, distributors, co-producers, and festival programmers, offers a selection of 15 quality feature films whose premieres are expected after July 2015. The films are recently completed or in postproduction, and lack an international sales agent.
CZECH PROJECTS
Eva Nová
Mars
Wolf of Royal Vineyard Street Vlk z Královských Vinohrad
Slovakia, Czech Republic Director: Marko Škop Release date: November 2015
Czech Republic Director: Benjamin Tuček Release date: Summer 2016
Czech Republic, France, Slovakia Director: Jan Němec Release date: May 2016
Eva would do anything to regain the love of the one she hurt the most, her son. Now she is a recovered alcoholic, but decades ago she was a famous actress.
The space programme is out of money and the Great Martian Dust Storm is coming. To save the first and only Martian base, the commander accepts an offer by a rich man who would like to pay for the mission in exchange for being the first space tourist on Mars. Because the commander doesn’t find crew support for his risky plan at NASA, he calls his colleague from the ESA, who recommends astronauts from East European countries. For various reasons, hiring astronauts from these regions is most cost-effective. Trained as astronauts but having never flown on a space mission, this is the opportunity they have always dreamed of.
The story of J.J., a filmmaker always going beyond the bounds of good behaviour. In the fateful year of 1968, the Czechs had three films in Cannes’s main competition, and one of them was about to seize the Palme d’Or. But a would-be revolution of the French filmmakers ruined the Czech party, ending that year’s festival. That meant going back home, just in time for J.J. to see his homeland invaded by the Soviet armies. Forced exile, having lost both his success and fame, waiting for his return to both home and film. Instead of Champs Elysées, he walks the avenues of Vinohrady, leaves the city limits and marches all the way to absolute freedom.
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DOCU TALENTS FROM THE EAST
Tuesday, 7 July 2015, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., Barrandov Studios Villa
Docu Talents from the East 2015, organized by the Jihlava IDFF in cooperation with the Karlovy Vary IFF, present the most remarkable creative documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe in the production or post-production stage. Directors and producers of 12 selected feature-length documentaries will introduce their projects planned for theatrical distribution from August 2015 to July 2016 in eight-minute presentations.
The Dangerous World of Rajko Doleček
Rino
FC Roma
Czech Republic
TJ Roma Czech Republic
Nebezpečný svět Rajka Dolečka Czech Republic Director: Kristýna Bartošová Producer: Kristýna Hněvsová, Dagmar Sedláčková – MasterFilm Release date: October 2015
Director: Jakub Wagner Producer: Richard Malatinský – Screenfabric Release date: January 2016
Directors: Tomáš Bojar, Rozálie Kohoutová Producer: Pavla Janoušková Kubečková – nutprodukce Release date: October 2015
A young director sets out to visit an old professor and asks him for recipes for the body and the soul. What advice can a girl with a family in Bosnia receive from a Serbian nationalist and a close friend of Ratko Mladič? A dialogue about overcoming one’s own prejudices and ideologies that seek reconciliation.
The documentary Rino aims to provide a detailed look inside the mind and life of Karel Köcher, the most successful Czechoslovak spy of the Cold War, who infiltrated the CIA in the 1970s, passing classified information on to his own country’s secret services and the KGB. Karel, now 80, speaks about his actions, motivations, and looks back on his life in general.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. Every football fan surely knows about the UEFA campaign Say No to Racism. However, not everywhere in the world are players considered equal on the football field. Take the of FC Roma in North Bohemia, a team composed mainly of Romani players from the district.
KVIFF TALKS: BECOME A VACHKOPHILE! 8 July 2015, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Hotel Thermal, Cinema C Speakers: Radim Procházka, Mikuláš Novotný, Karel Vachek An hour-long presentation introducing Karel Vachek and his work using excerpts (with commentaries) from his seven film novels ranging from the 1960s to this day. Especially for those who do not know Mr Vachek, or are somewhat afraid of him, the presentation will be accompanied by the simple language of Vachek’s producers. Have you heard some “myths about Vachek” and don’t have the time to retrospectively view all his long films? Do you fancy doing so quickly, succinctly and buoyed up by wine? This presentation is just the thing for you. And, yes, Mr Vachek will be present, too. Visitors will also be shown short excerpts of Vachek’s recently discovered footage depicting the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. These shocking clips were thought to have been lost for fifty years and will be presented to the public for the very first time.
Karel Vachek Some adore his films, others curse them. The rest know all too little about them other than that they are controversial and long. Vachek is the Czech Godard. But “Socialism” isn’t enough for him; his new film will be titled “Communism”. The most influential contemporary is one the last of the remaining creative Mohicans of the Czechoslovak New Wave.
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C
CREATIVE EUROPE
The European Union programme for the support of cinema and the culture and creative sectors for the 2014–2020 period. The programme consists of two sub-programmes – MEDIA and Culture.
DEVELOPMENT scheme under the MEDIA sub-programme Call EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 EAC/S30/2013 Total
Company FRESH FILMS MIRACLE FILM PRODUKCE TRESTIKOVA DURACFILM GOLDEN DAWN SIRENA FILM FOG ‘N’ DESIRE FILMS NUTPRODUKCE ENDORFILM BIONAUT – Slate of projects 10
Even Mice Belong in Heaven A film about two mortal enemies – a little mouse and a fox, who after an unfortunate accident meet in animal heaven. They lose their natural instincts and become best friends. Their wish to stay together after they return to earth comes true, but they are reborn into opposite roles. Thanks to the power of friendship they can even overcome what seems to be impossible. Arnie and His Buddies Arnie and His Buddies is an animated film based on the characters and illustrations from the book How to Build a Car. This engaging adventure tells the story of how Arnie the Rat and his animal friends, Bill the Sparrow and Mr Grouch, aka Christian the Frog, build themselves a car and clash in a fierce battle with the mob of a harbour city called Rat York. Lída Baarová – Doomed Beauty Helena Třeštíková presents the story of Lída Baarová, one of the most controversial women of the film industry. Her dramatic fate was significantly shaped by the fact that she lived in Europe in the 20th century. The Black Light Theatre The Black Light Theatre of Jiří Srnec was founded in the late 50s. Now Mr Srnec is preparing his new production Parabolas, inspired by aphorisms of Franz Kafka. The film aims to present a concept that entered into the history of theatre more than 50 years ago and continues to fascinate.
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Project Even Mice Belong in Heaven Arnie and His Buddies Lída Baarová - Doomed Beauty The Black Light Theatre Radio 1 Confidential The Garden Store (orig. Family Friend) Wait in Silence Old Timers King of Sumava, The Goddess, The Great Adventures of Rosa and Dora 12
Radio 1 The first private radio station in former Czechoslovakia, Radio 1, used to bridge the gap between communism and democracy in the early 90s for the generation of today’s 40-somethings. Radio 1 sensitized their ears to new musical trends from around the world and created a platform for emerging domestic bands. Confidential Confidential is a story of those for whom the Cold War never ended, a story about the life after life of former double agent František V. He was among the Czechoslovak military intelligence agents trained in Moscow. The fate of this spy, however, would reverse in August ’68, when Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. The Garden Store The Garden Store is an autobiographical family saga. On the backdrop of significant historical events of the 20th century, a private history of several strong male and female characters takes place. Wait in Silence Wait in Silence is a film about Eva Olmerová, believed by many critics to be one of the most talented Eastern European jazz singers of all time. Like the music she sang, full of dissonances and abrupt changes of rhythm and melody, her life was a constant flux of emotions, events, unresolved desires and personal tragedies.
Category Animation Animation Documentary Documentary Documentary Documentary Fiction Fiction Fiction Fiction
EUR 60 000 60 000 25 000 25 000 25 000 25 000 50 000 50 000 50 000 115 203 485 203
Old Timers After 40 years in exile, a former Czechoslovak war hero and political prisoner returns to the country of his birth. It gradually becomes apparent that the disabled 80-year-old has come back with one aim in mind: to shoot dead a prominent communist state prosecutor whose crimes during the 1950s have gone unpunished. The film is inspired by a true story. King of Sumava This animated documentary, adapted from a best-selling book, tells the remarkable story of Josef Hasil, an ordinary man who became a legend. This is a never-before-told tale of adventure and espionage, of heroism and moral choices, that explores the struggle of one man against an authoritarian regime and the sacrifices he had to make. The Goddess An ambitious event TV miniseries in the style of the Millenium trilogy that examines the dark secrets of the past from WWII to the 1990s in an epic story of magic, revenge and the enduring female spirit. This is an adaptation of the best-selling Czech novel Žítkovské bohyně (Goddesses of Žítková) by Kateřina Tučková, which is now being translated and published in Germany, Poland and across Europe. The Great Adventures of Rosa and Dora Seven-year-old twins Rosa and Dora, with the help of their amazing Grandma, have to repeatedly save the world from the exploits of their troublemaking dog Laiko. During the course of their adventures, they travel around the world and discover all kinds of interesting things.
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