CZECH FILM / Spring 2016 by Czech Film Center

Spring 2016

Czech Film Center

Markéta Šantrochová Head of Czech Film Center e-mail: marketa@filmcenter.cz tel.:+420 724 329 948

Barbora Ligasová Festivals Coordinator e-mail: barbora@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 778 487 863

Martin Černý Festivals Coordinator – Documentaries / Publications e-mail: martin@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 778 487 864

Denisa Štrbová PR / Sales Support e-mail: denisa@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 724 329 949

The Czech Film Center (CFC) was established in 2002 to represent, market and promote Czech cinema and film industry and to increase the awareness of Czech film worldwide. CFC is a national partner of important international film festivals and co-production platforms, taking active part in selection and presentation of Czech films and projects abroad. Linking Czech cinema with international film industry, Czech Film Center works with a worldwide network of international partners to profile the innovation, diversity and creativity of Czech films, and looks for opportunities for creative exchange between Czech filmmakers and their international counterparts. CFC provides tailor-made consulting, initiates and co-organizes numerous pitching forums and workshops, and prepares specialized publications.

In Your Dreams! /

I, Olga Hepnarova /

Interview with Petr Oukropec

Interview with Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda

We Are Never Alone / Interview with Petr Vaclav

Television offers more diversity

Czechs at Berlinale Co-Production Market

26 FOCUS / Young Audience

2 EDITORIAL / CZECH

FILM NOW 24 FUNDING NEWS 30 FILMS TO COME

33 PROFILE / 5 October 34 PEACOCK / Interview with Ondřej Hudeček 36 CZECH FILM COMMISSION

40 BARRANDOV STUDIO 42 NEW CZECH RELEASES

Editorial In its long history, Czech film has had its lighter and darker periods. But even in the toughest times, there were exceptional Czech filmmakers who found a way to create films that resonated all over the world. Like the miracle embodied by Karel Zeman and his innovating films emerging from the morass of the communist 1950s. Their newly restored prints live a new life today in European cinemas and overseas distribution. As we all know, “freedom” doesn’t automatically mean good cinema, but recent developments in Czech film indicate that we might have the luck to witness the beginning of another great era. Talented new filmmakers and producers have appeared on the Czech film scene, bringing back the diversity and originality Czech film has been famous for, without necessarily copying any famous examples from the past. The three films in the official Berlinale programme this year show this new diversity and quality that can be observed in contemporary Czech cinema. The debut by young filmmakers Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda, I, Olga Hepnarova, is an existential drama with a remarkable visual style; Petr Oukropec’s In Your Dreams!, on the other hand, is a teenage romance full of energy from the appealing world of parkour, and We Are Never Alone is a murky picture of our times and relationships written and directed by the already renowned Petr Vaclav. To find out what they have to say about their films and other important things, keep reading. Enjoy, wherever you are. Markéta Šantrochová Head of Czech Film Center

Home Care by Slávek Horák

Home Care double awarded in Palm Springs. The director of Home Care (Czech submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), Slávek Horák, became one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch. Alena Mihulová got the award for best actress. Home Care has already been presented at the Arras IFF (Special Mention), Busan IFF, Cairo IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF, Leeds IFF, Mannheim-Heidelberg IFF, Santa Barbara IFF, Tallin Black Nights FF, Valladolid IFF (Young Jury Award), Vancouver IFF (Canada) and Zagreb FF.

East Doc Platform – the biggest documentary industry event in Eastern and Central Europe takes place in Prague, 7–13 March, 2016.

Life Is Life by Milan Cieslar

Mallory, Helena Třeštíková’s recent film, awarded as Best Documentary at the 50th Karlovy Vary IFF, is successfully travelling around the world. It has been screened, for example, at CPH: DOX and the Göteborg IFF. In April, the film festival Crossing Europe in Linz will dedicate the whole Tribute section to Helena Třeštíková.

Doomed Beauty by Helena Třeštíková and Jakub Hejna

When East Meets West in Trieste featured Fugue, a documentary project from Artemio Benki about a young Argentinian pianist and composer who hides from the world behind the walls of a psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires. First Cut Lab, a programme aimed towards full-length fiction feature films in the editing phase, included Petr Vaclav’s latest film Skokan.

Czech films are traditionally well attended at domestic cinemas. Among the most successful last year were the comedies Life Is Life by Milan Cieslar, Dodgeball by Petr Nikolaev and Chasing 50 by Vojtěch Kotek. Top attendance at Czech cinemas was reached by the US animated film Minions.

January saw the Czech cinematic release of two different films dedicated to Lída Baarová, the 1930s Czech film star and lover of Joseph Goebbels. One was Filip Renč’s feature film The Devil’s Mistress; the other was Helena Třeštíková’s feature-length documentary Doomed Beauty.

Czech

CZECH FILM NOW

Marguerite by Xavier Giannoli

Other Czech films will be screened in Argentina at Pantalla Pinamar in March. The 12th ArgentineanEuropean encounter will include Family Film by Olmo Omerzu, Journey to Rome by Tomasz Mielnik and a restored version of Invention for Destruction from well-known director Karel Zeman.

The French film Marguerite from Xavier Giannoli, shot entirely in the Czech Republic and made with Czech minority co-producer Sirena Film, received 11 nominations for César Awards, including the nominations for Best Film and Best Production Design for Czech production designer Martin Kurel. The film, a distribution blockbuster in France, is currently entering UK cinemas.

Lost in Munich by Petr Zelenka

The Czech Film Center presented the latest Czech short film production at its stand at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market. The Czech project at the Euro Connection pitching forum was Waterman from Jakub Kouřil, whose previous film The Little Cousteau has been an international festival hit.

The Little Cousteau by Jakub Kouřil

Right after Clermont-Ferrand, Jakub Kouřil will take part in this year’s Berlinale Talents – Short Film Station, just as Maria Stock director Jan Březina, who was awarded at the 2014 Cottbus IFF (Discovery Award). One of last year’s participants was also Michal Hogenauer, whose Outside is in the official selection of this year’s Co-Production Market (more on page 28). The 2014 Berlinale Talents included Ondřej Hudeček, whose short Peacock was awarded for Best Direction at the recent Sundance FF (see page 34). Thank you, Berlinale Talents!

Czech Film Critics’ Awards – 41 Czech film journalists evaluated 25 Czech full-length feature and animated films and 19 documentaries released in 2015. Petr Zelenka’s absurd comedy Lost in Munich, portraying how deeply the trauma of the Munich Agreement is rooted in Czech culture, became the winner in three main categories – Best Film, Best Director and Best Scriptwriter. Štěpán Altrichter’s dark, mysterious debut Schmitke took second place and was awarded both as Discovery of the Year and the Best Audiovisual Work. A German-Czech co-production Schmitke was the second cooperation between Altrichter and his producer Tomáš Vach after their first film Did Michael Knight End the Cold War?, which premiered in the 2010 International Competition at Clermont-Ferrand. The duo is currently preparing a new fiction project Dívčí třída (A Girls´ Classroom), a comedy with fantasy elements inspired by the director’s own childhood and adolescence.

Film Now

INTERVIEW TOMÁŠ WEINREB AND PETR KAZDA

/ I, OLGA HEPNAROVA

Over the Edge Based on the life of Olga Hepnarová, who on 10 July, 1973 drove a rented truck into a group of people waiting for a tram, killing eight of them. Before the murder, she sent a letter to two newspapers explaining her action as revenge for all the hatred against her by her family and the world. She was found to be sane and sentenced to death. The execution took place on 12 March, 1975 in the Pankrác Prison in Prague. She was the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia. Denisa Štrbová talks to Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda

PANORAMA You have chosen a very controversial subject for your first film. What struggles did you encounter during development and production? How did you approach potential partners with such a subject? P: Most often we had to fight against mistrust. We continually had to defend ourselves and explain that we didn’t want to make a film about a mass murderer, but an existential drama. We had to repeat again and again that we were not after sensationalism, we were not going to glorify the murderer in our film, and that our intention was just to show a human be-

Her paranoid self-examination and inability to connect with other people drove her over the edge of humanity when she was only twenty-two years old. 5

INTERVIEW TOMÁŠ WEINREB AND PETR KAZDA

/ I, OLGA HEPNAROVA

ing and her dramatic fate. Even our idea about the visual concept of the film, with black-and-white and more static images, was against us and we didn’t get support from any television stations. Our uncompromising standpoint in how the film should look, together with mistrust of a debut so artistic, so producer-oriented, created quite a hopeless situation. We often heard sentences like: “You will never make this film.” But, as the film was finally made, you also must have had some supporters. P: Yes, I must say that the partners who supported the film from the early stage of development, e.g. Barrandov, the State Cinematography Fund, ACE, later also SPOON, Samuelson, and the producer Vojtěch Frič, trusted us and held on till the end. Abroad, it was Media Brigade and especially the Polish Film Institute who helped us. Later we got money for the screenplay from the Slovak Audiovisual Fund. Then the second stage started with endless debates about the production phase, economical spending, preparations, technical issues and dates. The shooting was constantly being delayed. Tomáš and I were exhausted and tired of everything. But “A cracked angel still unbroken” (a quote from

OH). If we hadn’t got the additional money and support from Poland’s Odra Film Fund and the money we had to spend by the end of the year I don’t know how it would have all ended up. You had been working on the script for five years, largely inspired by the book by Roman Cílek. Do you agree with his interpretation of the events? Have you discovered anything new in the case? T: Roman Cílek’s book helped us a lot. It literally kicked us off, as we didn’t know enough about the case in the beginning and Roman’s book is a great work of nonfiction literature. We ourselves talked to many people who encountered Olga, both in a fateful way or just casually, and we were always trying to get something for our film, not only for the script: an emotion, a memory, a fragment remaining in the minds of these people after so many years. Čestmír Kozar, the author of the website Pantharei, dedicated to the case of OH, helped us a lot, too. He knows the story of OH very well. But no, we were not looking for anything sensational, and we didn’t find it either. You dedicated a lot of attention to Olga’s homosexual orientation in your film. Do you think it

played a key role in her frustration with life and feeling of isolation from society? P: It was only one of the factors. Olga felt different from others, and both the people who encountered her in the 1970s and the psychologists agree she really was different. She shunned people, always looked down at the ground, she was very timid. For me, one of the key reasons is the way people can behave toward each other. The feeling of somebody who calls himself a “Prügelknabe” (scapegoat) doesn’t come just like that, from nothing; it can be a consequence of all kinds of very small things and slights forming one’s character. Olga was taking the injustice against her person very hard and had to suffer it for a very long time, even since her childhood. Her homosexual orientation, the fact that she was a member of, in those times, an even more abject minority and she couldn’t openly manifest her orientation, only strengthened that feeling. She unfortunately hadn’t found fulfilment in this area either. She hadn’t succeeded in finding a partner who would provide her with sexual satisfaction, and this further contributed to the stress she was constantly feeling. What were your requirements for the lead performer? Did the Polish actress Michalina Olszańska fulfil them? How did you discover her? P: One of the main criteria was at least some resemblance to Olga Hepnarova and then of course acting qualities. Olga is present in 99% of the scenes, so we knew that for such a demanding and crucial role throughout the whole film we had to cast an actress with charisma and great natural flexibility. Michalina is a very smart actress. She was completely unknown to us. When she came to the casting in Wroclaw dressed like Olga Hepnarová in the 1970s, she immediately made a great impression on us. We liked the way she moved, her looks, the ambiguity in her eyes. She took the challenge and was not ashamed to experiment in acting, even sexually. The key thing for us was that she was able to go for the role headlong and give in to it. And yes, Michalina fulfilled our expectation to a great extent.

Tomáš Weinreb & Petr Kazda both graduated in documentary filmmaking from the Independent Film College in Pisek and in scriptwriting from FAMU. I, Olga Hepnarova, inspired by the book of Roman Cílek, is their debut.

INTERVIEW TOMÁŠ WEINREB AND PETR KAZDA

/ I, OLGA HEPNAROVA

Did you work with psychologists during the writing of the script or the production phase? P: Partly. The two main psychiatrists who compiled the expert opinion on OH are dead now. The third one didn’t really want to go deep into the subject. He just repeated what we had already found in the documents. Psychopathic, not psychotic. Criminally responsible. We also consulted with Leoš Horák, a psychologist. He was fascinated by certain things OH said. For example: “At home I could only relax when I was asleep.” Based on the materials, he considered her psychotic. But nobody ever examined her. So you can decide for yourself. For us the clear answer was not so important in the end. We were mainly interested in the personality, the behaviour.

it, created her own moral code. She simply stopped being aware of the profane communist reality and replaced it with her own. Of course one should ask why that was so and why she did it, and the film reflects on that, too. Olga thought that when she would break away from the world which she found evil and aggressive, she would gain her own freedom. But that was a mistake; it only created other personal limits and barriers. And finally the incompatibility of the two worlds led to the tragedy. How was it to work as a duo? T: That’s a secret. But we want to thank everybody who contributed to the film. There were many: for example, Vojta, Agáta, Marcin, Kamilla, Renda, David, Michalina, Martins, Klára, Sylwester, Marian, Markéta, Aneta, Petr, Richard, Míša, Marika, Hedvika, Rudolf, and especially Saša. Thank you all. The film was made as a Czech-Polish-SlovakFrench coproduction. Apart from financial reasons, do you see any advantages in the co-production? Or was it just a necessary evil, and you wanted to shoot a purely Czech film?

Comparably cruel and senseless murders are happening these days, too. Do you think the political situation and lack of freedom during the communist era played a key role in OH’s actions? Do you think she would do the same if she lived in the present time? P: That’s a difficult question considering the character of OH, but on the other hand, perhaps we can see the answer in what is currently happening around us: in the constantly repeating reality when an individual aggressively turns against society. I personally think Olga would act the same way today, too, because it is not so crucial in which political situation or repression one lives; the crucial point is what kind of world one is able to build around oneself. It is impossible to say what played the crucial role; it was the set of experiences and life phases. After Olga Hepnarová failed in building a world around herself – for example at the cottage in Oleška in a relationship with a partner (another desperate attempt), she, as she stated

P: I love the films of Carlos Reygadas. But why? How can I understand the films of a Mexican? From the point of view of subject, film language and expression we have never thought about IOH as a Czech film. We wanted to express ourselves universally, we wanted the film to be understood and felt by people from Latin America, Europe or Asia. And then, due to the conditions in the beginning, we couldn‘t have made a solely Czech film, even if we’d wanted. It would only become a student exercise or it would never have been made. From the beginning, the screenplay was more valued abroad than at home, and it’s also a good thing when a film is discussed in three or even four countries. Each creator wants to share his subject and his film with as many viewers as possible, and so the possibility of distribution in the co-producing countries has, also from the producer’s viewpoint, greater potential. Other advantages are the possibility of benefitting from local re-sources, such as in Poland; thanks to its size, they have numerous (to us) unknown and original faces, and really great artists. One can also find great locations, and it would be quite pleasant and refreshing to have a professional international staff which cares about the result of the film. T: I love films of František Vláčil. And he is a Czech. But he might as well be a Mexican :-)

FOCUS YOUNG AUDIENCE

Reaching out

to the most open-hearted of all audiences By Šimon Šafránek

After seven years, Czech children’s films, once the pride of Czech cinema, are back at the Berlinale. In Your Dreams!, an adventure about a teenage girl who makes friends with a group of traceurs, will be screened in the “Generation” section. The film is directed by Petr Oukropec, a producer by profession (interviewed on page 12).

he strong tradition of Czech children’s cinema was a feature at Berlin in the latter part of the 2000s: in 2007, there were two tales from the puppet film Fimfárum, and in 2009, Maria Procházková brought her family film Who’s Afraid of the Wolf, which combines a live-action adaptation of a traditional fairy tale with animated footage. As Maria Procházková emotionally recalls: “I still remember the screening, with simultaneous interpreting, in a big theatre full of children, and at the end they were all chanting the name of the girl, Terezka, the main character, and the actress herself was there with us, feeling like a real star in all the uproar.” Maria Procházková is currently working on a serial adaptation of the playful book

Who‘s Afraid of the Wolf by Maria Procházková

FOCUS YOUNG AUDIENCE

Kooky by Jan Svěrák

Proč obrazy nepotřebují názvy (Why Pictures Don’t Need Titles) by Jiří Franta and Ondřej Horák. The book, which was awarded the prestigious Czech literature award Magnesia Litera in the children’s book category, not only presents the most famous works of art of the modern era using a crime storyline but also destroys the myth that galleries are “cathedrals of boredom” that should be avoided like the plague. However, what the authors teach children is first and foremost to think about art. Maria Procházková develops her project as an animated 12-episode TV series for Czech Television, well known for producing children’s films; the broadcaster became even more important in this respect after launching the all-day national children’s channel ČT:D. Each episode will be around 12 minutes long, and the director is currently preparing the trailer for the pilot.

involving the children themselves. Procházková tells us, “the series of short episodes such as Evropské pexeso, České pexeso, Slovíčka, and Živý svět: Kvítí were voiced by children. Děti kreslí písničky is a series of animated video clips that children helped to draw. And the short series about speech therapy, LOGOhrátky, uses child actors and props the children made.” Procházková believes children make the most open-hearted of all audiences, and says, “at the same time, I’m constantly fascinated by children’s imagination; I want to stay connected to it, and that’s something I am allowed to do through animation.” FROM DINOSAURS TO KOOKY Czech children’s cinema has a long and fine tradition: last year, the children’s adventure Journey to the Beginning of Time by Karel Zeman celebrated its 60th birthday! Zeman became famous for his imaginative mix of live-action footage, puppets, and painted or drawn backgrounds. Last year, the documentary Filmový dobrodruh Karel Zeman (Film Adventurer Karel Zeman) was made about his life, and there is a museum in Prague dedicated to his work. His fantasy and science-fiction films Invention for Destruction (The Fabulous World of Jules Verne), The

Procházková has been involved in children’s cinema for a number of years. Her trademarks are the use of various forms of animation and

Oddsockeaters by Galina Miklínová

Fabulous Baron Munchausen, and Journey to the Beginning of Time are being digitally restored in 4K resolution. Another genre typical of Czech cinema is the fairy tale in a historical setting, such as those by Bořivoj Zeman: Pyšná princezna (The Proud Princess) and Šíleně smutná princezna (The Incredibly Sad Princess). The same genre was employed by Václav Vorlíček at the beginning of the 1970s in the CzechEast German co-production of Tři oříšky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella) but he specialized in fantasy films with science-fiction elements, such as Dívka na koštěti (The Girl on the Broomstick) and the TV series Arabela. Vorlíček competed for the attention of young viewers with his colleague Jindřich Polák, director of the TV series Pan Tau (Mr. Tau) and Návštěvníci (The Visitors). Today, these films and series are national treasures of Czech cinema, and viewers gladly watch them again and again, especially at Christmastime. The popularity of fairy tales is further reflected in the success of some more recent films: last year, for example, the musicalfairy tale Three Brothers by the Oscar-winning director Jan Svěrák dominated Czech cinemas, drawing an audience of 670 thousand viewers.

FOCUS YOUNG AUDIENCE

The Little Man by Radek Beran

CHILDREN’S FILMS FROM LAST YEAR: Several children’s films premiered in Czech cinemas last year. Puppetry film was represented by a feature film about a dangerous journey The Little Man by Radek Beran, which combined puppets with real forest locations, a technique which had already been put to good use in Czech cinema by Jan Svěrák in his popular film Kooky (2010). Last year’s crop of animated films was topped by the series Rosa & Dara and Their Great Adventures, produced by Bionaut and created by three young animators: Martin Duda, Kateřina Karhánková and Alexandra Hetmerová. And The Seven Ravens, a traditional and more typical live-action fairy tale, was made by Alice Nellis.

(Oddsockeaters), the best-selling book about the eaters of socks, which already has several sequels. The film is produced by T.H.A. and co-produced by Czech Television. Director Jiří Strach is preparing An Angel of the Lord 2, the sequel to his 2005 fairy-tale blockbuster; written by Marek Epstein, it will star Klára Issová, who received the Shooting Stars Award in Berlin in 2007. The local king of popular comedy, Zdeněk Troška, returns to the Czech tradition of special-effects fantasy films in his comedy Strašidla (Spooks), which

CZECH IT OUT: One of the more ambitious Czech projects aimed at younger audiences is the animated film Myši patří do nebe (Even Mice Belong in Heaven), directed by Denisa Grimmová and Jan Bubeníček based on the novel by one of the leading authors of children’s literature Iva Procházková. The book has already had some success in the German market as well. Grimmová combines puppet and 3D animation, and Alice Nellis, director of Tajnosti (Little Girl Blue) and Výlet (Some Secrets), contributes to the script. In the film, two mortal enemies, a fox and a mouse, meet in animal heaven following an accident. Losing their natural instincts, they become best friends. They return to the real world but are reborn into opposite roles... Production of the film, which gently touches on the taboo topic of death, should start in November

UPCOMING: The illustrator and animator Galina Miklínová is in the process of finishing her first feature film, an adaptation of Lichožrouti Rosa & Dara and Their Great Adventures by Martin Duda

tells of the hardships of traditional storybook characters living in today’s world. The film is produced by Fénix Film. And as early as February, Crazy Kingdom by Marta Ferencová, a fantasy fairy tale about a spoiled princess and two crafty companions, goes on release with a galaxy of popular Czech stars led by Bolek Polívka and Oldřich Kaiser. The Little Man by Radek Beran

2016, with release in November 2018. The project, which was acclaimed at the Annecy Film Festival in 2014 and also presented at the important Dutch children‘s film forum festival Cinekid, has been selected for some prestigious events this year: the Cartoon Forum in Lyon and the Financing Forum for Kids Content in Malmö. The film is produced by the Czech company Fresh Films, and the French co-producer is Les Films du Cygne.

INTERVIEW / IN YOUR DREAMS!

PETR OUKROPEC

The right shoes, loose and Denisa Štrbová talks to Petr Oukropec

GENERATION 14plus

16-year-old Laura is swift, lively and stubborn. She wants to join a group of parkourists and gets caught off guard by the love she starts feeling toward Luky. She starts living a double life. In the fantasy world of romantic and comic visions, Luky belongs to her. In reality, her attempt to get closer to Luky fails. The moment these two worlds somehow entwine, Laura has to decide which one she wants to choose. 12

Petr Oukropec produced his first feature film – Indian Summer by Saša Gedeon in 1994. In 1995, together with Pavel Strnad, he founded Negativ production company, which has produced more than 30 feature fiction, documentary and animated films. He works with kids and nonactors in his private theatre Zmrzlík. At the Berlinale, he is also presenting an official project at the Co-Production Market – Outside by Michal Hogenauer. More about the project on page 28.

trousers the city before you Who came up with the idea for this film? How was the cooperation with Egon Tobiáš, who is most active and primarily known in literature and theatre? Have you ever worked together before? Egon was recommended to me by Tereza Horváthová, with whom I worked on the adaptation of Blue Tiger. I knew him as a theatre stage designer, a graphic designer and the author of original, and most of all, funny theatre texts. Originally, we developed a TV series together, which was not produced in the end, but some ideas from it were then used in the script of In Your Dreams! It was neither simple nor straight-

forward writing in the beginning. We only started to succeed after we found an authentic community for Laura, our main protagonist, an environment brimming with adrenalin, so typical for adolescence, physicality and the desire to freely express yourself. It is, moreover, an environment containing a big portion of romance and of course relationships. Then we started to follow urban parkour and free running more closely, and we realized how young Czechs excel in it. Your previous film, the directorial debut Blue Tiger, was for children; this one is for teenagers. Do you, as a director, plan to continue making films for a young target group?

INTERVIEW / IN YOUR DREAMS!

PETR OUKROPEC

I want to go on creating for children and looking for new contemporary stories and new ways of narration. In this country, children and family films had a great tradition, which was, for various reasons, interrupted. So there is something to follow up on and I know that it is worth it. There is an international audience and future for this kind of film. As a producer, I would also like to inspire and help new talented filmmakers make films for children. For the lead role you discovered a talented and likeable performer, Barbora Štikarova. Where did you look for her and how did you find her? I knew I was looking for a physically talented girl who also could act, who was sensitive and who had an inner secret. With the help of Tomáš Taran, a great authority in the parkour community, we looked everywhere and saw many talented girls, but none was the one. We were even willing to cast a talented actress and teach her jumping. But in the end we were lucky. Barbora started to do parkour shortly before the shooting, in Jihlava. She had done judo before. She is exceptionally physically talented and she started to jump immediately in her extreme “kamikaze” style. During the casting she expressed herself so sensitively and authentically that she immediately convinced me. In a parallel romantic world Laura sees herself as a princess. In juxtaposition with reality, it is a comic contrast. Do you think today’s girls are ashamed of their romantic side and in their soul they still long to be princesses? I don’t think that older girls long to be princesses exactly, but this archetype lingers somewhere in them. The princess period ends in the pre-school age. In my film the dream scenes provide hyperbole; “the princess” from the billboard is “crowned”

a bit against her will, and her consequent possessive caprices make us laughter and later give us goosebumps. But in general, girls are still seeking the romantic nature of relationships the same way. Maybe just a bit more secretly. What fascinates you about the subject of coming of age? Could you put yourself in the place of a teenage girl while making the film? There is a crazy energy in it. You face your own body and discover what you are capable of doing, how far your body allows you to go. At the same time you still have that inner “child” purity in you, longing for a universal truth and justice; you are authentic, you do and want everything 100%. Our protagonist goes through her first emotional crash. Although it is “just” a summer episode, it toughens her up internally. As the film is narrated through her eyes, we can experience her romance quite directly; we feel her emotions, dreams, desires and deeds. Moreover, Barbora gave the main character a piece of her own life, experience and personal search. I tried to keep the film as realistic and true as possible in this respect, too. There is another contrast in the film: The pureness of the mountains, the place where Laura’s father lives, and the busy, alienated city. Do you yourself find poetry and a photogenic quality in the new urban culture? Laura runs away from her father and the mountains, driven by her platonic love and the desire to become a part of a parkour group. At the same time, she is revolting against her father, who lives outside of the family, and whom she misses. The environment of the mountains and the one of the city are purposely in contrast, underlining the story. Both the environments are photogenic. Together with the traceurs, we enjoyed discovering “their” city, their so-called spots,

During the acting rehearsal she expressed herself so sensitively and authentically that she immediately convinced me.

their views from the heights, from the roofs. Prague is a city of a thousand faces and everybody can see it and live in it as he or she likes, although it is necessary to continually fight for it. It’s important not to suppress spontaneous activities which contain that poetry, diversity and real life. What I hate is sterility.

Did your experience with amateur theatre, where you direct non-professional actors, help you in directing this film? Theatre and film are different disciplines. In our theatre, which is in our rendering mainly a social project, I am always looking for non-professional actors who are typologically and by their character as close as possible to the role I want them to play. Of course, they need to have a sense of perspective and humour; that’s essential; but the performances work well particularly thanks to the exact casting process. In theatre I work with children the same way, too. I don’t stage the play before finding the right people. The principle of casting the child actors in a film is in this respect quite similar. Although you are looking for a specific acting talent, you are also looking for a child who IS the given character. You don’t have

Why did you choose parkour of all things? Are these people typical of something? To me they look like quite modest and disciplined people – more like sportsmen. In the confrontation with grown-ups they look like much more responsible and focused individuals (and that concerns Laura very much, too). I am still fascinated by the way the older, popular and experienced traceurs willingly dedicate their training time to the initiation of 10- or 12-year-old boys who are beginning parkour. Parkour is an activity nobody officially supports. Those boys only have the right shoes, wide sweatpants and the city before of them. You go out with a friend, hit the places where you meet someone else and you train together, exchanging experiences. This sport is moreover non-competitive. Its aim is not to nearly kill yourself; on the contrary, you have to have your movement under control and shift your limits gradually. I am still amazed how parkour is cool and friendly at the same time. Where and when did the casting for the roles of the traceurs take place? Was there a lot of interest in them? When they understood my intention and I had gained their confidence, there was no more problems with casting. People who practice parkour shoot their own videos and it is natural for them to show what they can do in front of the camera. I saw the majority of Czech traceurs and I cast those from the top who could also act naturally and who typologically fit into the story.

a film before you have that child. It goes so far that when you discover a talented child with an inspiring soul and eyes that steal your heart, it’s worth rereading the script and tailoring it to that specific child. For many years you have been mainly a producer and only a couple of years ago you started directing. Do you plan to do both in the future? Do you feel more like a producer, or a director? My profession is producer and I will go on producing. We are preparing several artistically ambitious projects, cooperating with experienced directors and attracting new talents. As I said before, I want to go on making films for children and exploring my experiences. That is why I am also thinking about new projects that I could direct in the future.

INTERVIEW / WE ARE NEVER ALONE

PETR VACLAV

FORUM

Demons of our day Markéta Šantrochová talks to Petr Vaclav

A paranoid prison guard moves into a village flanked by a state motorway. He befriends his new neighbour, an unemployed hypochondriac supported by his wife, working in the local grocery. Weary of life and caring for her two sons, she develops an attraction to the nightclub bouncer, but he is in love with the club stripper, who is in turn waiting for the father of her child to return from the same prison where our prison guard works. 16

INTERVIEW / WE ARE NEVER ALONE

PETR VACLAV

What inspired you to write this script? I had the desire to make a film without a main character; a slow, oily, strong current which would carry away the whole set of characters, a film describing current society through the fates of several people. Is it possible (or simple) to give up the principle of one main character leading the story? That is exactly what I wanted to try: to describe a world where the freedom of people is cruelly relative. Where the story is not created by free characters; on the contrary, the fateful story is happening to the characters, forming and creating them. Not in the sense that the characters would be passive. On the contrary, they make decisions and they act. However, all their actions are crushed by the far stronger flow of fate, determination and inner limitations. That is why the character who succeeds in reaching the wider and more open horizon finally wins in the film. Because this character doesn’t let his source of freedom escape. The characters do not even have names. What is the reason for that? I wanted to conceive the characters as phenomena, as generalized characters, and that’s why they are nameless. The story doesn’t analyze the nature of the protagonist, which is reflected in the supporting, less important characters. We are following the story of eight relatively equal protagonists. The theme becomes the main character: the set of characters and their interaction. Is that why you use basic, even archetypal formulas or patterns in the film? Mother-child,

daughter-father/son-father, man-woman, manman? Yes. I am sure any drama must stand on archetypal and timeless rudiments. Any story can be played out successfully on such a foundation. What is the main subject of the film? That we are never alone. We are never totally ourselves, as we are constantly under the gaze of others, continually in interaction with the people whom we are lucky or unlucky to encounter. As for our emotions and opinions, we are very dependent creatures; and this dependence leads to feelings of loneliness, deprivation, grief and frustration...it brings anxiety or even anger. The story takes place in our contemporary post-industrial Europe, perplexed by unemployment and terrorism. The consequence of this is often an irrational fear of the future, of the loss of one’s identity and general dissatisfaction... and the desire to get revenge. That’s why my characters often escape into their own passions and vicious circles, or vice versa; they see a way out in the radical search for a new Leader. On one hand, you have a very rough character with the tendency to be politically engaged. On the other hand, the majority of your characters try to escape reality. They are apolitical, lost. Yes. Today, people begin to long for a Leader as they lose their trust in democracy, politics and its representatives, often having a legitimate reason to do so. Or they are at least trying to escape from reality. Via shopping, soft and hard drugs, pills, TV, alcohol...and when that doesn’t work, radical religions become fashionable. Although these are not directly the focus of We Are Never Alone, they are present in the film. One of the characters, who is scared of – among many other things – Islam – goes through a peculiar conversion: towards a personal faith in Justice, in the Nation. And he wants to enforce these values by fire if necessary. Perhaps the only character who is not trying to escape and who accepts reality in a pragmatic way is the prostitute. Yes, and moreover, she is a good mother. I like this character a lot. But let me point out that she is also looking for an escape; she boozes it up. On the other hand the boy who is in love with her doesn’t drink or use drugs, as he lives on his passion for her.

As for our emotions and opinions, we are very dependent creatures; and this dependence leads to feelings of loneliness, deprivation, grief and frustration...it brings anxiety or even anger.

The only ones who really find escape are the children. It is not really a harmonious and hopeful ending. But still, there is magic on the horizon, hope, relief, sympathy... Children have – despite all the faults in their upbringing, the thrashing by grown-ups or the devastating influence of poor schooling – a natural inclination for freedom. A kid who doesn’t get destroyed by the teen years and the subsequent normalization of the soul, forced upon him by grown-ups and the society, can realize his own self and the freedom of the soul. Children can be better than their parents. Just like the slightly mentally challenged Julek or his neighbour, a mistreated child, could perhaps be better than their burly fathers. In this sense I consider my film to be pretty optimistic.

Petr Vaclav one of the most watched contemporary Czech directors, graduated from FAMU in 1995. His short documentary Madame Le Murie (1993) was nominated for the Student Academy Award. Vaclav’s first feature film, Marian (1996), won the Silver Leopard and the FIPRESCI Award in Locarno. His feature The Way Out (2014) was screened at Cannes (ACID Selection) and was awarded by the Czech Film and Television Academy in seven categories. At the moment, he is working on his most ambitious project thus far, Il Boemo, portraying Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. His latest completed films are We Are Never Alone and Skokan.

The visual rendering, choice of locations and the photography underline the disturbing atmosphere the film radiates. Was it your intention to show the present world in this light from the very beginning? Some scenes and lighting were executed exactly as I wanted them to be. Other images were discovered only later, during the shooting. They emerged in interaction with the location or the weather...and many other circumstances.

INTERVIEW / WE ARE NEVER ALONE

PETR VACLAV

And how about the black-and-white versus colour parts of the film? What is behind this visual concept?

If the characters are well cast, I see professional and non-professional actors as a minor matter. Children are of course another story...

Black-and-white comes in the moments of depression and the monotonous drowning of the characters in their hopeless present. The colour comes with the birth of emotion, passion, excitement. That was my concept from the very beginning. Blackand-white plays also plays a role in the parts where there is blood in the film. The characters are thus not primitively realistic. Their story is not ordinary. Everybody is in conflict with everybody. That’s why there is a clash of the black-and-white and colour worlds, too, in the immense differences between the characters and their perception of the world. The father of my DoP, the famous Czech cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, used to say to us: The black-and-white image is an extreme stylization of a colour image. I wanted to have exactly this kind of extremism in my film. And not only in the image.

How did you find those little boys?

In We Are Never Alone, famous Czech actors, Roma non-professional actors and children perform equally important roles. Was it difficult to work with this diverse cast?

As I needed characters wounded by the world and their parents, I intuitively looked in orphanages. After the experience I had a year ago when I, together with the producers, found all the Roma non-actors for The Way Out, I didn’t feel like travelling the whole country again: to see dozens of TV rooms in the orphanages again and make pictures of hundreds of children, to wait, drink coffee in staffrooms and browse school buildings, which always give me depressing reminiscences. Casting agencies don’t like to do this work either and moreover they are expensive. That’s why I hired my own mother, who understands children well. She made the first selection out of hundreds of children for me, and by the end of the first two days of visiting the selected homes, I had all the protagonists. I dedicated next two weeks to further searching, only to realize I could not find any better candidates myself. The film, despite its multi-layered structure, has an interesting rhythm. How hard was it to cre-

ate a functional and well-balanced composition from the footage? I wouldn’t call it hard. What’s hard, or lets say adventurous, is the shooting. You can’t recover a single lost hour. You are working on a budget which doesn’t allow you to reshoot anything, and if so, then it comes at the expense of other scenes. So you can’t fix hardly anything. On the contrary, you have to omit all you haven’t managed to shoot, whatever circumstance caused it (perhaps the wrong weather). It is an adventurous process, sometimes the right thing for the expression of the film and the shortening of its length. But there are also limitations which undoubtedly hurt your project. You know it and your producer knows it, too, but you play the only possible game offered to you. The editing room is in this light just a recreational matter. Apart from the structure, which was in the case of We Are Never Alone more or less given and didn’t change radically, the editing was mostly dedicated to the actors and how to get the best out of them. The rest is a question of the rhythm. The protagonist of your first film, Marian, was a Roma boy from a children’s home. How did you arrive at that subject then?

I grew up during communism, practically without any opportunity to travel, without the opportunity to meet any foreigners or get to know any foreign countries. The only experience we had with the world was the one that penetrated through literature and film, through art. It was very frustrating. Roma were in fact the only really different people one could meet. But meeting them didn’t happen. As a child, I only observed them from a distance. I remember clearly how the kids in my classroom enjoyed a story in which a Roma family was drowned in their caravan. As the story went, the parents of one of my classmates released its brakes and let drown, together with its occupants, in the Moldau River. Nobody took umbrage; on the contrary. Everybody was scared of Romas. To spend time with Romas was, during communism, equally adventurous as visiting a faraway country. And it remains so to a large extent today. I myself was lucky enough to experience a couple of very important things with Romas when I was 16. Naturally, this experience was reflected in the choice of the my first film’s subject. Marian was made 20 years ago. Do you think anything has changed in the relationship of our society towards Romas since? The only change in recent months is that the citizens of the Czech Republic have shifted their anger from Romas to Syrians and other refugees. Recently, during the demonstrations supporting the current Czech president, one could not only hear xenophobic abuse but also anti-Semitic invectives. Once this wave subsides, it will be the Romas’ turn again. As one of my characters says apropos racial purity: “Those Gypsies mixed a lot with poor Jews in the Slovak villages. And then in the camps during the war, they had all kinds of things together, too.”

FOCUS TELEVISION

Television offers more diversity Czech television films and series, as well as productions for the Internet, follow international trends while gaining quality and craftsmanship. By Šimon Šafránek

Holiday in the Protectorate

The Vote for a Roman King

elevision broadcasters are indispensible players in the development of Czech feature length productions. This established practice is clearly illustrated by the fact that the public broadcaster Czech TV (Česká televize) is involved in two out of three Czech films that are included in the official program of the Berlinale. Czech TV participated in the production of the teenage story In Your Dreams! from Petr Oukropec and the drama We Are Never Alone from Petr Vaclav. Film production, however, constitutes only the tip of the iceberg in television’s expansion in the Czech Republic. More creative talent is increasingly attracted to the smaller screens, as has been happening in other countries. “I appreciate every project where Czech TV tries something new, or when it devotes itself to one of the hot topics of modern times,” explains the strategy of the six-channel broadcaster,

Jan Maxa, the Director of Programme Development and Programme Formats. “For example, Holiday in the Protectorate (Dovolená v Protektorátu), a type of program called “living history” that no one has done before in the Czech Republic or the mini-series Jan Hus, which was successfully introduced on German ARTE.” Holiday in the Protectorate is a docureality, placing its protagonists into living conditions that prevailed on Czech soil while under the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (1939–1945). The project is loosely inspired by similar foreign formats (for example, Schwarzwaldhaus 1902, Wartime Farm and others). The aim of the project was to test whether a current Czech family could survive in situations that were forced on their grandparents to experience. Another successful reality show format is The Golden Youth (Zlatá mládež), in which young and wealthy participants are confronted with life in the ghetto or with military training. This series represented

FOCUS TELEVISION Czech TV at the Creative Forum EBU in Berlin last September, in a competitive selection of 20 of the world’s most exciting formats. This year, Czech TV will introduce several mainly historical pieces: a two-part film Crime in Polna (Zločin v Polné) about Leopold Hilsner, with its theme of the misuse of xenophobia for political ends becoming unexpectedly current. A movie premiere that is set for May is called The Vote for a Roman King (Hlas pro římského krále), which was made for the 700th anniversary of the birth of Charles IV. Kryštof Hádek, one of the Shooting Stars of the Berlinale 2010, played the leading role of the famous emperor. Last year, the local branch of the global TV network HBO made waves with an six-part series Mamon, directed by Vladimir Michálek. Like previous series Head Over Heels (Až po uši) and Therapy (Terapie),

Mamon

it’s a localization of an existing format, adapted by a creator with a strong point of view. All series from the Czech HBO have high production value. Amerika, produced by HBO, is a film that received theatrical distribution. This debut by the director Jan Foukal is told in a mix of fiction and documentary and centers around the search for love and the roots of tramping in the Czech countryside. Currently, HBO is filming Wasteland (Pustina). This dramatic series takes place in a village community hit by mysterious and shocking events that bring it to the brink of self-destruction. Wasteland was written by Štěpán Hulík (whose successful miniseries Burning Bush won 11 Czech Lions), while the direction is split between Alice Nellis and Ivan Zachariáš. For Ivan Zachariáš, one of the world’s sought-after commercial directors, this will be his first feature project. The filming is scheduled to end in May 2016.

HBO Europe has also co-produced by Martin Kollár and participates at several upcoming documentaries (FC Roma, Kings of Šumava, When the War Comes). Two years ago, the Internet TV portal Stream.cz entered competition against established TV channels by offering the satirical series Blaník Office (Kancelář Blaník). The hero of 7-minute episodes is a Prague lobbyist who pulls the strings of national politics from his office. This series from the production company Negativ (Alois Nebel, Fair Play) responded to the contemporary political climate and soon built up a large fan base. It’s currently in its fourth season and each episode attracts half a million viewers. Director Bohdan Sláma (Something Like Happiness, Four Suns) was involved with the project. Last year, Negativ also produced another series for Stream.cz called Autobazar Monte Karlo, a comedy set in the world of an

Blaník Office

auto market. Stream.cz has had success in offering both serious and comedic content, be it an investigative series like Prague vs Money, which pulsates to the abuses of the city, or the prank series One Man Show. Nearly a million viewers watched an episode where this show’s creators brought a fake Jim Carrey to Prague. The competition on the small screen was intensified in January by the arrival of Netflix. At this moment, Netflix’s offerings are narrow and focus more on the back catalogue. Additional evidence pointing to the increasing importance of Czech television production is the fact that the organizers of the film awards Czech Lion have started to award television programs. The festival Finále Plzeň is also devoted to Czech television productions. It hosts the international workshop TV Launch, organized by the MIDPOINT script development program based in Prague.

FUNDING NEWS STATE CINEMATOGRAPHY FUND

Supporting

quality

The State Cinematography Fund has been the main tool for public support of cinema in the Czech Republic since 1992.

fter the adoption of the new Cinematography Act in 2013, the Fund became an independent institution with its own director, new financial structure and a Council assessing and deciding individual requests for state support. The Fund supports projects in 10 areas: development, production, distribution, promotion, technological development, publications, education and training, festivals and events, protection, preservation and access to film heritage. Another task of the Fund is the administration of the film production incentives. Has the position of the Fund stabilized in its 3 years existence? The Fund has undergone major changes during this period. It has become a separate institution with a functional system of support. Currently, it is being amended via the legislative process to regulate minor shortcomings on the basis of practical experience. The main aim is to simplify administration for the applicants and, in particular, to increase the budget for domestic cinema. The trust of the government in the functioning of the Fund was reflected in the form of a new allocation from the state budget amounting to approximately €7.4m, which significantly increased finances for production. What was the last year´s budget of the Fund and what part was intended for support of Czech films? The total budget of the Fund was €8m in 2015, with 29 calls in total announced for

domestic grants. €5.2m was earmarked for the support of Czech film production of all genres and €610 000 for film development. The Fund announces calls for the minority co-production subsidies twice a year, with an allocation of €1.5m. The State Cinematography Fund also administers the incentive scheme. What are the basic conditions of this support and what was the allocation last year? The incentives are granted in the form of a 20% cash rebate on Czech production costs and 10% on costs paid to nonresident cast and crew who pay withholding tax in the Czech Republic. They are available to features, TV series, animation and documentary films. Rebates are issued at the end of production in the Czech Republic upon submission of audited statements of costs incurred, and paid out in the form of cash grants. The Fund has allocated approximately €47m to 71 film and television projects with production in 2015 and 2016. Among the projects with largest rebates in 2015 were the fantasy film Underworld: Next Generation and the third season of the TV series Crossing Lines and The Musketeers. Allocation of rebates to new projects will be open in February 2016. Some important changes await the incentive programme. What do these changes involve and when are they expected?

In 2016 and 2017 an improved incentive scheme will be gradually introduced as the Czech government implements some important changes to the rebate, which will make the system even friendlier and more flexible for film productions. The rebate will no longer be subject to a yearly cap. Producers will be able to register at any time during the year and immediately receive a registration certificate that guarantees payment of the rebate upon fulfilment of all conditions. Rebates will be allocated throughout the year, depending on the beginning of production, and producers will be able to choose to receive their grants in two parts: once upon completion of filming in the Czech Republic and again after the completion of all Czech production.

Answered by Helena Bezděk Fraňková Director of the State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic

FUNDING NEWS CREATIVE EUROPE – MEDIA

What’s new

in Creative Europe – MEDIA Czech Republic? The Czech Creative Europe Desk – MEDIA has nothing but good news to report for in the beginning of 2016.

e are very pleased to have two Czech projects supported by the MEDIA Programme in important sections of this year’s Berlinale. Both In Your Dreams! and Outside come from Negativ film production and both were a part of the Media Programme Slate Funding in 2013. In Your Dreams! by Petr Oukropec, a story about 16-yearold “parkour girl” Laura, is screening in Generation 14plus, representing an important part of the European film industry: quality films for children and youth. Outside by Michal Hogenauer, a project in development, is in the official Berlinale Co-Production Market selection. Summing up last year’s results of Creative Europe – MEDIA in the Czech Republic, we can conclude that 2015 brought major success in the Development part of the Programme. Four of the six Czech applicants were selected and received support in the Slate Funding, and three applicants were supported in the Single Projects scheme. This adds up to 17 strong new projects in development and an optimistic future for Czech cinema in the coming years.

One of the supported companies is the young firm nutprodukce. Two producers, Pavla Janoušková Kubečková and Tomáš Hrubý, both relatively recent graduates from the FAMU, already have some impressive internationally successful projects, such as Burning Bush by Agnieszka Holland, a film and TV series co-produced in 2013 with HBO Europe. With the ambitious idea of building closer cooperation between the four Visegrad countries and with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA, nutprodukce is now developing four new film projects. We are also proud to witness the strengthening of film literacy initiatives in our country. And last but not least, we are glad many different documentary film industry activities have been initiated, based in or co-organized by the Czech Republic, such as KineDok, Doc Alliance Films, East Doc Platform, DOK.Incubator, the One World Film Festival and the Jihlava IDFF – all with our help.

Pavlína Kalandrová Head of the Creative Europe Desk CZ – MEDIA

FOCUS

Yes, BERLINALE CO-PRODUCTION MARKET

it is easy to co-pro with the

It is no coincidence that the Czech Film Center is one of the official partners of the Berlinale Co-production Market this year. The Czech Republic has a lot to offer in the area of co-productions, and nowadays there are numerous professional production companies with the experience and interest needed to be involved in international projects.

he State Cinematography Fund, the main tool for public support of cinema in the Czech Republic offers even better conditions this year and its overall budget has increased. The Fund has supported minority coproductions since 2010. For 2016, the budget for this support, in comparison with previous years, has increased by half – to €1.5m. The Film Incentive Programme was also launched in the Czech Republic in 2010. (more about incentives on page 39) Tax incentives contribute highly to the to international producers’ increasing interest in filming in the Czech Republic, often combining minority co-productions support and tax incentives (more about the State Cinematography Fund on page 24. It is evident from current productions that Czech producers understand that it is often necessary and moreover beneficial for a project to join forces. They welcome international co-production partners for their films and they are also more and more interested in becoming co-producers of foreign films. Of 2015’s 34 Czech-produced feature films, 14 were co-productions. Slovakia, the traditional Czech co-production partner, has,

Corn Island by George Ovashvili

in recent years, been joined by Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Slovenia, France, and for the first time Iran, with whom the Czech company i/o post is already at work on a second project. All three Czech films in this year’s official Berlinale programme are coproductions: We Are Never Alone (Forum) by Petr Vaclav is a Czech-French co-production, In Your Dreams! by Petr Oukropec is co-produced by Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, and I, Olga Hepnarova by Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda is a Czech-Polish-Slovak-French co-production.

duce Czech Republic Many recent Czech co-produced films have enjoyed international success: Family Film by Olmo Omerzu, a Czech-German-Slovenian-FrenchSlovak co-production, was awarded for the best artistic contribution at the latest Tokyo IFF; the Czech minority co-production Aferim! by Radu Jude won the 2015 Silver Bear for directing; Koza by Ivan Ostrochovský received awards at 11 international festivals; and Marguerite by Xavier Giannoli premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and became a distribution blockbuster in France and beyond.

Koudelka Shooting Holy Land by Gilad Baram

Aferim! by Radu Jude

Co-production is increasingly frequent in the realm of documentaries as well. Koudelka Shooting Holy Land by Gilad Baram (Germany, Czech Republic), Cinema, mon amour by Alexandru Belc (Romania, Czech Republic) and Under the Sun by Vitaly Mansky, are only a few examples. Besides the producers of the project Outside, Petr Oukropec and Pavel Strnad from Negativ production company, who also have the film In Your Dreams! in Berlinale’s Generation 14plus (see the interview on page 12), a number of other Czech producers active in the area of co-productions are participating in the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Endorfilm, founded by Jiří Konečný, is undoubtedly one of the most active Czech companies involved in co-producing. Endorfilm has recently produced Family Film and as a minority co-producer has been involved in awardwinning films including Aferim! and Koza, both premiered at Berlinale 2015. Karla Stojáková from Axman Production has rich experience with co-productions with Scandinavia, and she was also involved in the production of the Georgian film Corn Island, the winner of the Crystal Globe at the 49th Karlovy Vary IFF, and Life in a Fishbowl, a minority co-production with Iceland. Barrandov Studio represented at the market by Petr Tichý and Lubomír Konečný, functions both as a service and a production company (see the company profile on page 40). Bionaut, closely collaborating with HBO Europe, is represented in Berlin by Danny Holman. Mimesis Film, founded by Jan Macola, who is also present at the Co-Production Market, works mainly with France, as is also the case of We Are Never Alone by Petr Vaclav, a part of Berlinale’s Forum this year (see the interview on page 16), and is also the producer of the exceptional Czech-Italian project Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka. Last but not least to mention, Pavel Berčík from Evolution Films was recently a part of the Slovenian-Czech-Macedonian co-production Šiška Deluxe.

The Czech Film Center will also introduce five young beginning producers: Tomáš Vach, who co-produced the German-Czech film Schmitke, awarded by Czech Film Critics Award recently; Tomáš Hrubý from nutprodukce, Producer on the Move from Cannes 2014; Ondřej Beránek from Punk Film, the producer of the recent documentary Film Adventurer Karel Zeman; Mikuláš Novotný, the founder of Background Films and producer of Journey to Rome which premiered in Karlovy Vary in 2015; and Tomáš Michálek, one of the founders of Masterfilm. Tomáš is currently producing an ambicius project by a famous Czech new wave filmmaker Jan Němec.

FOCUS BERLINALE CO-PRODUCTION MARKET

OUTside BERLINALE CO-PRODUCTION MARKET

A young au pair begins to gradually and systematically disappear and abandon her humanity as a result of manipulation by a radical family community. How easy is it to erase and replace the old order? How easily can you lose sight of yourself? And is it possible to come back?

The story of Outside is inspired by real events. In September 2013, the German police raided two communities in Klosterzimmern and Wörnitz and took forty children away from their parents on the grounds of suspected abuse. They were members of the “Twelve Tribes” religious sect, which raised children with punishments using bamboo canes. They recruit new members, especially young students, through love bombing and brainwashing. One of the aims of the sect was to raise 144,000 “pure” boys by means of such punishment. Twelve Tribes have branches in the USA, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Great Britain and in the Czech Republic. 23-year-old Mia arrives abroad (somewhere in Western Europe) to work as an au pair for a welloff family living in a lavish villa and is accepted into the upper class. Mia has to look after the seemingly autistic Sebastian. Although the parents are reserved and strict, they support her uniqueness and make

her feel needed like never before, and Mia dutifully and gladly learns the ropes of the household. She slowly succeeds in drawing the reticent and withdrawn boy out of his shell. Her past life in the Czech Republic, her boyfriend and the rest of the world slowly fade away. At a social event she attends with the family, Mia accidentally witnesses one of the adults beating a little boy with a wooden cane while the boy remains silent and controlled. One day she is told that if she wants to stay, she, too, must physically punish Sebastian to show her love for him. Mia refuses and ends up on the street, returning to the reality she has learned to hate: it seems grey, consumerist, and disjointed. Her boyfriend visits her, but Mia is unable to love him anymore and breaks up with him. Mia doesn’t belong anywhere or to anyone. When she encounters the father of the family at Sebastian’s tennis match, she realizes that this is the family to which she belongs, and returns to the fold.

Michal Hogenauer was born in Prague, Czech Republic, in 1984. He attended FAMU in Prague and wrote his thesis about Michael Haneke’s film language. He works as a script editor for Czech television and as a programmer for several film festivals. His short film Children Watching Night Trains (2008) was screened at Premiers Plans in 2009, and his graduation film Tambylles (2012) was selected for the Cinéfondation at Cannes in 2012. Outside will be Michal’s debut feature.

Mia’s position is completely different now – the au pair has turned into a “daughter” and is introduced to other families in high society. Mia no longer hesitates to punish Sebastian: she takes hold of the cane and expresses her love to him and to other kids in the community. Sebastian suffers when he sees his “sister” turn from a lively young woman into a soulless robot. “Is there still any blood inside her left?” he wonders, and attacks her with a knife.

When Mia has recovered, the mother and father introduce her to their new son Georgis from Greece. Sebastian has been replaced. Mia continues to follow the rules and obey orders; a new boyfriend is selected for her and she accepts him – the community has to perpetuate its growth. One day, a police unit arrives and arrests the parents for tax evasion, and they interrogate Mia before setting her free. As she sits in the police car, her future uncertain, a faint glimmer of light once again begins to animate her eyes.

“People easily give up their humanity and compassion in the name of an abstract social power, the ideology of national security or simply out of fear. The image of the enemy, the power of rules, conformity, authority – in fact, it’s easy for people to go to extremes for the sake of ‘doing good’. Outside tries to capture this crossing into the unknown,” says Michal Hogenauer, commenting on subject of his film.

Outside / Venku Director: Michal Hogenauer Writer: Michal Hogenauer, Jakub Felcman Producer: Petr Oukropec, Pavel Strnad

FILMS TO COME Olmo Omerzu, Director

Ice Mother / Bába z ledu

Jackdaws on the Road / Kavky na cestě

IN DEVELOPMENT

IN PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR Viktor Tauš

DIRECTOR Bohdan Sláma

DIRECTOR Olmo Omerzu

Story of Ema (13) who grows up in an American circus in the family of Czechoslovak immigrants in the early ‘80s. She’s kidnapped by her mother and abandoned to the juvenile institution in the communist Czechoslovakia. Using the circus and America inside of her Ema struggles to overcome her forced fate.

A warmhearted yet modest Hana lives alone in the old family house without changing a thing ever since her husband died a few years ago. She might need a helping hand here but both her sons are too busy and too selfish to see this. Hana decides that it is time she stands up for her own good and she starts to change her life. Chunks of ice float down the river. Hana stops for a while, then she immerses in the water and starts swimming. PRODUCERS Pavel Strnad, Petr Oukropec

Tom and Huck are on the road again. Their names are different, they‘re a bit older and instead of a boat on the Mississippi, they drive a Volkswagen on Czech roads. Mára is a fibber who always gets in trouble and admires his grandpa. Heduš has one leg shorter than the other but he can use his airsoft guns to hit a fly in flight or car tags from a hundred meters away. Two boys on the run, on the road, in a stolen car. They‘re only just fifteen and they might never have a greater feeling of freedom again than during these two days.

PRODUCTION COMPANIES Negativ, Artileria (SK), Why Not Productions (FR)

PRODUCER Jiří Konečný

’Merican Chick Amerikánka

The screenplay was awarded with the Krysztof Kieslowski Scripteast Award 2014 for the Best Unproduced Eastern-Central European Screenplay. It was also presented at Trans Atlantic Partners networking programme and recently at Arc 1950 CO-PRODUCTION Village in Les Arcs. PRODUCERS Karla Stojáková, Agnieszka Kurzydlo, Silvia Panáková PRODUCTION COMPANIES Axman Production, MD4 (PL), Arina (SK) SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, Creative Europe – MEDIA EXPECTED RELEASE 2017/2018 CONTACT Karla Stojáková, +420 603 553 915, karla@axmanproduction.com

CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television, Barrandov Studio, Radio and Television Slovakia (SK)

PRODUCTION COMPANY endorfilm

SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, Creative Europe – MEDIA, Eurimages

SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund, Slovenian Film Center

EXPECTED RELEASE 2017

CONTACT Daniel Vadocký, +420 777 697 543, daniel@negativ.cz

CONTACT Jiří Konečný, +420 602 358 373, jiri@endorfilm.cz

CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television

FILMS TO COME

Little Crusader Křižáček

She Is a Harbour / Piata loď

Skokan

IN PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Iveta Grófová

IN POST-PRODUCTION

Jarka is growing up as child of the housing estate, admired and feared by other children for her freedom and independence. She lives on the street and in a flat full of suspicious visitors and parties, where she does not even have a place of her own in her bed. The garden shed in the vineyards above the housing estate becomes her refuge. Incited by the desire to create a functional family, or at least the illusion of one, she herself becomes the mother of two infants for a while, taking care of them in the shed together with her schoolmate Kristián.

Skokan, 28 years-old man, finished his stay in prison. He is given the clothes in which he was arrested there a few years. Outside, in front of the wall decorated with barbed wire, the street is empty. Nobody expects Skokan. In the city where he lands, he has nowhere to go. No house. No work. His family does not want him. Overnight, he decides to leave everything in order to launch his singing career, and heads for the Cannes Film Festival.

MINORITY

IN PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Václav Kadrnka The knight Bořek sets off on the trail of his missing son. Aging Bořek searches for him in every possible way, trying to catch up with the myth of a children’s crusade. But he arrives everywhere too late. He can’t cope alone with this most arduous of fatherly tasks. Little Jan can be saved only with the help of men of firm unassailable faith and Bořek must travel to the threshold of helplessness – the shore of solitude and bottomless fear. The final reunion of father and son is the answer to a prayer. The project was awarded Eurimages Development Award at New Cinema Network in Rome in 2013. PRODUCERS Jan Macola, Marko Škop, Ján Meliš, Václav Kadrnka PRODUCTION COMPANIES Mimesis Film, Artileria (SK), Sirius Films CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, Slovak Audiovisual Fund

This is a second collaboration of Iveta Grófová and Jiří Konečný, after Made in Ash in 2012.

The film was selected for First Cut Lab 2016, an editing workshop in frame of When East Meets West Co-Production market in Trieste. PRODUCER Jan Macola

PRODUCERS Katatrína Krnáčová, Jiří Konečný PRODUCTION COMPANIES Hulapa film (SK), SiLVERaRT (SK), endorfilm, Katapult Film (HU) SUPPORT Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Creative Europe - MEDIA, State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, Eurimages

EXPECTED RELEASE 2016 EXPECTED RELEASE 2016/2017 CONTACT Jan Macola, jan@mimesis.cz, +420 724 938 883, www.mimesis.cz

DIRECTOR Petr Vaclav

PRODUCTION COMPANIES Mimesis Film, Cinéma Defacto (FR) SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic EXPECTED RELEASE 2016 CONTACT Jan Macola, +420 724 938 883, jan@mimesis.cz

CONTACT Jiří Konečný, +420 602 358 373, jiri@endorfilm.cz

FILMS TO COME

Communism Komunismus

IN DEVELOPMENT

Scum / Špína Wolf of Royal DEBUT Vineyard Street / Vlk z Královských IN PRODUCTION Vinohrad DIRECTOR Tereza Nvotová

DIRECTOR Karel Vachek A new film essay by the documentary filmmaker Karel Vachek, constantly swapping Bertolt Brecht and Samuel Beckett masks and thus in disguise accompanies the audiences through a collage composed of staged passages of utopian and contemporary literature, his own memories as well as tableaux of world events. According to Vachek the next revolution will take place on the internet and bureaucrats will only carry out tasks which have been approved by citizens in referendums. And it will be no idyllic stroll. Even the French Revolution was horrific. But nonetheless thanks to it we became citizens. PRODUCERS Mikuláš Novotný, Radim Procházka PRODUCTION COMPANY Background Films CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic EXPECTED RELEASE 2017/2018

IN PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Jan Němec A story of J. J., a filmmaker always going beyond the line of good behaviour. In the fatal year of 1968, Czechs had three films in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival and one of them was about to seize the Golden Palm Award. But a would-be revolution of the French filmmakers ruined the Czech party, ending that year‘s festival. That meant going back home, just on time to see his homeland to be 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, passes the city‘s end and marches all the way to absolute freedom. PRODUCER Tomáš Michálek PRODUCTION COMPANY MasterFilm CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television, Media Film (SK), Bocalupo Films (FR) SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund

CONTACT Mikuláš Novotný, +420 777 910 290, novotny@backgroundfilms.cz

EXPECTED RELEASE 2016 CONTACT Tomáš Michálek, +420 602 630 466, tomas@masterfilm.cz

Lena is a 17-year old girl, experiencing her first love, secret night-time adventures, and magical mornings at the river. Her dream world is shattered after being raped. Lena must set out on a journey that is not simply about coming of age, but a struggle with herself. Others misunderstand her, and will never quite get her. It is Lena who must grow up and realize that she is not the one who deserves punishment. PRODUCERS Peter Badač, Miloš Lochman PRODUCTION COMPANIES moloko film, BFILM (SK) SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic, Slovak Audiovisual Fund EXPECTED RELEASE 2017 CONTACT Miloš Lochman, +420 603 477 707, milos@molokofilm.cz

PROFILE 5 OCTOBER

Memento mori

5 October

The Rotterdam IFF, in its section As Long As It Takes: Midlength, hosted the world premiere of exceptional SlovakCzech co-production documentary directed by Martin Kollár and produced by Ivan Ostrochovský.

The director on the film: A quiet story about a man facing the possibility of only having a few months to live and embarking on a vagrant journey with nothing but a “deadline” – 5 October. 5 October is the story of my 52-yearold brother Ján, who learned that he should undergo a complicated operation risking his life. The doctor predicted a 50/50 chance of survival if he went through with the surgery and a 10% chance of survival if he didn’t. Each and every one of us has probably wondered about how we might want to spend the last days of our lives. Ján decides to spend his potentially last days on a bike. He tries to accomplish something he has often dreamt about during his life: an “Easy Rider” trip. No thoughts about the mortgage, tax returns, or everyday routines that keep him from thinking clearly. Ján’s memento mori begins. He relates all his feelings and experiences in a diary, which becomes the storyteller of the film. At the same time, the diary uncompromisingly counts down the time left until 5 October, the surgery date.

ROTTERDAM IFF It’s not their first cooperation – Velvet Terrorists, presented and awarded at Berlinale Forum 2014, was co-directed by Ivan Ostrochovský and shot by Martin Kollár. The partnership of Slovak Punchart films and Czech endorfilm is also a long term one. Their last coproduction was Koza, directed by Ivan Ostrochovský and successfully presented at the previous Berlinale Forum.

INTERVIEW / PEACOCK

ONDŘEJ HUDEČEK

Peacock

– a visual explosion

SUNDANCE

Peacock by Ondřej Hudeček, the first Czech short film ever featured at the Sundance Film Festival, competed in the 2016 Short Films section and won the jury award for Best Direction. A twisted queer romance set in picturesque 19thcentury Bohemia telling a taboo true story of the birth of one of the nation’s most influential writers, starring Julius Feldmeier (Nothing Bad Can Happen). Suspense, laughter, violence, hope, heart, nudity, sex, and a happy ending. An almost happy ending.

Denisa Štrbová talks to Ondřej Hudeček How did the Sundance audience receive your film? The reaction was really great, very similar to those we had elswhere in the world. The language barrier doesn’t seem to be any problem here, either. The whole programme of short films, Peacock was a part of was in my opinion very strong, entertaining and at the same time with deeper message. Peacock was selected for the programmes of several LGBT festivals. Do you consider Peacock a queer film? It’s not a queer film in the sense you would expect it to be. The characters don’t try to deal with their sexuality;

it is simply a part of the plot. The story takes place at a time when homosexuality ceased to be exclusively a problem of the church and shifted to the realm of science, but it still was something that could destroy one’s life or put people in jail. I didn’t show Stroupežnický as a homosexual for sensational effect. I did it because the available literature indicates this orientation. I was interested in the motif of unfulfilled love, which is closely connected to Romanticism. In particular find it beautiful that it doesn’t matter if it’s love toward man or a woman. It’s interesting how you work with the oscillation between romanticism and

realism in your film. Is this a typical 19th-century view of the world? I don’t know whether it is typical for the 19th century. I think it’s more about human nature, and the perpetual fight between head and heart, reason and emotion. It’s also a great basis for a comedy, which Peacock, to a large extent, is. When something unpleasant happens to us, we mostly don’t see anything funny about it, because we are overwhelmed by emotions. But if a similar thing happens to someone else, we can see it more rationally, and suddenly we find irony in it. For me, self-irony, or the ability to see your problem from a wider perspective, is one of the most fascinat-

ing of human features. I tried to get it into my film as well. I wanted the film to be self-ironic. Everyone who sees Peacock must be impressed by the artistic concept of the film. What was your inspiration? I was inspired by landscape paintings from the era of Romanticism, by the Barbizon School and also several Czech landscape painters. I wanted to give the audience the illusion that they are looking at paintings from this period and thus let them more easily place themselves in the world of the film. I namely think that this is how we visualize history – through the art created in a certain period. In fact, there is no historic reality or authenticity, there is only our image of it; so I wanted the viewer to feel like they were in the 19th century. Then I started to gradually disrupt this feeling by using formal tools which remind the viewer it’s still only a film. This enables me to create the afore-mentioned ironic distance between the film and the viewer and show history from a different angle than people are used to seeing; to show them something familiar, but from a different perspective. Why did you choose the music of Antonín Dvořák for your film? I knew from the beginning his music would be fundamental to the film. I think Dvořák succeeded in creating something we can call absolutely Czech. In his work, I see a balance between romantic pathos, fatality, playfulness, irony and love of the Czech countryside, and that’s exactly what I wanted to have in my film.

noid thriller – something different from the short film, although certain passages will be similar. I would like to make a film that I myself miss in cinemas: smart, auteur entertainment with a deeper message, a universally understandable genre film which has a chance to succeed abroad and which will not be afraid to show nudity or violence on screen. One of the main topics of the film will be the inability of the main character to accept his own identity.

You are planning to extend Peacock into a long feature film. What subject and genre do you have in mind for it? As for genre, it will be a historical para-

Do you mean Stroupežnický’s homosexuality? Not only his homosexuality. This topic will intertwine with the similar fate of

the Czech nation in the given period, a period when it had to assert itself against Austria and German influence in general. That is why we Czechs tried to show ourselves in a better light, because maybe we had the feeling that what we were was just not enough. After Stroupežnický, due to his deed, lost his strongest weapon – his natural beauty and charm – he had to find a different way to satisfy his yearning for the admiration of others. He found the answer in artistic creation. I think we all long for a certain form of admiration. That’s why this is a universally valid subject with which we all can identify.

CZECH FILM COMMISSION INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION 2015 Mordkommission Berlin 1 Photo courtesy of Wiedemann & Berg Television and Wilma Film © Jan Hromádko

Banner year for international in the Czech productions Republic The Czech film industry is going through a great period, as the number of incoming international productions increases every year. In 2015, they spent over CZK 4.3 billion, the highest amount in the last 12 years.

roduction incentives that were introduced by the Czech Republic in 2010 attract filmmakers from all over the world. Films for TV and theatrical distribution, in genres from horror to drama, have all filmed here. The variety of genres and budgets demonstrate the versatility and creativity of local film professionals. The diverse

Czech locations range from the ancient city center of Prague and regional castles and palaces to modern, well-equipped soundstages. The largest project shot in the Czech Republic last year was undeniably Lakeshore Entertainment‘s action fantasy film Underworld: Next Generation with Kate

Beckinsale reprising her role as the vampire killer Selene. In the crew of director Anna Foerster was the Czech production designer Ondřej Nekvasil, renowned for his sophisticated work on the Korean train sci-fi Snowpiercer (2012) and other projects. The film’s producer Richard Wright praised the set construction and set design by Czech filmmakers: „The quality of sets which they built is exactly the same as if they would have been built in Los Angeles, London, New York or Vancouver. The other great department is props. They had to make a lot of things because we have a culture in the film that doesn’t exist. Same goes for camera, lights and grip. I never heard about a big film that would go out of London, New York or Los Angeles and not take with them a gaffer and almost no camera people. We came with just the DOP. That is crazy.“ The Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain was another famous Hollywood star that worked in Prague last year. Co-starring alongside the German actor Daniel Brühl and directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, 2002), she shot the drama The Zookeeper’s Wife about a Warsaw Zoo administrator and his wife during World War 2.

shot in the Czech Republic as well in 2013 and 2014. According to producer Colin Wratten „the Czech Republic is a joy for anyone in TV – it understands film-making. The local specialists are all here and they all speak fluent English. Their expertise comes from hosting countless international productions. Then there are locations that give our production a grand, feature film scale.“ Similarly, the first three seasons of Crossing Lines were also shot on Czech soil. This procedural crime drama is a co-production between Germany, USA and France that began filming in 2012, led by such stars as Donald Sutherland and William Fichtner. Likewise, the producers of the American series Legends decided to use the Czech Republic for their second season. This action crime series is centered on the story of the secret agent Martin Odum and stars Sean Bean. The ten episodes of season 2 aired on the cable channel TNT in late 2015.

In the summer of 2015, rising global superstars Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy played a pair of Czechoslovakian paratroopers in the film Anthropoid, helmed by the British director Sean Ellis. The film is about the operation Anthropoid, which resulted in the 1942 assassination of the powerful Nazi commander Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. Czech locations were utilized significantly by the French film studio Gaumont’s two large productions. The first of these was the comedy Les Visiteurs: La Revolution (The Visitors: Revolution) with Jean Reno and Christian Clavier – the third film of the series that bowed in 1993. Clavier also starred in the other Gaumont production Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles), a story of two Jewish boys and their families during World War 2, based on the memoirs of Joseph Joffo. Besides films, television projects accounted for the other half of all spending by international productions in the Czech Republic. The 2015 TV productions in the Czech Republic can be divided into two categories – new seasons of internationally known, successful series and production of German TV films and series, the vast majority of which features period themes and stories. Among the international series was the third season of BBC’s The Musketeers. The first two were

Of additional note is that German projects comprise a significant portion of the 2015 production in the Czech Republic. Since the introduction of incentives in 2010, the Czech Republic hosted over 25 German productions and co-productions, with total expenditures of more than CZK 1.3 billion. Except for one theatrically distributed film, all these were TV films, mini-series and series. The number of German television projects in the Czech Republic rises yearly. Last year alone, there were a dozen, spending over CZK 600 million. The Germans mostly choose Czech Republic to shoot costly period films and series, whether set in ancient history or in different periods of the 20th century. One of these, Nackt unter Wölfen (Naked Among Wolves), just won the German Television Award as the Best TV Movie of 2015. Its story is based on

CZECH FILM COMMISSION WE SPEAK FILMMAKING the novel of the same name by Bruno Apitz (which was also successfully filmed in 1963), taking place in the Buchenwald concentration camp at the end of March 1945 when inmates prepare an uprising against SS units. Another film that was shot in the Czech Republic and also won a German Television Award, this time for production design, was the crime film Mordkommission Berlin 1 (Homicide Division Berlin 1).

Made for SAT. 1, it takes place in Berlin of the 1920s, but was filmed mostly on locations around Prague. One more interesting project was a three-part TV movie Die Dasslers about the life of quarelling brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, who in 1948 founded the competing shoe companies Adidas and Puma just to spite each other. For the TV series Back to Back, Czech locations stood in for the divided Berlin of 1970s. It wasn’t the first time the director Oliver Hirschbiegel worked in the Czech Republic, filming the historical series Borgia here in 2010. Among other TV productions that were made in the Czech Republic in 2015, the Chinese director Qing Hua shot an eight-part series The Last Visa for China’s CCTV about a Chinese ambassador in Austria, who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust in World War 2. The Nordic series Nobel, made for the public channel NRK, filmed its interior and studio scenes in the Czech Republic. In this political thriller, the director Per Olav Sørensen deals with the fate of a soldier on a mission in Afghanistan, who gets involved in a complex political conspiracy.

After such an exciting year of international film and TV productions, the Czech Republic is poised to continue hosting filmmakers from around the world, offering its world-class crew, facilities and locations.

The Czech Film Commission helps your shoot The Czech Film Commission helps filmmakers get the most out of every shoot in the Czech Republic by providing consultation, guidance and contacts. We are the most comprehensive resource for information about filmmaking locally, from legal requirements and permits, to location scouting, to talent and tips on where to throw your wrap party. By maintaining constantly open channels of communication with regional authorities and film offices, the commission ensures that the Czech Republic remains one of the most film friendly countries in the world. Be sure that we will connect you with the right partners to make your project a success.

Our expert team has years of experience providing information and advice to producers looking for the best value for their projects. Since its establishment in 2004, the Film Commissioner has been Ludmila Claussova. She represents the commission at international film events, consults incoming producers on all questions concerning filming in the Czech Republic, and serves as liaison between the industry and local authorities. Please contact us with any questions about shooting in the Czech Republic. We speak Filmmaking. Czech Film Commission Ludmila Claussova – Film Commissioner ludmila@filmcommission.cz, +420 728 132 026 www.filmcommission.cz

PRODUCTION INCENTIVES The Czech incentives scheme is administrated by the State Cinematography Fund and offers film and TV productions cash rebates on qualifying Czech expenditures, including all post-production work, plus rebates for international cast and crew. Since the incentive was introduced in 2010, it has supported more than 130 film and TV projects, paying them back a total amount of CZK 1.65bn (€61m).

• Feature, TV, animation and documentary films (runtime of at least 70 min) • Episodic TV (runtime of at least 40 minutes per episode)

FOR WHAT?

3. Grant award Upon conclusion of production in the Czech Republic, applicants submit audited statements demonstrating the eligible costs incurred.

• 20% cash rebate on qualifying Czech spending • 10% cash rebate on qualifying international spending • No cap on per-project grant

HOW MUCH?

CULTURAL TEST Projects must pass a test for European cultural and production criteria by scoring a minimum of 4 points from cultural criteria, and receiving a minimum of 23 points overall.

WHAT IS ELIGIBLE?

Cultural criteria max 16 points (each one gives a max of 2 points) Story is based on events that are part of European culture Story is based on a personality from European culture Storyline is connected with a European setting Film is based on a work of cultural importance Film focuses on current themes in European society Film reflects important European values Film focuses on European culture, customs or traditions Film is based on events affecting European society Production criteria max 30 points Film contributes to the development of its genre (0 – 3 points) Filmmakers are Czech or citizens of EEA member states (0 – 7 points) Final version of the film is in any language of the EEA (0 – 4 points) At least 51% of the crew are citizens of EEA countries (0 or 4 points) Shooting takes place in the Czech Republic (0 – 4 points) Production uses Czech service providers in the Czech Republic (0 – 4 points) Post-production takes place in the Czech Republic (0 – 4 points)

• Payments for goods and services provided in the Czech

Republic by companies or individuals registered to pay income tax in the Czech Republic are eligible for a rebate of 20%. The rebate also applies to Czech crews working abroad on a film that is partially shot in the Czech Republic. Costs of foreign cast and crew who pay withholding tax in the Czech Republic are eligible for a rebate of 10%.

•

HOW TO QUALIFY?

• Pass the test for European cultural and production criteria • Achieve a minimum spend of 15m CZK (555 000 EUR)

for theatrical features and TV films, 3m CZK (111 000 EUR) for theatrical documentaries, 10m CZK (370 000 EUR) for each TV episode

HOW TO APPLY? 1. Project registration The project must register with a simple test for European cultural and production criteria. Registrations can be submitted at any time of year and must include the cultural test along with a synopsis and a Czech version of the script. The State Cinematography Fund Commission evaluates the tests and notifies successful applicants. Only costs incurred after the registration papers have been submitted are eligible for the rebate.

• • •

2. Project listing Upon receiving the registration certificate, the applicant has 3 months to apply for the rebate. Producers must submit the project’s budget and estimate of eligible spend, the shooting schedule for Czech locations, co-production agreements and proof of 75% of the budget in place.

• •

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FURTHER INFORMATION Magdalena Králová State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic magdalena.kralova@fondkinematografie.cz +420 602 177 146 www.fondkinematografie.cz

PROFILE BARRANDOV STUDIO

Barrandov Studio

ready to co-produce Interview with Petr Tichý, General Director of Barrandov Studio

The foundation stone for Barrandov Studio was laid on 23 November, 1931. 2016 marks 85 years since this symbol of Czech and world partnership with film was born. What is the current state of Barrandov Studio? Barrandov Studio, with its 13 sound stages on a total area of 12 000 m2 and over 160 000 m2 of unique exterior backlot, rises high above the horizon of Prague as one of the largest Central European film and TV studios.

Which services does the studio offer? Barrandov Studio, in addition to the already-mentioned 13 sound stages with complete facilities, offers comprehensive production services, as well as setconstruction services, which include a carpentry shop, locksmith, plaster shop and other spaces for preparing

PROFILE BARRANDOV STUDIO

your production. Barrandov Studio also has the world’s largest wardrobe collection. Barrandov’s furniture and prop collections are equally extensive. Integral parts of the services offered are audiovisual post-production, two dubbing studios and a digital lab for transferring film material to digital formats in HD quality.

Chapel inside the soundstage. Another equally challenging project last year was the feature film Anthropoid, for which, in a record time of three weeks a replica of the Cyril and Methodius Cathedral was built inside the stage. I could name dozens of other truly exceptional sets that have been built by Barrandov workers in recent months and years.

How can Barrandov help to service various productions? Last year Barrandov Studio serviced the project Mountains and Stones, directed by Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy) and starring Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down). Barrandov Studio helped them with getting the incentives, financial services, production facilities, technical equipment, renting stages and other services, including a complicated move of the whole crew to locations in Turkey.

In addition to studio rental, Barrandov Studio is also a co-producer of various Czech films. When did this start and which films has Barrandov Studio co-produced? Barrandov Studio has always been and will be helpful in the development of Czech and foreign films. Last year Barrandov Studio has helped to bring alive more than 10 Czech films, either by support provided via the Film Foundation (which Barrandov Studio created to support screenplay development) or by direct co-productions input. Among the Barrandov Studio’s co-productions, I would like to mention the feature film I, Olga Hepnarova, which will have its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale, where it will open the Panorama competition section. Another world premiere feature co-produced by Barrandov Studio at the Berlinale is We Are Never Alone, directed by Petr Václav, who won the Film Foundation’s screenplay contest.

What do foreign crews praise the most about working with Barrandov? They praise the tradition and respectability of the Barrandov Studio brand, its flexibility, the expertise of Czech crews, the quality and comprehensiveness of the services offered. Another advantage that we cannot forget is the location of the Barrandov stages right in the centre of Europe, near an international airport and the beautiful center of the capital Prague, as well as a wide range of other historically interesting locations. How many films are shot every year at Barrandov? The numbers vary from year to year, mainly because of the time required for individual projects. In 2015, more than 300 foreign and domestic productions used Barrandov Studio with their film, television and advertising projects. Which recent film or series has been most demanding to produce and why? Because of its production length, art department and construction needs, one such production is definitely the series Borgia, which was produced at Barrandov for three years. Throughout the shoot, the crew built unique exterior sets of medieval Rome and a copy of the Sistine

Is Barrandov also interested in international co-productions? Of course. For a long time, Barrandov Studio has had a department dedicated exclusively to co-production projects and development. It is focused on the search for both domestic and foreign scripts, and it is no accident screenwriters approach this team on their own. Currently, for example, they are negotiating the coproduction of a project entitled Speedway, developed by the Polish director Doroty Kędzierzawskiej and producer Arthur Reinhart. The participation of Barrandov Studio in co-production forums at festivals like the Berlinale, Cannes and Toronto is evidence of our interest in international co-production projects.

NEW CZECH RELEASES CZ 2016, 104 min DIRECTOR Marta Ferencová SCRIPT Daniel Miňovský By some quirk of fate, the two small-time thieves and the spoiled princess find themselves in the Black Forest full of magic beings who believe that everyone has a chance to mend his ways. However, sometimes even the best intentions need to take a pretty long way round to be achieved... Funny fairy tale full of action, excitement, fun, magic but also love. CAST Boleslav Polívka, Jan Hrušínský,Vladimír Polívka, Aleš Bílík, Denisa Pfauserová PRODUCERS Daniel Miňovský – Apfel Production, Vojtěch Frič – first.Frame CO-PRODUCTION Frame100R, Spoon, Sound4film CZECH RELEASE 25 February, 2016 CONTACT Vojtěch Frič, +420 230 234 313, rachanda@frame100r.com

DEBUT

Crazy Kingdom Řachanda

Decibels of Love Decibely lásky

The Devil’s Mistress Lída Baarová

Doomed Beauty Zkáza krásou 42

CZ 2016, 85 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Miloslav Halík A film about searching for love in every age. Based on the stories of three couples of different ages showing that life with all its ups and downs is the same for all of us, no matter how old we are. The emotions of the characters are expressed in the film mainly by dance and music composed by a Czech pop music star, Michal David. CAST Iva Janžurová, Rudolf Hrušínský ml., Lucie Vondráčková, Alžběta Bartošová, Filip Cíl PRODUCERS Michal David, Miloslav Halík – DM Production CO-PRODUCTION Romana Assadová CZECH RELEASE 11 February, 2016 CONTACT Miloslav Halík, +420 605 708 112, milohalik@seznam.cz

CZ, SK 2016, 110 min DIRECTOR Filip Renč SCRIPT Ivan Hubač Berlin, 1934. The ambitious, and very beautiful young Czech actress Lída Baarová is about to launch her career in the German Reich at Berlin‘s Babelsberg Film Studios – a dream come true. But how long will this dream last when she decides to become Joseph Goebbels‘ mistress? CAST Táňa Pauhofová, Karl Markovics, Gedeon Burkhard, Simona Stašová, Martin Huba PRODUCER Jiří Jurtin – Nogup Agency CO-PRODUCTION Arina (SK) CZECH RELEASE 21 January, 2016 CONTACT Global Screen – Julia Weber, +49 89 2441295-590, julia.weber@globalscreen.de

CZ 2016, 90 min DIRECTORS Helena Třeštíková, Jakub Hejna SCRIPT Helena Třeštíková Lída Baarová: Czechoslovak movie star whose beauty was her greatest gift as well as her curse. Her affair with Joseph Goebbels transformed her into an enemy of her own country and a symbol of collaboration. Helena Třeštíková filmed Baarova’s open confession in the final years of her life, using unique archive material and excerpts from actress’ most famous film roles. PRODUCER Hana Třeštíková – Produkce Třeštíková CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television CZECH RELEASE 7 January, 2016 CONTACT Hana Třeštíková, +420 603 581 674, hanka@produkcetrestikova.cz

NEW CZECH RELEASES

Doubles

CZ 2016, 104 min DIRECTOR Jiří Chlumský SCRIPT Petr Hudský Comedy tells the story of two men who are much alike but their temperament and life story are as different as day and night. They have never seen each other, they have no idea about each other’s mutual existence and it would remain like that if faith had not put them together... And from now on it is a great comedy of confusion. CAST Ondřej Sokol, Petr Nárožný, Jakub Kohák, Jitka Schneiderová, Petr Čtvrtníček PRODUCER Miloslav Šmídmajer – Bio Illusion CZECH RELEASE 17 March, 2016 CONTACT Miloslav Šmídmajer, +420 602 440 753, smidmajer@bioillusion.com

Dvojníci

DEBUT MINORITY

Eva Nová

Family Film / Rodinný film DEBUT

Girl Power

SK, CZ 2015, 106 min DIRECTORS & SCRIPT Marko Škop Eva Nová, ones a well-known actress, would do anything to regain love of her son, whom she had abandoned for her career many years ago. She returns home from rehab to find an old poster recalling her glory. She quickly tidies it up and hurries to visit her family. Supposedly everyone deserves a second chance. The question is whether it isn’t too late… CAST Emília Vášáryová, Milan Ondrík, Anikó Vargová, Žofia Martišová PRODUCERS Marko Škop, Ján Meliš – Artileria (SK) CO-PRODUCTION Alice Tabery (CZ) CZECH RELEASE 24 March, 2016 CONTACT Marko Škop, +421 903 789 198, skop@artileria.sk

CZ, DE, SI, FR, SK 2015, 95 min DIRECTOR Olmo Omerzu SCRIPT Olmo Omerzu, Nebojša Pop-Tasić A husband and wife set sail across the ocean, leaving their two children to explore the freedom of being home alone. The boat goes under, and so does the family. A dog, stuck on a desert island, is their only hope. CAST Daniel Kadlec, Jenovéfa Boková, Karel Roden, Vanda Hybnerová, Eliška Křenková, Martin Pechlát PRODUCERS Jiří Konečný – endorfilm CO-PRODUCTION 42film (DE), Czech Television, Arsmedia (SI), Rouge International (FR), Punkchart films (SK) CZECH RELEASE 18 February, 2016 CONTACT Cercamon – Sebastien Chesneau, +971 566 06 38 24, +336 21 71 39 11, sebastien@cercamon.biz

CZ 2016, 92 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Sany, Jan Zajíček Documentary about women whose life mission is graffiti and street art introduces female writers from 15 world cities in their authentic environment. Although majority of the graffiti community are men, women have a specific and irreplaceable role in it. The author of the film – Sany has been making this film for more than 6 years and it has changed her life. www.girlpowermovie.cz PRODUCER Martin Hůlovec – Punk Film CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television, Sany CZECH RELEASE 27 February, 2016 CONTACT Martin Hůlovec, +420 608 977 930, martinhulovec@punkfilm.cz

NEW CZECH RELEASES MK, CZ, SI 2014, 89 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Ivo Trajkov Skopje on the night of a national holiday and a wedding anniversary of Nikola, deputy Minister, and his wife Anna. Returning home from a gala reception, they start to experience their biggest marriage crisis yet. Moreover, Nikola is obsessed with the current political scandal and the arrest of a minister. After a long, turbulent night, Nikola reconciles with his destiny and awaits his arrest. CAST Nikola Ristanovski, Verica Nedeska PRODUCER Robert Jazadziski – Kaval Film (MK) CO-PRODUCTION i/o post (CZ), A Atalanta (SI), Soundsquare (CZ) CZECH RELEASE March 2016 CONTACT Robert Jazadziski, +389 70 279092, info@kavalfilm.com.mk

MINORITY

Honey Night Medena nok

How Poets Wait for a Miracle Jak básníci čekají na zázrak

How to Shake off a Bride Jak se zbavit nevěsty

DEBUT PANORAMA

I, Olga Hepnarova / Já, Olga Hepnarová 44

CZ 2016, 104 min DIRECTOR Dušan Klein SCRIPT Ladislav Pecháček This time the poets are waiting for a miracle. Štěpán, Kendy and Karas remained friends even after 12 years. Their inexhaustible sense of humor and self-irony, now perhaps with a touch of scepticism, help them to cope with their chaotic lives. Kendy had enough of advertising business and wants to shoot a film, Karas decided to pamper his Blue dream car just virtually and Štěpán fights with the stubborn hospital director Vendulka. CAST Pavel Kříž, David Matásek, Lukáš Vaculík, Tereza Brodská, Linda Rybová PRODUCER Miloslav Šmídmajer – Bio Illusion CZECH RELEASE 14 April, 2016 CONTACT Miloslav Šmídmajer, +420 602 440 753, smidmajer@bioillusion.com

CZ 2016, 88 min DIRECTOR Tomáš Svoboda SCRIPT Marcel Bystroň nahradit kratší verzí: Eva, the owner of a pastry shop hopes to re-unite with her ex-husband Honza, with whom she has a son Tobias. Honza surprises Eva with the request for a wedding cake. He is planning to marry Linda, his new girlfriend. Eva and Tobias don’t like the idea and the new couple breaks up for a while. But finally their wedding plans come true. CAST Lenka Vlasáková, David Matásek, Andrea Kerestéšová, Jana Švandová, Jaroslav Plesl PRODUCERS Luboš Píš, Marcel Bystroň, Jaroslav Capanda – ArtMovieProduction CZECH RELEASE 28 April, 2016 CONTACT Luboš Píš, +420 602 357 871, lubos.pis@artmp.cz

CZ, PL, SK, FR 2016, 105 min DIRECTORS & SCRIPT Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda An existential drama based on true story of Olga Hepnarova, who was executed in Czechoslovakia in 1975, for killing 8 people by a rented truck. As a lonely lesbian outsider, she couldn’t play the part society desired of her. Her paranoid selfexamination and inability to connect with other people drove her over the edge of humanity when she was only twenty-two years old. CAST Michalina Olszańska, Martin Pechlát, Klára Melíšková, Marika Šoposká, Juraj Nvota PRODUCERS Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda – Black Balance, Sylwester Banaszkiewicz – Media Brigade (PL), Marian Urban – Alef Film and Media (SK) CO-PRODUCTION love.FRAME, Spoon, Barrandov Studios, Michael Samuelson Lighting Prague, FAMU, Arizona Productions (FR) CZECH RELEASE 24 March, 2016 CONTACT Arizona Films – Guillaume De Seille, guillaume@arizonafilms.net

NEW CZECH RELEASES CZ 2016, 56 min DIRECTOR Jiří Kunst SCRIPT Magda Bittnerová, Tomáš Holeček, Jiří Kunst Three stories tells about three people in an extreme situation, where is their fear in the main role... The first flap of this movie, which was shooted on 35 mm negative, was held in 2007. After an unbelievable nine years we are bringing to you this movie in to your cinema. CAST Jan Bárta, Martin Zahálka, Roman Štabrňák, Antonín Hardt, Hynek Čermák PRODUCER Lukáš Karvánek – IdeaFilm CO-PRODUCTION FAMU CZECH RELEASE 19 January, 2016 CONTACT Lukáš Karvánek, +420 606 278 252, lukas@ideafilm.cz

DEBUT

In Expectation V jiném stavu

GENERATION 14plus

In Your Dreams! Ani ve snu!

Into the North

CZ, SK, BG 2016, 79 min DIRECTOR Petr Oukropec SCRIPT Egon Tobias 16-year-old Laura wants to join a group of parkourists and gets caught off guard by love toward Luky. She starts living a double life. In the fantasy world of romantic and comic visions Luky belongs to her. In reality her attempt to get closer to Luky fails. The moment these two worlds somehow entwine, Laura has to decide which one she wants to choose. CAST Barbora Štikarová, Toman Rychtera, Klára Melíšková, Ivan Martinka, Jan Vondráček PRODUCERS Petr Oukropec, Pavel Strnad – Negativ CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television, Arina (SK), The Chouchkov Brothers (BG) CZECH RELEASE 28 April, 2016 CONTACT Daniel Vadocký, +420 777 697 543, daniel@negativ.cz CZ, IL 2015, 88 min DIRECTOR Natasha Dudinski SCRIPT Judita Matyášová, Natasha Dudinski A group of Czech teenagers sets out on a journey to the North. They spend four years in Denmark, an oasis in the midst of raging WWII. Thanks to that, they survive and succeed to start a new life. More than seventy years later they are ready to tell their story, a coming-of-age refugee story with a happy end, courtesy of thousands of open-hearted Danes. PRODUCER Jan Macola – Mimesis Film CO-PRODUCTION i/o post, Natasha Dudinski (IL) SUPPORT State Cinematography Fund Czech Republic CZECH RELEASE March 2016

Na Sever

DEBUT ANIMATION

Murderous Tales / Smrtelné historky

CZ, SK 2016, 80 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Jan Bubeníček Josef inherited his madcap grandfather’s old flat. Thinking he has a mouse, He sets a trap in the kitchen, but instead he captures a strange creature – a small ancient Mexican Cactusman, an inhabitant of Grandfather’s humungous cactus. It is only, when viewing Grandfather’s old 8mm film, that Josef discovers that he was best friends with the little goblin. www.kaktusak.cz CAST Jan Budař, Pavel Landovský, Jan Bubeníček, Ondřej Trojan, Ladislav Frej PRODUCER Ondřej Trojan – Total HelpArt CO-PRODUCTION PubRes (SK), Czech Television, R.U.R., AT studio CZECH RELEASE 31 March, 2016 CONTACT Michaela Syslová Kuchynková, +420 602 231 297, michaela@tha.cz

NEW CZECH RELEASES DEBUT

The Noonday Witch Polednice

CZ, SK, PL 2016, 109 min DIRECTOR Michal Kollár SCRIPT Miro Šifra, Michal Kollár, Anna Fifíková Summer 1992, three years after the fall of the Berlin wall; six months before the split of Czechoslovakia. Young homicide detective Richard Krauz, desperate to distinguish himself from the police officers of the former communist regime, receives a new case – a corpse with a nail driven through its skull that came up during grounds keeping at an old cemetery. CAST Oldřich Kaiser, Martin Finger, Michal Suchánek, Maciej Stuhr, Marián Geišberg PRODUCERS Viktor Tauš, Michal Kollár – Fog’n’Desire Films CO-PRODUCTION Sokol Kollár (SK), Mental Disorder 4 (PL), Czech Television, S Pro Alfa, Radio and Television Slovakia (SK), Barrandov Studio, Krakow Festival Office – KBF (PL) CZECH RELEASE 10 March, 2016 CONTACT Michal Kollár, +420 775 619 027, michal@fogndesirefilms.com Viktor Tauš, +420 775 204 809, viktor@fogndesirefilms.com

Red Captain / Rudý kapitán

DEBUT MINORITY

The Red Spider / Czerwony pająk

MINORITY

Šiška Deluxe

CZ 2016, 90 min DIRECTOR Jiří Sádek SCRIPT Michal Samir A story of Eliška and her daughter, starting a new life in a remote house with the ‘father away on business’, as the mother claims. After the lie is disclosed, their relationship begins to wither. At that time, the mythical Noonday Witch begins to materialise. She is coming closer and closer and the question is poised: is the danger real or is it all in the mother’s crumbling head? CAST Aňa Geislerová, Karolína Lipowská, Daniela Kolářová, Zdeněk Mucha, Jiří Štrébl PRODUCER Matěj Chlupáček – Barletta CO-PRODUCTION HBO Europe, Room One Films, RWE, Eurodeník CZECH RELEASE 3 March, 2016 CONTACT Matěj Chlupáček, +420 776 710 887, matej@barletta.cz

PL, CZ, SK 2015, 95 min DIRECTOR Marcin Koszałka SCRIPT Marcin Koszałka, Łukasz M. Maciejewski Karol is an ordinary young man, living in the 1960s Cracow. Times are dark and murky, while the city is empty and morose. One day, Karol discovers a body of a murdered boy, presumably the new victim of Red Spider, a terrifying serial killer, prowling the streets of Cracow. Fascinated by death, Karol will soon have to make the most important choice of his life. CAST Filip Pławiak, Adam Woronowicz, Julia Kijowska, Małgorzata Foremniak PRODUCER Agnieszka Kurzydło – Mental Disorder 4 (PL) CO-PRODUCTION Fog‘n‘Desire Films (CZ), Sokol Kollár (SK), Zentropa International Poland (PL), Krakowskie Biuro Festiwalowe (PL), Orange Polska (PL) CZECH RELEASE 24 March, 2016 CONTACT Dagmara Piasecka, +48 606 353 939, office@md4.eu SI, CZ, MK 2015, 108 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Jan Cvitkovič Absurd comedy about longtime friends who open a pizzeria with the hope that success in the new business will help them reconduct their calamitous professional and personal lives. Unable to focus and put an end to their messy behaviour, they seldom get any customer. A mysterious Jana shows up and inspires them in the creation of a unique pizza service called Šiška Deluxe. CAST Žiga Födransberg, Marko Miladinović, David Furlan, Jana Prepeluh, Marjuta Slamič PRODUCERS Andrej Štritof, Aleš Pavlin – Perfo Production (SI) CO-PRODUCTION Evolution Films (CZ), Kino Oko (MK), Beep (CZ), Spoon (CZ) CZECH RELEASE 24 March, 2016 CONTACT Aleš Pavlin, +386 40 425 140, ales.pavlin@perfo.si

NEW CZECH RELEASES CZ, SK 2016, 102 min DIRECTOR Radek Bajgar SCRIPT Radek Bajgar, Miroslava Zlatníková The Theory of Tiger tells the story of a 60 year old successful veterinarian Jan, who is fed up with being manipulated by his family. He decides to start a new and risky life to fullfil his old dreams. CAST Jiří Bartoška, Eliška Balzerová, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Jiří Havelka, Jakub Kohák PRODUCER Petr Erben – Logline Production CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television, RWE, Radio and Television Slovakia (SK) CZECH RELEASE 31 March, 2016 CONTACT Petr Erben, +420 603 549 813, info@logline.cz

DEBUT

Tiger Theory Teorie Tygra

Trabant – From Australia to Bangkog / Trabantem do posledního dechu

FORUM

We Are Never Alone Nikdy nejsme sami

CZ, SK 2016, 90 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Dan Přibáň Two Trabants, one Polish Fiat and an old Jawa motorcycle set out on a journey across Australia and the Pacific Islands. In addition to multiple dangers lurking in the unknown environments, the team faces a new challenge of having wheelchair users as one of its Trabant crews. PRODUCER Jiří Konečný – endorfilm CO-PRODUCTION Punkchart films (SK), Czech Television, Radio and Television Slovakia CZECH RELEASE 17 March, 2016 CONTACT Jiří Konečný, +420 602 358 373, jiri@endorfilm.cz

CZ, FR 2016, 105 min DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Petr Vaclav A paranoid prison guard moves into a village flanked by a state motorway. He befriends his new neighbour, an unemployed hypochondriac supported by his wife, who develops an attraction to the nightclub bouncer. But he is in love with the club stripper who is in turn waiting for the father of her child to return from the same prison where our prison guard works. CAST Karel Roden, Lenka Vlasáková, Miroslav Hanuš, Zdeněk Godla, Klaudia Dudová PRODUCER Jan Macola – Mimesis Film CO-PRODUCTION Cinéma Defacto, Czech Television CZECH RELEASE 7 April, 2016 CONTACT Jan Macola, +420 724 938 883, jan@mimesis.cz

NOTES

CZECH FILM / Spring 2016 Issued by Czech Film Center / National Film Archive Editors Denisa Štrbová, Martin Černý, Cathy Meils, Michael Dove Translations Denisa Štrbová, Paul Ratner, Petr Janák Graphic design Cellula – Pavel Rakušan Cover photo In Your Dreams! by Petr Oukropec Printed by Uniprint Print run 600 Not for sale With the support of Czech Film Center Národní 28 Prague 1, 110 00 Czech Republic info@filmcenter.cz www.filmcenter.cz