Czech Film / Summer 2019 by Czech Film Center

Summer 2019

The Czech Film Fund is the main public financing body for cinema in the Czech Republic. The Fund supports all stages of film production, as well as promotion, distribution and other film-related areas. It also administers production incentives for audio-visual projects made in the Czech Republic. Apart from financing, the fund also includes two divisions for international activities: the Czech Film Center and the Czech Film Commission. The Czech Film Center promotes and markets Czech films and the local film industry worldwide. It collaborates with major international film festivals and co-production platforms and utilizes a global network of partners, seeking opportunities for creative exchange between Czech filmmakers and their international counterparts. The Czech Film Commission promotes the country with its film infrastructure as one of the world’s top destinations for audio-visual production. As a comprehensive resource for filming in the Czech Republic, the commission provides incoming filmmakers with consultation, guidance, and contacts.

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

Barbora Ligasová Festival Relations-Feature Films e-mail: barbora@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 778 487 863

Jaroslav Kejzlar Editor & Communication e-mail: jaroslav@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 601 326 883

Magda Rajlichová Administration & Production e-mail: magda@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 774 316 427

Vítězslav Chovanec Festival RelationsDocumentary & Short Films e-mail: vitezslav@filmcenter.cz tel.: +420 778 487 864

zech animated cinema has achieved a number of noteworthy successes lately. For starters,

Of Unwanted Things and People was honored with the Eurimages Co-production Development Award, which the filmmakers and producers of MAUR film accepted at the Cartoon Movie festival in Bordeaux. Aside from the Czech Republic, the project also enjoyed support from

Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In addition to Of Unwanted Things and People, the other animation project selected for backing by the Czech Film Fund in its last round of grants for minority coproductions was the UK-Czech film Salvation Has No Name, sponsored by the acclaimed studio Aardman Animation. Boasting an intriguing combination of puppet and cutout animation, the project will be handled by the Czech studio Animation People. The fund and the council make every effort to listen to filmmakers and understand their needs. To that end, the council has decided to make changes to the distribution of financing on some of its grants. Specifically, we have allocated more funds to support animated films, increased support for coproduction projects, and set new dates for the application periods on certain grants so that they better tie in to the big coproduction markets. You can read more about these changes in financing Czech filmmaking in the Funding News section. I wish you all a pleasant festival summer. Helena Bezděk Fraňková, Director, Czech Film Fund

IN PRODUCTION / Ambitious puppet film Even Mice Belong in Heaven

CANNES IFF /

Miloš Forman’s iconic Loves of a Blonde screens in the Cannes Classics

22 IN PRODUCTION /

Charlatan: Agnieszka Holland shoots the story of a powerful healer

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4 IN PRODUCTION /

Mira Fornay rewrites reality into the language of the imaginary in Cook, F**k, Kill

2 CZECH FILM NOW 7 CINÉFONDATION 8 ACID PROGRAMME 9 BRIGHT PROSPECTS FOR DOCUMENTARIES 12 FOCUS / VĚRA CHYTILOVÁ 17 INTRODUCING / FILM KOLEKTIV

20 25 32 34 36

CZECH FILM SPRINGBOARD /

New blood in the veins of Czech cinema

CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA CZECH FILM COMMISSION FUNDING NEWS INTERVIEW / SOUND EDITOR JAKUB ČECH FILMS TO COME

n the summer issue of Czech Film, we visit famed director Agnieszka Holland during the shoot of her latest film, Charlatan, based on the nearly forgotten story of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek, in equal parts celebrated and damned during his lifetime. Holland shares about the movie and the man who waged a struggle with his own inner demons even as he was saving the lives of millions of others (page 14). We then take readers behind the scenes of Even Mice Belong in Heaven, a spectacular animated feature inspired by a children’s book, bringing a breath of fresh air into the traditional world of Czech puppet animation (page 22). Finally, we speak with director Mira Fornay as she finishes work on her latest film, Cook, F**k, Kill, which tackles the subject of domestic violence and the lifelong impact of our families on our behavior, with an original approach combining humor and folk-tale techniques (page 4). The Cannes film festival will soon be on us, this year presenting Miloš Forman’s Czechoslovak New Wave classic Loves of a Blonde (page 6), while the student section of Cinéfondation will feature Ondřej Erban’s One Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand, about the growing problem of debt in Czech society (page 7). And the ACID program at Cannes IFF premieres Solo, by director Artemio Benki, a sensitive essay about an Argentinean piano virtuoso and composer who flip-flops back and forth between an insane asylum and major concert halls (page 8). This spring already saw Czech cinema notch several impressive showings: Three feature-length documentaries screened at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival, while several other documentary projects are near completion and, come fall, will be vying for the attention of moviegoers and festival programmers alike. More on page 9. Another burst of good news for Czech film comes from the realm of animation, as three animated shorts— Daughter, Apart, and The Kite—have been selected for screening in different sections of the festival in Annecy, France, and a sizable delegation of Czech producers and directors will be in attendance this year. Finally, you won’t want to miss our overview of projects in development that were pitched at this year’s running of Czech Film Springboard—the fourth one already!—as well as our profile of the collaborative production company Film Kolektiv and all the other latest news from the ever-active world of Czech film. Happy reading! Markéta Šantrochová Head of the Czech Film Center Czech Film Fund

editorial

Jan Palach

Jan Palach, Winter Flies Big Winners at Czech Film Critics’ Awards During the ceremony held on February 2, Robert Sedláček’s drama Jan Palach, produced by Viktor Schwarcz (Cineart TV Prague), was named Best Film, while Olmo Omerzu took home Best Director for his road movie Winter Flies. Best Screenplay went to Tomáš Pavlíček and Lucie Bokšteflová for their bittersweet family comedy Bear with Us. The Best Documentary winner, When the War Comes, was directed by Jan Gebert and produced by Radovan Síbrt from PINK. Best Actor and Best Actress went to Martin Huba, for his performance in Talks With TGM, and to Jenovéfa Boková, for her role in Moments. Jakub Červenka, director and producer of Talks With TGM, also took home the award for Newcomer of the Year. Acclaimed Czech director, artist, and animator Jan Švankmajer and his son, Václav, were honored for their production design on Švankmajer’s latest feature, Insect, in the Audiovisual Achievement category, while Ondřej Hudeček’s The Nagano Tapes, produced for the Olympic Channel, won in the Offscreen category.

Animation Challenge at Anifilm This year’s edition of Anifilm IFF, May 7–12, announced several Czech films to be screened in international competitions: The International Competition of Short Films will feature the Romanian-Czech coproduction Somewhere, by Paul Muresan, while the International Competition of Student Films will show Apart by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Hide N Seek by Barbora Halířová, and The Kite by Martin Smatana. Overlapping with Anifilm, May 6–9, will be the CEE Animation Forum, giving Central and East European filmmakers a chance to pitch to potential backers. Among the 33 projects chosen to participate this year are 6 from the Czech Republic: Babu in the Night City (d. Petr Vodička), My Sunny Maad (d. Michaela Pavlátová), and Pearl (d. Martin Kotík) in the Feature Films section; The Goose (d. Jan Míka) in the Short Films section; and Kosmix (d. Klára Jůzová, Vojtěch Dudek) in the Series/TV Special Films section. Likewise, the animated feature project Gentle Jaco (d. Anthony Ho Wong, David Toušek) will be pitched at the CEE Animation Workshop, May 4–9, with the third and last session taking place during the CEE Animation Forum in Třeboň.

Czech

Czech Film Now

In the minority coproductions group, 10 out of a total 25 projects submitted received grants totaling €941,176. Support went to six feature-length fiction films, two animated films, and two documentaries, including Vitaly Mansky’s new documentary about Mikhail Gorbachev, and works by the promising young Poles Grzegorz Jaroszyk and Jan P. Matuszyński. In the development of animated films group, 7 of the 9 projects that applied received funding, amounting to a total of €195,176. The highest amount, €43,137 (CZK 1.1 million), was awarded to the films The Websters and Pearl. In the production of documentary films group, the CFF awarded grants to projects focused on sports, untraditional marriages, and little-known historic events.

Projects Supported by Czech Film Fund In March, the Czech Film Fund announced the projects selected for support in the categories of minority coproductions, development of animated films, and production of documentaries.

Winter Flies

Winter Flies Sweeps Czech Lions At the 2018 Czech Lion Awards, Olmo Omerzu’s Winter Flies, a road movie about youth and freedom produced by Jiří Konečný (endorfilm), walked away with Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Petr Pýcha), Best Supporting Actress (Eliška Křenková), Best Supporting Actor (Jan František Uher), and Best Editing (Jana Vlčková). Ondřej Havelka’s directorial debut, a romantic thriller titled The Hastrman, was the evening’s second most successful film, picking up the awards for Best Actor (Karel Dobrý), Best Cinematography (Diviš Marek), Best Music (Petr Wajsar), and Best Costume Design (Eva Kotková). The Czech Film and TV Academy awarded Best Actress to Jenovéfa Boková (Moments), while Best Sound went to Domestique (Jakub Jurásek, Jan Šulcek, David Titěra). Šimon Šafránek’s King Skate was named Best Documentary, and the father-son team Jan and Václav Švankmajer won Best Production Design for Insect. This year, for the fourth time, the Czech Lions also honored TV films and TV series. Dukla 61, directed by David Ondříček, was named Best TV Film, and Petr Zelenka’s Dabing Street won in the Best TV Drama Series category.

Czech Animation in Annecy The Annecy International Animation Film Festival announced its selections for competition this year, including Daughter, by Daria Kasheeva (prod. FAMU and MAUR film), and Apart, by Diana Van Cam Nguyen (prod. FAMU, Filmtalent Zlín, Alkay Animation), in the Graduation Films in Competition, and The Kite, by Martin Smatana (prod. BFILM.cz, BFILM, FAMU, CeTA), in the Young Audiences Short Films in Competition.

Daughter

Doc Alliance Award Nominees Doc Alliance is an international network that was initiated by seven European documentary film festivals: CPH:DOX, DOK Lepizig, FID Marseille, the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Docs Against Gravity, Visions du Réel, and Doclisboa. Its aim is to promote and support documentary cinema, with a focus on independent and auteur films. Every year, each of the seven festivals nominates one film for the Doc Alliance Award, offering €5,000 for the production of a new film. The Czech Republic’s entry for 2019 is Kiruna – A Brand New World , by Greta Stocklassa, nominated by Jihlava IDFF. This year’s award will be presented during the Doc Day Lunch of the Marché du Film on May 21 in Cannes.

Film Now

IN PRODUCTION Cook, F**k, Kill

Mira Fornay:

Rewriting Researched Reality Into the Language of the Imaginary Director Mira Fornay premiered her debut, Foxes (2009), in the International Film Critics’ Week at Venice. Her second film, My Dog Killer (2013), won the Tiger Hivos Award in the main competition at the Rotterdam IFF, received a nomination for the European Film Awards, and was chosen as the Slovak national entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. by Pavel Sladký

ow Fornay is back with her third film, Cook, F**k, Kill, about a family ruled by violence and terror. Using dark, edgy humor and absurdity, she brings a fresh perspective to issues of intimacy, sexuality, and violence—in particular domestic violence—in our society. How would you describe your new project? What are you trying to show about human relationships? The way I see it, my new film isn’t explicitly about domestic violence. It’s more about what leads to unhealthy behavior in families—our “family program,” the way our families program us. It’s also a subject I came to through personal experience: I lost a very good friend of mine I had known almost since childhood, because of her manipulative husband. Basically, he built a wall around her, and anyone who supported her independence wasn’t allowed in.

It was a painful experience: I was angry at my friend for being weak, but at the same time I understood her insecurities, since I knew her family background. I also realized everything her husband did was rooted in his insecurities, his “family program,” so I did some research and decided to tell the story from his point of view—though in the end I do get to the woman’s point of view. This might be a spoiler, but the way I see it, violence has nothing to do with gender—I’ve met plenty of women aggressors too—the problem comes from accepting unacceptable behavior, in families or anywhere else in life. Despite the serious subject matter, you use a lot of absurd humor and a folktale storytelling style. Could you talk about that? I spent two long years doing research— listening to stories of men and women. I realized the deeper I went, the more

painful and absurd it was. I felt I couldn’t use the material to make a serious drama. It drained me, it was too much, and I knew it would be too much for anyone else. I needed humor to protect me, and to protect my audience, so I pushed it into black humor but tried not to lose the sadness. This led me to folk tales, because of the way they use metaphors. They have this amazing subtle humor, and I love the way they can be playful in their absurd brutality.

IN PRODUCTION

You also did research in men’s prisons. Did you incorporate any true stories or real dialogue into the script, or were you just trying to gain greater insight into the pathology of families and individuals? I did most of my research in therapy groups for domestic violence, with a nearly 50/50 mix of men and women. I went to sessions every Thursday for almost two years. I only went to men’s prison a couple of times, but it was extremely powerful meeting first-time killers who had killed people close to them. The experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to see the dark side of humans from so up close. Then, after my research, I did a lot of work in my own family, because every family’s got skeletons in the closet. But I want to be clear that even though I did research, I don’t think and work like a social scientist or journalist. I’m a storyteller. The story is all I care about, how to tell the story my way, without any moral or sophisticated agenda. I took more risks on this movie, working from my soul instead of from my intellect. I used what I’d call the “analog method,” a language of metaphors and my imagination, based on solid research in the real world. Like I was rewriting researched reality into the language of an imaginary world that exists in parallel to reality. What I was trying to create, and I hope I succeeded, was a tiny layer on top of reality that helps you read reality through unconscious connections, instead of through the logic of social norms. That makes the film very demanding, some would say difficult. It’s also why the film isn’t about social or political topics, but is very personal. Thankfully, I had helpers to keep me from getting lost in the depths: Ivan Arsenyev, who was dramaturge on the first draft of the screenplay, and Ursula Lesjak, who was supervising editor. Both were a great help to me.

Cook, F**k, Kill

You edited the film yourself. What can you tell us about your approach to that process? I edited the film on my own, but I consulted with Ursula Lesjak, a very experienced editor based in Paris. I did the first rough cut, then discussed it with her. We both agreed the structure worked the way it was in the script. We just needed to make some scenes more understandable, more rhythmic, or more fluent. I enjoyed the process a lot. In My Dog Killer, you had nonprofessional actors play the main characters. This time you cast Jaroslav Plesl, an actor well known to Czechs, in the lead role. Do you work differently with professionals than you do with nonactors? Not really. I give them a lot of homework, and we talk a lot about the scenes and the imagery, then we do a lot of rehearsals. Jaroslav Plesl and Regina Rázlová and Petra Fornayová, the only three professionals in the film, were amazing, and so were my nonactors— I truly admire them all. At first I was a bit worried about whether or not they would get along, but the chemistry was great. Plus the nonactors help the actors get that authentic feel, and the professionals are a great support for the nonactors in lots of ways. They were all very talented and enthusiastic and openminded. Cook, F**k, Kill won the main prize for best project in development at Sofia Meetings. Do you think that’s a sign that the subject is of universal interest?

As the author, I can’t think about the subject matter in the same terms as producers do. I was glad we won, and I took it as a sign that I found a powerful way to tell the story that was still very much mine. I guess for my producers, or coproducers, it was an important sign to support me despite the many complications. It wasn’t an easy project to finance. You’re not only the writer and director, but also the producer of the film. What was it like producing, and how helpful was it getting support from Eurimages? Thank you for asking, since this was a big learning experience for me. I was surprised, after the success we had with My Dog Killer, that the Slovak Audiovisual Fund declined to support my new film as a Slovak majority project, even in the development phase. The bizarre arrogance on the part of most of the committee members led us to change the project to Czech majority funding. The Czech Film Fund gave us support immediately, and it was a nice relief to feel welcome again. After that, we got Slovak minority funding from an amazing new committee, where the number of men and women was balanced. Then we got Eurimages funding, which is essential for auteur films. I’m very grateful for all the institutions that supported us. It’s a privilege to be able to do auteur films in these neoliberal times, when we believe human beings can be treated like commodities. I hope the fact that Slovakia has a new, female president [Zuzana Čaputová, elected in March] will bring more authenticity and decency into politics, so we can end corruption and get people’s trust back again. And I hope Čaputová will be an inspiration for the Slovak Audiovisual Fund to support filmmakers and treat us with integrity, respect, and decency. These are qualities essential not only in work relationships and social and political life, but especially within our families.

cannes IFF CANNES CLASSICS

Loves of a Blonde

to Screen in Cannes Classics A restored version of Miloš Forman’s iconic Loves of a Blonde screens this year in the Cannes Classics showcase. This marks the third time a Czech classic has appeared in this prestigious section in recent years, following Diamonds of the Night, in 2018, and Ikarie XB 1, in 2016. by Markéta Šantrochová

orman is known to moviegoers the world over as the creative force behind such unforgettable works as Black Peter, The Firemen’s Ball, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and, of course, Amadeus, winner of every prestigious film award there is, from the Oscars to the Golden Globes and Cannes to the Berlinale. The director, who passed away last year at age 86, was a brilliant observer of human nature and a storyteller whose films overflowed with his love of people.

Loves of a Blonde was Forman’s third feature, inspired by a real-life experience. As he describes it, “I was in between my first and second marriage, so at night I would often walk aimlessly, going from pub to pub, visiting one friend after the next. One time, after midnight, I was driving home down

Všehrdova Street when I saw a girl with a suitcase walking across the bridge, so I stopped the car and offered to help. She told me she had come to meet a boy she’d met in Varnsdorf a few days earlier, but then found out the address he had given her was false.” “For some reason,” Forman said, “the story made a big impact on me, and I kept remembering it at unexpected times. So finally I decided to ask Ivan Passer and Jaroslav Papoušek if they thought we could make a film out of it. And they said yes.” To give the film an authentic feel, they shot it in Zruč nad Sázavou, which had a shoe factory where most of the employees were women. A lot of the locals ended up appearing in the film, giving Forman a chance to prove his skill at directing nonactors together with

professionals, which came to be a trademark of his. In the movie, Andula lives in a small factory town where there are sixteen women for every man, stacking the odds against her in her desperate search for love. But then one day a rakish piano player shows up, temporarily offering the prospect of relief. With its tender and humorous look at Andula’s path from the first pangs of romance to inevitable disappointment, Loves of a Blonde became an instant classic of the Czechoslovak New Wave and earned Forman the first of his many Academy Award nominations.

Loves of a Blonde premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 1965. In 2019, the National Film Archive in Prague digitally restored the film.

cannes IFF CINÉFONDATION

One Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand

Young director Ondřej Erban, a student at FAMU in Prague, comes to Cannes Cinéfondation with One Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand, a short fictional film about debt and its impact on people’s everyday lives. Earlier this year, the film won the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film.

ight now almost one in ten Czechs over the age of 15 faces the prospect of having property seized due to their failure to pay a debt. Every day, more and more people are falling into the debt trap, but Karel stands on the opposite side of the dilemma: His job is collecting debts. Erban says his initial inspiration for the film was Andrea Culková’s documentary Don´t Take My Life, which opens with her rolling the camera as two officers show up at her door, force their way in, and proceed to rifle through her belongings. Erban says he was struck, even just watching the film, by the deep feeling of powerlessness a person undergoes when all they can do is stand and watch as someone walks away with their valued possessions. “I wanted to give the audience as authentic an experience as possible of what it’s like to have your property seized,” the young director says. “I wanted to give them a feeling that

would stay with them even after the film was over, so maybe they would have a little bit more empathy for the people who get caught in debt trap.” Erban says One Hundred and Twentyeight Thousand “was a huge challenge for me as a director, mainly because, unlike my previous efforts, it’s based a lot on the acting, and I’ve always considered working with actors to be my biggest weakness. I tried to make it easier on myself by choosing good actors, and I think it worked. Ctirad Götz, Elizaveta Maximová, and Jirka Konvalinka are all amazing, at least as far as I’m concerned.” One Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand was jointly produced by FAMU and the Filmtalent Zlín Foundation. Czech films have a rich tradition of participation in the Cinéfondation section at Cannes, the most recent example being Atlantis, 2003, by director Michal Blaško, whose latest feature- length project, Victim, appears this year in the Cinéfondation’s Atelier.

by Markéta Šantrochová

Ondřej Erban (b. 1986) is a student at FAMU film school in Prague. One Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand is his second student film. Before entering FAMU, Ondřej earned a master’s degree in media studies at Charles University, and he currently works as a journalist for Czech TV.

Other Czech films presented in the Cinéfondation section in recent years are the drama Retriever (dir. Tomáš Klein and Tomáš Merta, 2015), the fantasy comedy Ham Story (dir. Eliška Chytková, 2013), the environmentally engagé Pandas (dir. Matúš Vizár, 2013), the drama Tambylles (dir. Michal Hogenauer, 2012), the tragicomedy Cagey Tigers (dir. Aramisova, 2011), and the psychological drama Bába (dir. Zuzana Špidlová), which won the Cinéfondation main prize in 2009.

CANNES IFF ACID

Solo for Humanity This year’s lineup of the ACID programme at Cannes IFF premieres Solo, directed by Artemio Benki, a sensitive piece about a young Argentinean composer and piano virtuoso named Martin, who has suffered a nervous breakdown and is recovering at the most highly regarded, but also controversial, psychiatric hospital in Latin America. As the most promising talent of his generation, Martin is trying to find a way to overcome his mental illness and return to life outside the walls. by Markéta Šantrochová

What inspired you to make this film? How did you meet your main protagonist? I visited the Borda Hospital for the first time in December 2014. I remember the place, the faces. I wanted to come back. I felt there was a story there I had to tell.

and listening to this curious “tabletoptapping” sonata in respectful silence. I approached out of curiosity. After a few minutes, Martin finished playing. I could see the emotion in the eyes of his audience. I asked who he was. They said: “Martin, the maestro.”

When I returned some time later, I met Martin. He was sitting, focused and passionate, tapping away on a small table as if it were a piano. Suddenly, a childhood memory of mine came back to me: My parents once tested my will by promising to buy me a piano if I would practice on the tabletop one hour a day for three months. After two months, I gave up.

A few days later, I came back to the Borda. That day, Martin was playing the piano at the hospital’s cultural center. Filled with emotion, he interpreted a complicated piece by Mozart, his fingers dancing swiftly and easily over the keyboard. We started talking. Gradually, he opened up to me, telling me about his first composition, which, in a way, was what had driven him into the hospital.

Even from a distance, it was clear that Martin wasn’t just an ordinary patient but an accomplished musician. Other patients were hanging around, watching

What is the structure of the film? The narrative of Solo is essentially focused on Martin. What interests me

Solo is a coproduction between the Czech Republic, France, Argentina, and Austria, supported by the Czech Film Fund (€57,692), Creative Europe–MEDIA, Eurimages, and the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), INCAA Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales and Bundeskanzleramt Österreich – Kunst und Kultur. International sales are being handled by Slingshot Films from Italy. The ACID programme at Cannes IFF, created in 1993, presents nine feature films, selected by filmmakers and members of the Association for the Distribution of Independant Cinema. The last Czech film to be featured in the ACID lineup was The Way Out, by Petr Vaclav, in 2014.

about his trajectory—he’s in the hospital and plans to get out—is that, in the process, he draws a line between inside and outside. He’s trying to find his place, and it’s in this intermediate world between “insanity” and “normality” that he creates a safe space for himself. This border between normality and abnormality is one of the film’s main themes.

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Kiruna - A Brand New World

Czech documentaries

Bright Prospects for

Czech Documentaries Czech documentary films have made an international splash in recent years. And, if the recent world premiere of Solo in the ACID programme at Cannes IFF and three world premieres in the official program of the 2019 Visions du Réel are any indication, that trend is set to continue. Several new documentaries, now in the finishing stages, are looking to storm major festivals this summer and autumn. by Vítězslav Chovanec

Women Step to the Fore There are plenty of women on the Czech documentary scene, creators and producers alike. It is no coincidence that all three films at this year’s Visions du Réel, held in Nyon, Switzerland, were directed or codirected by women. Two are debut directors who shot their projects outside the Czech Republic.

he current success of Czech documentary films springs from the arrival of a new generation of creatives and producers who look beyond national borders to international themes and modes of cinematic expression, and are used to working in multinational coproductions. These budding talents complement the masters who have already established a name for themselves abroad—Helena Třeštíková (Katka), Filip Remunda and Vít Klusák (Czech Dream), and Martin Mareček (Solar Eclipse)—which creates a healthy breeding ground for a variety of themes and approaches. The Sound Is Innocent

Greta Stocklassa’s first feature-length documentary, Kiruna - A Brand New World, visits the Arctic town of Kiruna, Sweden, teetering on the edge between progress and ruin. Iron ore mining threatens to destroy the town, forcing the evacuation of its inhabitants. The mining company promises to build a nicer, more modern

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Caught in the Net

city, but the inhabitants themselves are beset by uncertainty. The director’s look at the microdramas of ordinary people on the edge of civilization points to the dilemmas and insecurities faced by modern Europe as a whole. The Czech Film Fund supported the film’s production with a grant of €25,000.

Kiruna, appearing at Visions du Réel in the main International Feature Film Competition, is sold by Paul Thiltges Distributions and produced by Analog Vision, a company founded by the project’s producers, Veronika Kührová and Michal Kráčmer. The same duo was also behind My Unknown Soldier, by debut director Anna Kryvenko, which premiered at DOK Leipzig in 2018. The second debut screening in the Swiss festival is The Sound Is Innocent, by Johana Ožvold, a coproduction between the Czech Republic (Cinémotif Films, Czech Television, UPP, Soundsquare), France (Films de Force Majeure), and Slovakia (Punkchart films, Radio and Television Slovakia). The project was supported by the Czech Film Fund in its developmental and production stages with a total of €69,231. A playful and poetic look at the history and current state of electronic music, Ožvold’s film was selected for the International Burning Lights Competition, which focuses on films with a bold format. Producer Kristýna Michálek Květová (Cinémotif Films) is also working on another coproduction with Western Europe—specifically Beauvoir Films, from Switzerland—for a project by first-time director Fiona Ziegler, In Between Two Worlds, currently in development.

Nomad Meets the City

Solo

Czech documentaries

The third film in the Visions du Réel program, this time in the Grand Angle section, Off Sides, is about an exchange trip for young hockey players from the Czech Republic and Morocco. The two teams not only meet on the ice, but also visit one another’s homes and families, creating a story filled with gentle and liberating humor. The directing duo, Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar, previously worked together on the film FC Roma (which won the best documentary in the Czech Joy competition at the Ji.hlava IDFF in 2016). Tomáš Bojar produced the project through his company Cinema Arsenal, with international distribution handled by the Czech sales company Filmotor. The film received support from the Czech Film Fund in the amount of €30,969. Female filmmakers are also behind other significant projects currently in the final phase of postproduction and awaiting their world premiere. Forman vs. Forman, by Helena Třeštíková, the “first lady of Czech documentary filmmaking,” is about the recently deceased Oscar-winning director Miloš Forman. Using unique archival footage, Třeštíková tells a personal tale set against the backdrop of dramatic historical change. The Czech company Negativ produced the picture in cooperation with Czech Television, the French company Alegria, and the broadcaster ARTE.

Following Topics From Mongolia to China to the South Pole As this sketch of recently completed films suggests, Czech producers are increasingly looking beyond the borders of the Czech Republic to find intriguing documentary subjects.

Another debut filmmaker, in this case of U.S. origin, is Anji Sauvé Clubb, who is working with producer Alice Tabery of Cinepoint to complete her portrait of social and urban change in modern Mongolia. The story of Tumurbaatar offers broader context for the locals’ transition from nomadism to urbanism and the associated crises of identity and economics. Nomad Meets the City is a Czech coproduction with the United States and Mongolia, and represents progressive trends in contemporary Czech documentary filmmaking. China’s controversial one-child policy is the subject of the second feature film by Tomáš Etzler, The Heaven,

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produced by Jan Macola through his company Mimesis Film (Inside the War on ISIS, Normal Autistic Film). The film’s director has been in China as a correspondent for CNN and Czech Television for over a decade, documenting the stories of handicapped children whose parents abandoned them in the hopes of bearing new, healthy children, who will care for them in their old age. The documentary essay FREM pivots to take us first on an Arctic exhibition, then to New Zealand, with Slovak director Viera Čákanyová, working in cooperation with Hypermarket Film and the Slovak Punkchart films. One of the most agile documentary production companies in the Czech Republic, Hypermarket Film, and its founders Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda, are currently completing their next work, Pepik the Czech Goes to Poland in a Quest for Love of God, in which their company figures as coproducer alongside Vernes and its producers Jana Brožková and FAMU dean Zdeněk Holý. The relaxed, summer trek through Poland deals with the varying views on religion held by Czechs and Poles, which, despite their geographical and cultural proximity, could not be more different.

Over the Hills

their younger counterparts, whether as script consultants or in other roles. That is the case for the newly completed Caught in the Net, a joint project by Klusák and FAMU student Barbora Chalupová. In this social experiment, the filmmakers open up the subject of online child abuse, using young girls’ profiles to communicate with virtual predators, and actually meet some of them. The Czech company Hypermarket Film is producing the project in coproduction with Peter Kerekes Film of Slovakia, and has plans to tie in educational activities to engender a nationwide discussion of the issue.

Frem

Czech documentaries

Intergenerational Connections

Despite what some might expect, there is close contact between the different generations of filmmakers in the Czech Republic. Established filmmakers like Karel Vachek, Helena Třeštíková, Vít Klusák, and Filip Remunda have been teaching documentary filmmaking at FAMU for many years, directly influencing their emerging peers. Often they even collaborate on the projects of

Pepik the Czech Goes to Poland in a Quest for Love of God

Off Sides

Another film by an experienced director that will soon be ready for distribution is Over the Hills, a road-movie about fatherhood and growing up, by director Martin Mareček and producer Petr Oukropec of Negativ. The film, a coproduction with HBO Europe, should be out in summer of this year. The above-mentioned films are currently in postproduction and will soon be ready for Czech and international distribution. Even this overview makes clear the recent trends in Czech documentary filmmaking, where beginning directors, women and men alike, seek out opportunities for foreign coproductions, and often travel far beyond the borders in search of subject matter. Documentaries coming out of the Czech Republic are calling out for attention ever more loudly, and these upcoming projects deserve every bit they get.

Focus Věra chytilová

Without Risking

It All, You Can’t Discover Anything

The Anarchic Cinema of Věra Chytilová: A Retrospective in America by Irena Kovarova

he fierce personality and piercing intellect of Věra Chytilová is immortalized through her groundbreaking films. Thanks to interviews and documentary portraits, we can glimpse it directly. The constant dialogue Chytilová conducted with herself, her audience, and the people surrounding her—that was the foundation, the means, and the goal of her art. “Why?” was her most frequent question. She wanted to expose what leads a person to make a decision, to understand a different point of view.

Chytilová was an artist who wanted absolute freedom, even if it led her to mistakes. She believed that you learn more from mistakes than from successes. She was convinced that without risk, there is no gain, no discovery. The first time Chytilová risked it all was when she decided, at the ripe age of 28, to study film directing. She abandoned her previous life, going all in for a career that in her time still wasn’t pursued by many women. Already at the entrance exam, she challenged

Daisies

the committee who represented the dominant filmmaking style of the day: She wanted to direct films because she didn’t like what she saw in cinemas— the mere illustration of stories. Throughout her career she prodded the form, unafraid to interfere with the story through the use of associations, deforming the structure, image, or content. She sought to capture life in its ordinary situations and feelings. She didn’t seek originality, but a better means to express what she wanted to say. To spark a dialogue with her audience. To get to the core of the truth, express the flow of life, and disrupt reality. Her interest lay in the author’s relationship to what is unfolding, her stance to the story, what she thinks of it. In her view, a film should contribute to understanding and compassion. Often impatient and raging, Chytilová called herself a tigress. She was a cub of the tiger she saw in her beloved father. Her family gave her the strength and freedom to become what she longed to be. She in turn offered the same to her children, artists in their own right. Grounded in her family and relationships with her husband, cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, and her close friend, screenwriter and costume designer Ester Krumbachová, Chytilová created new worlds. She had an insatiable thirst for filmmaking, taken from her at the height of her artistic prowess after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Focus

For six years she wasn’t allowed to make feature films, yet she refused to consider herself a banned artist, fighting the system every step of the way, with every weapon available: “Men fear a ‘hysterical woman’.” She became notorious for screaming and complaining. The fight kept her believing she would be back behind the camera. And return she did, uncompromising as ever, skillfully circumventing every obstacle, beating the establishment at their own game of words. Being a woman, in Chytilová’s eyes, wasn’t a handicap. She felt equal and refused to accept any limitations. She believed that merit trumped gender, saying: “To think otherwise is nonsense. I don’t have time for that.” Nonetheless her individualism and frank portrayal of women made her a feminist icon. The year Chytilová would have turned 90, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in New York City, put on a retrospective to celebrate this icon with a survey of her career. First, the early films, centering on the theme of women searching for their limits and daring to surpass them

(Ceiling, A Bagful of Fleas, Something Different). Next, her exceptional contributions to the Czechoslovak New Wave canon, with Automat Svět (from the omnibus Pearls of the Deep) and the rebellious and convention-breaking Daisies and Fruit of Paradise, her most important collaborations with Kučera and Krumbachová. Then come the films from the period after the ban on her was lifted: The Apple Game, which put male weakness on full display, and Panelstory, a blunt exposé of the shallowness and realities of a system striving for communism only in name. The director’s lesser-known work from the 1980s was represented here by The Jester and the Queen, The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun, and her take on teen horror, Wolf’s Hole. The post-1989 period, when her country abandoned the communist dream for the promise of freedom in capitalism, Chytilová showed her satirical might in The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday and the edgy rape revenge farce Traps. Her final film, Pleasant Moments, marks a return to her overarching theme of a woman looking to find her own voice and strength to follow her own path. The Apple Game

Wolf’s Hole

Something Different

Věra chytilová

The Jester and the Queen

“We’ve loved Věra Chytilová’s films for years here at BAM and were honoured to run a restoration of Daises back in 2012. Her work – so personal and political yet also exciting and funny – represents the exact kind of film artists we want to support here at BAM. With so few of her films available in the United States the chance to present a survey of her entire career is a real thrill, introducing people that may only have seen Daisies to the full scope of her films – decades of daring work that demands to be seen. We are also excited to be showcasing films by the younger generation of fabulous Czech filmmakers that she mentored during her time at FAMU, showing the incredible present and future of Czech cinema.” Jesse Trussell, curator at BAM

To complete the retrospective, BAM Film presented the extraordinary documentary portrait Journey, by Jasmina Blažević, and a sampling of recent works by Chytilová’s students at the Prague film academy FAMU, who carry on her torch of personal filmmaking: Olmo Omerzu’s ironic melodrama of family implosion, Family Film; the fearlessly feminist indictment of sexual assault and the Slovak mental health system Filthy (Tereza Nvotová); and the biting comedy of quarter-life anxiety Dreamers (Jitka Rudolfová). A selection from the New York retrospective will be on tour in North America until spring of 2020.

IN PRODUCTION charlatan

A Powerful Healer Fights His Own Demons:

Agnieszka Holland Shoots

Charlatan The almost forgotten story of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek, who cured millions even as he suffered under both Nazi and Communist rule. by Pavel Sladký

o sooner had veteran Polish director Agnieszka Holland premiered her latest feature, Mr. Jones, at the Berlinale earlier this year than she went straight onto the set of a new period piece: Charlatan, the true story of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek, who cured five million people in the first half of the 20th century, despite lacking any formal medical education. Mikolášek healed celebrities in the 1930s, Nazi officers in the 1940s, and saved the life of Czechoslovakia’s Communist president Antonín Zápotocký in the 1950s. In the eyes of Holland and her collaborator, Czech Lion– winning screenwriter Marek Epstein, Mikolášek was an

extraordinary figure, blessed with a gift for healing, yet fighting inner demons. In their film, he will be played by Ivan Trojan, one of the Czech Republic’s most acclaimed actors, a six-time Czech Lion winner, and his 18-yearold son Josef Trojan, who will portray the young Mikolášek onscreen. “Mikolášek didn’t use shamanism, rituals, or hypnosis. His approach was based on rational medical grounds, and he was one of the greatest experts in herbal medicine. He helped so many people,” Holland said when we sat down with her a few days before production on the film began. “For many, he was like a saint. People would

IN PRODUCTION charlatan his surroundings all his life. Unfortunately, he wasn’t always able to find it.” Although Charlatan’s plot traces Mikolášek’s life over five decades, the main focus will be on the dark era of the ’50s, when the Communist regime put him on trial following the death of President Antonín Zápotocký in 1957, despite the president’s gratitude to Mikolášek for saving his life from gangrene, which he contracted during World War II, in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

“Historical accuracy is not that important for me in this story. What’s important is the character’s inner truth,”

line up to see him. But healing was also a cure for himself. Without it his life would have been miserable. When war and politics got in the way of his mission, he lost an important dimension of his life. He was also probably having a love affair with his assistant, though his homosexuality was never confirmed. In general, there was just a lot of tension in his life.”

A Healer Who Undressed His Patients and Made Them Human Again Epstein, who wrote the screenplay, agrees that Mikolášek was a complex personality. “There is no doubt that he did a lot of good and saved many lives. Yet there were darker corners in his soul that I needed to map and understand. These shadows are outlined in the memories that we took the liberty of incorporating into our story. Whether or not people perceive it from our narrative, for me Mikolášek was a man searching for love in himself and

Holland explains. “It’s also partly the story of a conformist, because he was that too. His passion for healing, and for keeping his power, were so great that he sacrificed his political opinions. He knew he needed to play the game to survive, and he managed to do so for quite a long time. He’s a survivor, a classic Czech character,” Holland says with a smile. “He survived not only for himself, but also for others. What happened to him opens a lot of questions for the contemporary world.” The director says the fact that Mikolášek’s story has almost been forgotten and different sources vary in their approach to him represents an opportunity, offering a wide range of interpretation, the possibility for fiction and mystery. “Almost everything about Mikolášek is remarkable,” says Epstein, one of the most prolific screenwriters in the Czech Republic over the past decade. “His uncanny ability to diagnose urine, his stubbornness in avoiding convention under every system, even as those systems sought to exploit, then destroy him. His gift gave him undeniable advantages, yet it also led him dangerously close to the edge. He cured famous figures in democratic Czechoslovakia, officers of fascist Germany, and leaders of Communist Czechoslovakia. He undressed his patients and made them human again. Healing was his destiny. His private life offers a classic storyline with a tragic outcome.”

IN PRODUCTION

charlatan

Czech Film Crews Admired for Combination of Freedom and Professionalism Holland, who studied at the FAMU film school in Prague in the ’60s, is known for directing the films Total Eclipse, Spoor, In Darkness, Europa Europa, as well as TV hits like House of Cards and Treme. She loves coming back to the Czech Republic, where she is admired by critics and audiences alike—especially for her HBO TV miniseries Burning Bush, the story of the political intrigue and fight for freedom in Communist Czechoslovakia following the death of Jan Palach, the young student who set himself on fire in Prague in January 1969. “I wasn’t planning on shooting another bio-pic or period drama when the producer Šárka Cimbalová approached me, but the script had such tremendous style and mystery that it drew me in,” said Holland. “Plus Burning Bush was a very happy and inspiring shoot, in 2013. Some of the crew I know already from that, and some are new, which is a very good balance. In general I like the way Czech crews work. It’s a combination of trust, free thinking, and an ability to react quickly to changing conditions, but at the same time very precisely organized,

which is based on a wealth of experience with both local productions and U.S. or Western movies and TV series. It’s truly a great combination.”

Language Is the Music of the Story “Our goal this time is to try to find a very simple way of filming, and break the conventional way of storytelling,” Holland says. As for the lead roles, she says she immediately thought of Ivan Trojan, one of the Czech Republic’s most sought-after actors. Then she also decided to take his son Josef on board. “It’s a miracle, having these two men embody the same character. I’m looking forward to the family dynamics on set. Will the father be domineering, because of all his experience? Will the son rebel? I’m curious to see.” The film is shot in Czech, because, according to Holland, the language is the music of the story. “We need to stay truthful to the identity of the story and place. Earlier in my career, I did a movie about Poland in English, but I always felt it was unnatural. And I definitely dislike those europudding productions. The story changes if you change the language.”

Script editor Jaroslav Sedláček, director Agnieszka Holland, cinematographer Martin Štrba and producer Šárka Cimbalová on set.

Charlatan is a coproduction between the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, and Slovakia. The film is produced by Šárka Cimbalová and Kevan Van Thompson of Marlene Film Production, and coproduced by Mike Downey (Film & Music Entertainment) from Ireland, and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska from Madants, Poland. Additional coproducers: Czech Television, Barrandov Studio, and Radio and Television Slovakia. The film has a total budget of €3 million, with support from the Czech Film Fund of €512,692. It was presented as a selected project at the Berlinale Co-production Market in 2016. Films Boutique is handling the sales. The premiere is slated for spring 2020.

introducing film kolektiv

Film Kolektiv: The League of Extraordinary Producers

Five producers, one production company. How a group of filmmaking friends banded together to create ambitious border-crossing projects. by Martin Kudláč

Amundsen

t’s not only popular culture that trumpets the virtues of group collaboration over fierce individualism. From Greek mythology and the Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece to the adventures of the Three Musketeers, right up to the recent deluge of superpowered men and women on the silver screen, narratives about heroes joining forces for a higher purpose are as old as human civilization. Pavel Berčík, Jan Kallista, Silvie Michajlova, Karla Stojáková and Ondřej Zima—the group of friends behind the Czech production company Film Kolektiv—can attest to the benefits of banding together to achieve a common goal. Cinema, after all, is by its nature a collective form of art. “We all felt it would be better to come together, instead of competing with one another in the small Czech market, fighting for the same money and coproduction and business partners,” says founding member Pavel Berčík.

Corn Island

Laying the Groundwork While 2013 marked year zero for Film Kolektiv, none of the founders is a newcomer to the industry. On the contrary, each of them has already established a solid foundation, with talent, experience, skill, projects, and name recognition. Ondřej Zima and Pavel Berčík have been producing projects for the big and small screen alike since 2006, through Evolution Films, a production company they cofounded. While Berčík focuses mainly on international projects and domestic documentaries, Zima’s name is associated with popular comedy projects, including TV shows The Fourth Star and The Gnome, and the cult favorite Sunday League. Besides his work for Evolution Films, Zima has a successful creative partnership with Jan Prušinovský, the director known for his comedies. Together the producing-directing team

formed a subsidiary of Evolution Films called Offside Men, reserved for auteur-driven projects. Projects so far include the international awardwinning social dramedy The Snake Brothers, the feature-length prequel to the beloved comedy series Sunday League, and the Communist-era dramedy The Teacher, helmed by Jan Hřebejk, which had a limited run in the United States. While Zima’s work is defined by quirky humor, Karla Stojáková brings a different plate of experiences to the Film Kolektiv table. Back in 2000, she cofounded the independent production company Axman Production, with Ivana Axmanová. In addition to helping launch the career of director Julius Ševčík— who has since gone on to work with such European stars as Claes Bang, Carice van Houten, and Hanna Alström— Axman’s slate boasts an abundance of successful international projects, from countries as far apart as South Korea and Iceland.

introducing

film kolektiv

Sunday League

As the son of Jaromír Kallista—producer behind one of the 20th century’s most influential filmmakers, Czech surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer—Jan Kallista has big shoes to fill. To everyone’s delight, he has successfully carved out a career of his own, acquiring experience as a production manager in several film companies before joining Ad Wood, a self-described creative shop producing mostly commercials, in 2005. Two years later, he became the company’s sole owner. In 2015, the foursome of Berčík, Kallista, Stojáková, and Zima welcomed a new member on board, strengthening their ranks. The latest arrival, Silvie Michajlova, worked as a line producer on commercials and international projects. She met Zima and Berčík on the series The Fourth Star, then became a part of Film Kolektiv after work on The Snake Brothers.

Producers Assemble(d) Even though the quintuplet of seasoned professionals has joined forces as a collective, their individual companies continue to exist. Evolution Films, Axman Productions, and Ad Wood all retain their autonomy and “are still

Film Spa

employed in particular cases, either due to their history, copyrights, or image and brand awareness in certain markets,” Michajlova said. As she pointed out, “The companies can help each other, practically and financially.” As Stojáková noted, the synergy doesn’t stem from the production companies, but from the producers behind them. And even though every member of Film Kolektiv has a different personality, different preferences, and different personal ties with writers and directors, every project is consulted and decided upon by collective vote. The large number of divergent perspectives gathered under a single (super)company means the same project can be assessed from different angles, which gives Film Kolektiv additional power. The inner workings of each particular project vary; there is no single, cookiecutter approach. Kallista says larger projects are usually tackled by a tandem of producers, with the remaining members of the collective prepared to lend a hand if need be, despite whatever other projects they have in the works. He says each producer is typically juggling at least five projects at a time. The scope of Film Kolektiv is extensive, encompassing fiction and documentary features, TV series and shows, international coproductions and film services. Michajlova explains, “It comes from the variety of our interests and personalities, plus our goal of diversifying financial and creative risk.” The producers agree that although there are no formal criteria for picking projects, one rule applies: “We don’t engage in genres we don’t understand.” Still, says Berčík,

The Teacher

they remain open to broadening their horizons and any new challenges that might come their way. While Film Kolektiv straddles local and foreign projects with the same verve, they are clear that their goal is to work on domestic projects with export potential. “We want to create content not solely for the Czech Republic, but for foreign audiences as well, and to merge domestic and international talent for topics that require international synergy,” Stojáková said, expanding on the company’s vision and strategy.

Transnational Connection Film Kolektiv’s portfolio serves as a testament to that vision. In its early days, the company made Yuma, directed by Piotr Mularuk in a CzechPolish coproduction. The project was a milestone in Czech cinema, as the first minority coproduction to receive support from the Czech Film Fund. Next, on George Ovashvili’s Corn Island, a meditative sociopolitical drama with coming-of-age elements, Film Kolektiv matched Georgian and Czech professionals with 11 other nationalities. The film netted the Crystal Globe in the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s main competition, as well as the Ecumenical Jury award, and earned accolades across the international festival circuit.

Corn Island was not the only oeuvre from Film Kolektiv to be festooned at the 49th edition of the Karlovy Vary IFF. Directed by Olga Sommerová and produced by Pavel Berčík, the

introducing

The year after that, Zima produced Film Spa, a feature-length documentary by Miroslav Janek recounting the history of the Karlovy Vary festival. Documentary films in fact are a steady fixture on Film Kolektiv’s slate. Berčík’s creative partnership with Sommerová also gave rise to Cervena, about the internationally recognized Czech opera singer Soňa Červená, which won the Czech Lion as Best Documentary of 2017. When it comes to international coproductions, Film Kolektiv’s specialization has turned out to be Asia and Scandinavia. Their portfolio brims with Korean and Chinese films, including Ode to My Father, considered the most successful Korean film at the time of its release, and Lovers in Prague, which attracted such flocks of tourists to the Czech capital that a direct Prague-Seoul airline link had to be established, Berčík said. Collaboration with Scandinavian countries tends to gravitate towards

genre filmmaking, as evidenced by the fairy tale King of Christmas and the unorthodox detective comedy Detective Down. Film Kolektiv recently worked on the Norwegian bio-pic Amundsen, helmed by Pirates of the Caribbean director Espen Sangberg, with the Czech costume designer Michaela Horáčková Hořejší contributing wardrobe work on the period drama. “We take this as a sign that the Czech Republic isn’t just a country of film craftsmen, but a country of artists of international caliber,” said Stojáková.

’90s; a fairy tale called The Watchmaker’s Apprentice; Architecture 58-89, a documentary about Communist-era architecture with Czech rapper Vladimir 518 at the helm; and The Mistakes, the latest project by the team of Zima & Prušinovský, about a girl whose past appearance in porn comes back to haunt her when she meets her “true love.” Magic Voice of Rebel

Brimming Slate, Bright Future At this point, Film Kolektiv’s proverbial glass is overflowing. Currently they are working on a coming-of-age series, The Letter for the King, for streaming behemoth Netflix, their largest project to date. Shooting on the series, which is based on a Dutch novel, recently moved from New Zealand to Prague. Also, in addition to Martian Ships, a tragic love story based on true events, being prepared in coproduction with Norway, the producers are busy with Money From Hitler, a contemporary drama about Czech-German ties; The Last of the Noblewomen, a comedy set in the early The Snakes Brothers

documentary Magic Voice of a Rebel, about singer Marta Kubišová, “symbol of freedom for every generation in the newly freed Czechoslovakia,” was honored with the Audience Award.

Yuma

film kolektiv

Film Kolektiv is also readying an ambitious genre, or speculative, fiction film titled Restore Point, a cross between Scandi-Noir and Children of Men, minus the latter’s dystopian setting. According to Kallista, the project is nearing principal photography, with the first camera expected to roll by the end of 2019. Restore Point has already managed to garner buzz on the international industry circuit while reaping prizes. With so much ambitious work ahead of them, Berčík spoke on behalf of the league of enthusiastic producers: “We want to continue to develop and produce projects. We want to seek opportunities in areas we haven’t yet explored, to play and make grandiose plans, to fall and rise... to be proud of what we have achieved, and not fold under pressure.”

CREATIVE EUROPE

Of Unwanted Things and People

MEDIA

Support for

Animation Is Critical, Especially in the Development Stage

Creative Europe supported multiple Czech animated projects over the course of 2014–2018 through the MEDIA program. by Daniela Staníková

Even Mice Belong in Heaven

for animated feature pitches at the CEE Animation Forum and received the Eurimages Co-production Development Award this March. The film is a Czech-Slovak-Slovene-Polish coproduction. Creative Europe granted Of Unwanted Things and People with

mong those that stand out is the feature omnibus Of Unwanted Things and People, which is based on Arnošt Goldflam’s book of the same name and is scheduled for completion in 2021. In 2018 the project won the competition

MEDIA Development support, which the project’s author and Czech producer Martin Vandas of MAUR film said was one of the main grants they received: “Thanks to MEDIA support I was able to help my co-producers with the comprehensive visual arrangement. We were also able to finish up the final look for the animation. The funding also helped us present the project at international panels. Thanks to MEDIA support, our co-producers also had better credibility with their own film funds and other institutions.” The same goes for Vladimír Lhoták of Fresh Films, the company behind the feature film Even Mice Belong in Heaven based on the book of the same name by Iva Procházková. “Getting MEDIA support gives a project in development a certain degree of prestige and the access to international markets and fora is easier then,” he says. The feature-length amalgamation of puppetry and computer animation is a Czech-French-Polish-Slovak coproduction and is slated for

The Jester and the Queen

CREATIVE EUROPE completion in 2020. “The support of Creative Europe came at a key moment when we were just discovering what a complex endeavour developing a feature-length animated film is, both creatively and production-wise. The funding gave us the chance to take the project to most of the important festivals and pitching events in Europe and Canada where we found our co-producers,” Lhoták says, adding: “The association with MEDIA brings with it the support of established organisations and is a real boon to the confidence and ambitions of animation producers in the region.” That’s a view shared by Bionaut’s Bára Příkaská, the producer behind the upcoming animated series Hungry Bear Tales, the first such Czech series to come about through an international coproduction with Czech TV as the minority partner. The pilot episode, Blueberry Hunt, won the Golden Slipper at the 2018 Zlín Film Festival. “Thanks to the support of the MEDIA Slate program we had time to thoroughly prepare, present, and finance the project and are now in production with the first season. We also went through a number of coproduction markets that were critical for our project,” says Příkaská. Some of the projects that Creative Europe supported were also quite successful with viewers. For example, the 2017 feature-length animated 3D film Harvie and the Magic Museum became the best-selling Czech animated film in modern history.

MEDIA

Hungry Bear Tales

The MEDIA Creative Europe program is a synonym for Europe in the best sense of the word for the producers of the animated films supported. “The Creative Europe program gives me a feeling of confidence and faith in my work, that it has meaning and gets results. For example, without that support, we would not have the CEE Animation Forum, which is fundamental for animation in our region. Fifteen years in the EU has meant confidence for countries in the middle of Europe, respect for ourselves and others, and key human and social values,” says producer Martin Vandas. Vladimír Lhoták from Fresh Films adds: “Creative Europe’s coproduction schemes make it possible to create things that wouldn’t stand a chance of being produced on the domestic market alone. The anniversary of 15 years in the EU means a stable mooring in the audio-visual arena in Europe (and elsewhere), the possibility of

establishing equal partnerships, and the opportunity to develop one’s own creative content.” Bára Příkaská of Bionaut adds: “Being a part of Europe and the European market is essential for us as it allows for the creation of high-quality and ambitious projects with potential for international distribution.” Producers of the acclaimed animated projects agree that the MEDIA program’s launch in 2003 came about at a key moment when public financing of audio-visual work was not at its current level and has since brought a great deal of stimulus both in terms of critical support for films’ developmental phases and elsewhere. The Creative Europe – MEDIA programme (existing since 2014) supported the development of the following 9 Czech animated projects (feature-length films

Harvie and the Magic Museum

and/or TV series): Harvie and the Magic

Museum, Tony, Shelly & Genius, Of Unwanted Things and People, Hungry Bear Tales, Gargoyle’s UNESCO Tales, Living Large, Even Mice Belong in Heaven, Arny and His Buddies and The Great Adventures of Rosa and Dara. During the previous generations of the MEDIA programme, 10 Czech animated projects were supported, including European Film © Rolling Pictures

Academy Animated Feature Film 2012

Alois Nebel.

IN PRODUCTION

Even Mice Belong in Heaven

Even Mice Belong in Heaven: Upping the Ante for Czech Animation After years in development, the ambitious puppet film Even Mice Belong in Heaven went into production at the end of last year. The gloomy corridors and rooms of the Krátký Film building at Barrandov Studio came to life, filling up with crewmembers, spectacular sets, and sophisticated puppets. The film, directed by Denisa Grimmová and Jan Bubeníček, is expected to premiere in autumn or winter of 2020. In June 2019, Even Mice Belong in Heaven will be presented as part of the Works in Progress section at Mifa in Annecy. by Malvína Balvínová

Seven Screenplay Drafts From One Book The story of Even Mice Belong in Heaven dates back to 2010, when director Denisa Grimmová came up with the idea of adapting Iva Procházková’s 2006 book of the same name, which takes a gentle and playful approach in presenting the subject of death to children. Work on the project began in earnest in 2012, when Grimmová and the producer Vladimír Lhoták filed the first applications for development grants to the Czech Film Fund and the EU MEDIA Program. Over the next three and a half years, the project blossomed into an international coproduction that ended up being quite broad by Czech standards. In addition to Fresh Films and Hausboot for the Czechs, Even Mice is being

IN PRODUCTION Even Mice Belong in Heaven produced by Les Films du Cygne of France, Animoon of Poland, and CinemArt SK of Slovakia. The budget is €3,350,000, with financing from the Czech Film Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Polish Film Institute, and French regional funds Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Grand-Est, Région Sud, and Eurimages. Coproducing are Czech Television, Barrandov Studio, and Radio and Television Slovakia, which contributed to financing with presales. Once funding had been secured, the filmmakers set to writing the screenplay. Although departing from the original, the foundation remains unchanged: A mouse and a fox, irreconcilable enemies in life, meet again in animal heaven after an unfortunate accident. Stripped of their natural instincts, and especially their prejudices, they become best friends. Their desire to be together forever is fulfilled when they return to earth with their roles reversed. The screenplay went through two drafts by Czech director Alice Nellis, then was further developed by Richard Malatinský. Procházková’s original book, at fewer than 90 pages, didn’t provide enough material for a feature film, so the story was expanded. Working with script editors Jiří Kubíček and Norbert Maas from Germany and the other coproducers from Czech Republic, Malatinský produced five additional versions of the screenplay over the next three and a half years.

er who went so far as to create a chart tracking the emotions of the characters and the audience to highlight places where the characters went through a lot of emotions but, visually, audiences would be bored. They followed this process until they arrived at the final screenplay. “We want the film to be a well-rounded experience for children and adults alike, since they focus on different levels,” said Bubeníček. “The children will be sucked in by the adventure story, but they won’t even be unaware of the more serious themes.”

Polish Mice, Czech Foxes Even Mice Belong in Heaven features a total of 82 characters. With multiple puppet figures of the main characters—10 Whizzies and 8 Foxes, on-screen for 90 percent of the film—that means, all told, there are 94 puppets used in the film.

“I tip my hat to Richard, who managed to avoid hurting anyone’s ego, even when there were a lot of people commenting on the screenplay,” said Grimmová.

She emphasized that, ultimately, input from the French, Polish, and Slovak coproducers, as well as from the book’s author, the two script editors, and coproducer Czech Television, helped her and Bubeníček see the story from a different perspective. One example she gave was a coproduc-

Looking back, directors Grimmová and Jan Bubeníček (who previously collaborated on the 2016 original animated feature Murderous Tales), as well as Malatinský, said they were grateful for the input of their coproducers, even when they had to defend their ideas and find a way to compromise.

Puppet animation is an established tradition in the Czech Republic, and has been since World War II. But while Czech puppet films are still made in the style of 20th-century masters Jiří Trnka and Břetislav Pojar, techniques have developed in other parts of the world, as seen in works by artists like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson. With this in mind, the Even Mice team decided to up the ante. Their puppets have more complicated skeletons than the ones typically used in Czech films, and incorporate more technology. Some are covered in fur or feathers, while others, like the frog and lizards, are made of silicone. And some of the skeleton parts were printed on 3D printers. These puppets have mechanisms that the directors hadn’t encountered before. For the animators, working with furry puppets is a special challenge, so they use a technology called flocking to keep the fur from looking sloppy. “We learned a lot in the course of developing the puppets,” Grimmová said. The original intention was for most of the puppets to be custom-made in a foreign studio. But in the end, twothirds of them were created, along with the decorations, in the Czech Republic, in the same Krátký Film building where the shooting is taking place.

IN PRODUCTION Even Mice Belong in Heaven

“There are advantages, mainly that we know what’s inside the puppets, so we know how to fix them,” Grimmová said. As the main artist on the film, she said she also appreciates being able to make adjustments in the process of building the puppets, as well as being able to see them alongside one another. The mouse puppets are made in the Momakin studio, in Łódź, Poland. Grimmová said she communicates with them primarily by exchanging photographs, and all the producers have to pay close attention to make sure their puppets are fully compatible with her designs. They are then animated on sets built mainly by the puppet veteran Zdar Šorm.

Shooting at Barrandov Observing the shoot, which began at the end of last year, you come away with the impression of a spectacular international production, operating at a world-class level. And a closer look backstage proves this isn’t just an impression. The artistically impressive puppets are animated on epic sets that often take up several square meters and are sometimes several meters high. While some parts (even whole scenes) will be created in postproduction, as is the case for any animated film, the production at bottom rests on handmade, highly developed sets—for example, a lavish cinema in the bowels of a huge whale, an underground minecart system, a burdock forest, and a heavenly amusement park. Crewmembers talk via walkie-talkie and travel between studio buildings on kick scooters. “We discovered we actually walk several kilometers a day through the corridors of Krátký Film,” said producer Vladimír Lhoták of Fresh Films. The shooting takes place simultaneously on five or six sets, and there are plans to increase that to seven or eight. Working independently at each “station” is one animator who averages four seconds a day. Most of the movie is animated at 24 frames per second (fps), with part shot “on the twos,” or 12 fps. A relatively new technique for Czech puppet animation is lip-syncing, which the animators do based on dialogue spoken by U.S. actors.

The director of photography on the project is Radek Loukota, and all the camera movements that are supposed to be dynamic are programmed in advance. But the filmmakers wanted to avoid the static methods that give puppet films too much of a theatrical look, so they opted for a live-action style of camera work, even though it’s more demanding in terms of time and preparation. They’re even doing the lighting with a life-action approach. Each shot is filmed with only a slight overlap of 12 frames, so there won’t be too much work for the editor. “There’s so much precise preparatory work, even at the animatic stage, that afterwards the editing is minimal,” said Bubeníček. “The editing is done throughout. Recently we took the liberty of shooting one shot from two different camera angles, but we won’t be doing that again for a long time.” “In animation, every second of film means hours of work. And we can’t afford that,” Grimmová said. Rigorous preparation is essential. There are far more shooting days than on a live-action film, so it isn’t humanly possible to keep the bigger picture in mind. “We go from one day to the next, and the prep work is the only thing we can hold on to.”

Filming Until Year’s End By April, the filmmakers already had 20 percent of the footage shot. Shooting itself is expected to run until the end of 2019, with some postproduction taking place simultaneously (green-screening backgrounds, erasing puppets’ support mechanisms, retouching, etc.). The film’s running time will be 80 minutes, with multiple language versions. Release dates will depend on the festival premiere, with distribution on the Czech and Slovak markets by CinemArt, in France by Gebeka Films, in Poland by M2 Films, and internationally Even Mice will be represented by sales agent Charades. “We’re pleased with the puppets and sets and how they look. The people who made them are really talented,” Grimmová said about the shoot. “We’re exhausted, but we feel fulfilled.”

“Like every animated film, ours is very precisely planned out in advance, with everything counted down to the frame. The animators have no leeway to improvise. But if they come up with an idea we like and can talk about before we start shooting a scene, then we work it in,” Grimmová said.

FILM COMMISSION

REGIONAL Film Offices

Pilsen Region Film Office

Celebrates First Anniversary The Pilsen Region Film Office, launched in April 2018, is one of the most recent additions to the family of regional film offices, which work closely with the Czech Film Commission across the country. We spoke to Radka Šámalová, a member of the Pilsen Region Film Office team, about its first year and what the region offers to filmmakers.

What specific locations will filmmakers find in the Pilsen region? Besides numerous cultural and historical sites of every architectural style and era, filmmakers can also shoot in unexplored natural destinations. Apart from the mountainous Šumava Forest region, for example, there’s the newly opened former military area of Brdy, or the Sudetenland, whose genius loci is still untapped and more than ever of interest to filmmakers. The Brdy military area sounds like a location for a spy movie! Definitely, part of one could be filmed there! The site was taken over in 1950

by the army, and remained off-limits to ordinary visitors and tourists for many years, even after the fall of the Iron Curtain. There are many unexplored, hidden places, which, given that until 2016 the Brdy Forest was inaccessible, are still untouched. You also mentioned Sudeten villages with a troubled history? Yes, the Sudetenland region along the border perfectly reflects the entire 20th-century history of our country. After the post–World War II expulsion of ethnic Germans, many empty villages were shelled by our army, which used them for target practice. A lot of churches, cemeteries, and synagogues disappeared along with the villages, and the bombed and looted houses were flattened. Still, many villages were preserved, maintain their architectural character, and are inhabited. The mysterious and mystical atmosphere is still visible. What interesting projects have you worked on recently? Quite a variety! We had a Spanish crew doing a documentary series for the Discovery Channel, and Czech Television

How do you introduce your region to filmmakers? The Pilsen region is an ideal location for film shoots. It’s easily and quickly accessible not only from the Czech capital—it’s a one-hour drive from Prague to Pilsen—but also from neighboring Germany, Munich is just three hours away. Filmmakers will find a wide range of locations here, and good infrastructure, with top-class service providers at very affordable prices.

was filming a historic crime series in the centre of Pilsen as a stand-in for Prague. We’ve had many inquiries about locations from international crews. At present, we’re communicating mainly with producers of upcoming Czech films—everything from documentaries and feature films to fairy tales. In the spring, our region will be virtually under siege by filmmakers. Which is great!

FILM COMMISSION INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS

Crossing the Atlantic The Czech Film Commission paid a visit to the set of the Norwegian TV series Atlantic Crossing, which has been crisscrossing the Czech Republic since December 3, 2018. One of the most expensive Scandinavian television productions to date involves every public broadcaster in Scandinavia and is produced by Norway’s Cinenord. A big part of the eight-episode series is being shot in the Czech Republic, where 91 shooting days are planned.

“W

e caught up with the crew in the former Pragovka factory in Prague, which looks like a normal, modernday building from the outside, but once inside, you find parts of it have travelled back in time to World War Two for this show. In this historical universe, German troops occupy most of Europe, England and the Allies are on tenterhooks, and the Norwegian resistance has taken up refuge in Scotland. Thanks to Czech set decorators, this Prague location has been transformed into a former Norwegian military base as well as the studio of BBC Radio in London,” says Czech Film Commission head Pavlína Žipková. The series’ protagonist, Norwegian Crown Princess Märtha, along with her three children, departs Europe for America in 1940, leaving her husband behind in occupied territory. After successfully crossing the Atlantic,

“Until now, we’ve only heard the stories of successful men—the soldiers, generals, and politicians who strove for peace and the end of the Second World War. But strong women also played significant roles in our history. When I came across a newspaper article about the dramatic journey and life of Crown Princess Märtha, I was so impressed—it immediately caught my attention,” says director Alexander Eik on his motivation, adding that it took seven years of research before the script took shape. Why did the filmmakers decide to shoot in the Czech Republic? “From the beginning, I liked the variety and variability of the locations. Each is interesting; each one is different and yet similar to those you could find

Sofia Helin as Princess Märtha and Kyle MacLachlan as President Roosevelt

they initially stay in the White House. During the war years, Märtha cultivates a friendship with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who is impressed by her and her work. She is fearless, fierce, and determined to change the world, as she sets out to alter the course of her destiny and fight for Norwegian liberation.

DOP Carl Sundberg with director Alexander Eik

FILM COMMISSION INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS

in the Czech Republic in Scandinavia or England. I was also absolutely entranced by the beautiful nature here. Shots from Czech forests will be edited together with those of Norwegian nature, and I’m sure that in the end, the scene will be perfectly seamless,” says Eik enthusiastically. “Every location feels familiar and comfortable. The castles and châteaus have an almost-Scandinavian atmosphere, which is clear to see in the final results. The very creative crews are a massive help—we understand each other well. There’s nothing they can’t do, and I’m always amazed by their fast, professional, and positive approach,” adds the series’ producer Silje Hopland Eik of Cinenord. Czech locations stand in for Norway, Sweden, London, Scotland, Washington, and other U.S. cities, contributing to the series’ perfect mise–en–scène. The crew films at châteaus and castles in Kačina, Kroměříž, Litomyšl, Opočno, and Hořovice, in the town of Liberec, at the airport in Benešov, and in the Brdy forests. On stage at the Barrandov Studio, filmmakers built sets of twelve rooms of the White House, including the legendary Oval Office.

Foreign productions in the Czech Republic (in production or recently wrapped): The Wall, miniseries, ZDF, Germany | Local production company: Wilma Film Whiskey Cavalier, series, ABC, US | Stillking Features Freud, series, ORF/Netlfix, Austria/Germany | Mia Film The Letter for the King, series, Netflix, US | Unit+Sofa, Film Kolektiv Time for Love, feature film, China | Milk and Honey Pictures DNA, series, TV2, Denmark | Sirena Film A Boy Called Christmas, feature film, UK | Czech Anglo Pictures Das Boot 2, series, Sky, Germany | Stillking Features Unser wunderbaren Jahre, miniseries, ARD, Germany | Mia Film Oktoberfest, series, ARD, Germany | Maya Production

Responsible for keeping things running smoothly in the Czech Republic is the coproducing company Sirena Film. Producer Pavel Müller can’t speak highly enough of the cooperation. “So far everything’s gone according to plan, which is so important for us. Our crew numbers about 120, and only about 15 of those are from abroad; the rest are locals. Many of them hold senior positions on the creative team. The first AD is Jan Menšík, key makeup is Linda Eisenhamerová, the supervising art director the experienced Jindřich Kočí. In addition, the

Building the White House set

production designer Jette Lehmann has worked with a number of her Czech colleagues in the past, which is a huge advantage when it comes to communication and mutual understanding,” adds Müller. Although filming will continue until the first days of summer, producer Silje Hopland Eik is already thinking ahead to the next project that could be filmed in the Czech Republic. “Our shooting experience here has been fantastic, and living and working in Prague is a wonderful thing. It’s a beautiful city to live in. I’m already thinking about what project we could bring here next. Because we really want to shoot here again.”

industry czech film springboard

A Summer Fair

New Blood in the Veins of

The industry event Czech Film Springboard, attached to the Finále Plzeň Film Festival, has been introducing new Czech projects and emerging talent energetically for the past three years. These ambitious, promising projects in early development offer an inside look at which way Czech cinema is heading. by Martin Kudláč

owever, Czech Film Springboard doesn’t present upcoming projects solely for the benefit of festival scouts, potential distributors, and production partners. It also gives Czech producers and directors the chance to meet with experienced international professionals and hear their opinions. The Springboard enables them to test “how the project is perceived in the international context,” as Ondřej Zima, a producer for Film Kolektiv, said after unveiling his latest project, Mistakes (to be directed by his regular collaborator Jan Prušinovský starting in August).

Other participants from 2018 have also been busy advancing their projects. Writer-director Tomáš Hubáček entered the Script Consulting Incubator after presenting Wirbel at last year’s Springboard. The event truly did serve as a “springboard,” he said, since “the feedback from international industry professionals was a highly valued impetus.” Likewise, producer Julietta Sichel and director Tomáš Polenský’s project The Pack embarked

on a grand journey from its starting point at the Springboard, with stops at the Riga International Film Festival Pitching Forum and the Asia Project Market at Busan International Film Festival, the biggest film festival in Asia. Polenský expects to start shooting his debut feature, a sports drama/coming-of-age story that revolves around bullying, in August. While previous editions demonstrated the wide range of to-pics, genres, and forms thriving in Czech cinema, the 2019 Springboard selection showcases the firm standing of Czech professionals within the international industry, whether in the realm of development consultations or as coproduction partners from beyond the traditional territory of the Visegrad region. Last year, Czech producers collaborated on such internationally celebrated and award-winning films as Adina Pintilie’s Touch Me Not and Radu Jude’s “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians”. Furthermore, domestic producers have succeeded in attracting foreign talent to helm Czech

industry czech film springboard Director Vojtěch Strakatý and producer Marek Novák

Twins

Circulates Czech Cinema projects, as confirmed by this year’s Springboard selection. One other important aspect that Czech Film Springboard reflects is a growing gender parity.

year. Producer Oplatková notes that the crime/bodyhorror thriller will be a collaboration between the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and states of the former Yugoslavia. Czech Television has also confirmed involvement.

Fresh Faces at the Gates

Another new name in the domestic audiovisual landscape is Vojtěch Strakatý, now set to direct his own script, Eternal Peace, which won him the Stars of Tomorrow Award from the Film Foundation. Marek Novák of Xova Film is producing the apocalyptic minimalist drama, set in the near future on the brink of ecological disaster. The script is being fine-tuned at the Script Consulting

The established Czech production company Sirena Film — coproducer of such major international projects as A Royal Affair, Marguerite, and Oliver Assayas’s highly praised Personal Shopper — is introducing new talent to the big screen and local moviegoers. Currently, Sirena is preparing a postmodern crime thriller called Twins, based on the graphic novel by Vojtěch Mašek, and producers Petra Oplatková and Artemio Benki are bringing Mašek onboard to translate his work from static art into moving pictures. After cowriting Václav Kadrnka’s award-winning medieval road movie Little Crusader, this time Mašek will join forces with Michal Nohejl, a well-established director of music videos and commercials, to bring his vision to life on a larger canvas.

Development is expected to continue through 2020, with postproduction wrapping up in September of the same

“Our goal is to create a movie containing layers of meaning, complementary and intertwined—a storyline true to the genre and investigation rules, causing tension and horror with surprising and unexpected twists,” says Nohejl. The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity

industry czech film springboard Ordinary Failures

Martian Ships

Incubator initiated by the Czech Film Fund, and according to Novák, is inspired by events in the director’s life. He said the first clapperboard should clap in summer 2020, with a finished film by winter 2020 or early 2021. They are looking for potential coproducers within the CEE region, Novák added, although they are open to collaboration in other forms as well.

Up-and-Coming Filmmakers Advancing Their Careers Besides debuting filmmakers, more established directors, too, were featured at this year’s Czech Film Springboard. Andrea Culková introduced her latest endeavor, The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity, which marks her transition to fiction filmmaking. Culková previously directed Sugar Blues, an eye-opening documentary about sugar addiction, and the thoughtprovoking experimental meta-art project H*ART ON, depicting the trials and tribulations of a modern artist.

The Body

Duracfilm, the Prague-based producer of H*ART ON, is also backing The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity, along with Culková’s upcoming documentary, Tepich, a coproduction with HBO that Culková says explores the gender norms of masculine and feminine and “the crisis of masculinity.” She said she spent several years researching the topic, which was supposed to be the basis for her next documentary. But the story morphed into a fiction film after she took part in the Ex Oriente Film workshop, where she met with Finnish producer Iikka Vehkalahti and Polish director Pawel Lozinski. “At DOK Leipzig Co-Pro Market, we received international feedback, which confirmed the direction we were moving in was the right one,” said Culková, adding that the script was also chosen for a European Women’s Audiovisual Network scriptwriting residency.

The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity, an arthouse drama, follows its protagonist through his recovery after an accident and its impact on his partner and kids. Despite the serious topic, the film won’t be short on humor. “It’s hilarious,” the director assures us. Producer Miroslav Novák says they are seeking a coproducer in Norway, where part of the story takes place, and are also turning to Slovakia, Poland, or France as potential coproduction partners. He expects to see the final cut by September 2021, and launch the film on the international festival circuit in early 2022. Silvie Michajlova and Ondřej Zima of Film Kolektiv are no strangers to the Czech Film Springboard. With their colleague, Jan Kallista, in 2017 they unveiled the ambitious sci-fi project Restore Point, and in 2018 Money from Hitler. Returning to Springboard turf, they presented their latest project-in-the-making, Martian Ships. Coproduced with the Norwegian outfit Storm Film, Martian Ships was written by Czech author and playwright Zdeněk Jecelín, with Czech documentarian Jan Foukal at the helm.

industry czech film springboard

Eternal Peace

Foukal debuted with his docu-road movie, Amerika, introduced as an official selection at Karlovy Vary, and in his latest project, based on a true story, he tackles the topic of tragic love. The title refers to the main character Alenka, who blasts through Martin’s life like a spaceship, an intense, year-long relationship with ups and downs leading to a tragic denouement. The director stresses that suicide isn’t the centerpiece of Martian Ships, and the Czech Republic’s second city, Brno, plays a crucial role.

Berlinale Talent Campus and Script Station alumnus— took on the project as her sophomore feature-length directing effort.

Finally, director Natálie Císařovská takes on the life story of Andrea Absolonová, a professional diver who found fame in the porn industry after she suffered a careerending injury. The Body, produced by the establishment firm Cineart TV Prague, follows their international award-winning arthouse films Wild Bees, by Bohdan Sláma, and Mira Fornay’s My Dog Killer. Císařovská says she and screenwriter Aneta Honzková found the key to their story in the human body itself, hence the title. Absolonová regards the body merely as an instrument of performance, while exploring the relationship between her body and society. The film is nonjudgmental, with no intent to moralize, Císařovská says. The movie observes a woman’s body in three different environments: professional sports, the porn industry, and an oncology clinic. “Which raises the controversial question as to whether they’re really that much different,” Císařovská says.

Ordinary Failures is currently being developed in the EAVE Producers Workshop. The project, intended as an international coproduction between the Czech Republic, Romania, and Hungary, already has partners secured in each country, and Novák said he expects it to enter production in autumn 2020 with a wrap early in 2021. He says Ordinary Failures is relevant not only for its dystopian theme, but also because of the current tendency in cinema to push reality over the edge. Potential sales agents, festivals, and distributors all got a look at the project in Plzeň.

Welcoming Foreign Talent Producer Marek Novák of Xova Film arrived to Springboard with more than just one Star of Tomorrowwinning project up his sleeve. Ordinary Failures, another project he has been developing alongside Eternal Peace, netted the same prize for Klára Vlasáková and even shares the same ominous mood. Vlasáková’s screenplay tells the story of three women of different generations, connected by an apocalyptic dream. In 2018, emerging Romanian-Hungarian filmmaker Cristina Grosan—a

“We approached several directors, but ultimately invited Cristina to join our project, since her previous films, as well as her sensitivity towards the topic and the protagonists, appear to be a good match with Klára Vlasáková’s script,” said Novák of Xova Film.

And Novák wasn’t the only one with foreign talent interested in his project. Andrea Shaffer, founder and producer of Mindset Pictures, with a wealth of experience in the audiovisual industry, concluded the 2019 selection of Czech Film Springboard with her project in development: A Summer Fair, a coproduction between the Czech Republic, Finland, and Slovakia. In his first feature-length outing, Norway-born, Prague-based director Erlend Hella Matre helms a psychological drama about trauma, prejudice, cultural conventions, fear, and ignorance. The story follows two women, the thirty-something Eva and the twenty-something Sandra, as they gravitate towards a young entomologist in pursuit of a rare caterpillar. Dramatic twists ensue as the main characters wrestle with their past and present alike. “Just like parasitic insects, we feed off of each other, for better or for worse,” says Matre. “No one can survive alone.”

Funding News CZECH FILM FUND

The Long-term Concept for the Czech Film Fund:

Stay the Course

Two years ago, on a frigid February morning in Prague, the Czech Film Fund director and the chair of the Czech Film Fund Council presented the fund’s Shortterm Concept for filmmakers, producers, and others, as they do every year.

hey also unveiled a Long-term Concept for the years 2017 to 2021, the first time a clear and comprehensive direction was laid out for the fund since its founding. This Long-term Concept enumerated priorities for the fund to focus on over the coming six years. The first was better quality and more professional film development and production. The second was to bring film closer to viewers and viewers closer to film, and the third was to boost the visibility of Czech film abroad. These directives are now being successfully implemented.

Consolidating Offers The first part of the Long-term Concept sought primarily to address the fund’s grant policies. A call for animated film development was added, and the upper limit for financing of comprehensive development was abolished. In addition, the terms for production grants were revised, lowering the threshold for what qualifies as a “majority coproduction,” so that Czech producers could apply even with projects in which they contributed less than 50 percent, while continuing to support genuine minority

productions, where the Czech share is 10 to 30 percent of the budget. Also, now that there is an ongoing program to support distribution, both Czech and foreign projects can apply for funding at any time during the year. Likewise, cinemas around the Czech Republic can apply for funding to modernize and digitize their facilities. Incorporating the Czech Film Center and the Czech Film Commission into the fund was also a fundamental step toward more effective promotion of Czech film and incentives abroad. The Czech Film Fund also successfully launched the Script Consulting Incubator, a project in which young script editors learn the craft from top foreign mentors. In addition to instruction, the mentors also assist with projects in the development stage. In October 2018, a two-day conference in Prague on script consultation was attended by nearly 300 film professionals and film school students. And in February 2019, the Czech Film Fund Council announced the projects that will go on to the next stage of the Script Consulting Incubator, the Phoenix 2 Project organized by the Czech Film Fund in association with AMU/Midpoint.

Support for Minority Coproductions

Some of the fund’s practices needed to be adapted to the rapidly changing media landscape and updated based on experience and feedback from professionals in the film industry. One example was in the area of minority coproductions. Although the volume of financing has remained the same,

at €1,5 million, support for minority coproductions has increased, as producers and filmmakers can now apply not only for minority coproduction support, but also classic majority productions: Applications are accepted from any project with at least a 40 percent coproduction share in bilateral projects, or a 30 percent share in coproductions involving three or more countries. In other words, projects that previously would have been minority coproductions can now apply for larger grants, whether they be narrative feature films, documentaries, or animation. Based on consultations with the Audiovisual Producers’ Association (APA), there will also be a change in the deadlines for announcing offers, so they will be better timed to coincide with major coproduction markets.

More Financing for Development Reallocation of funding was also an aspect of the Short-term Concept for 2019. Based on proposals from specialists, the finances allocated for development were increased. Funding available for animated film development was raised by €153,146 (from its initial €307,692), by reallocating it from animated film production. This move resulted from the Czech Film Fund Council’s consultations with professionals to respond to demands for financing the comprehensive development of animation projects. Funds for first versions of screenplays for feature-length narrative or animated films was also increased, via reallocation, to a total of €134,615 (from an original €115,384).

interview jakub čech

Maybe 10 Percent of Viewers

Appreciate Our Work

When sound engineer Jakub Čech first started out, he could take all the equipment he needed with him on a tram. Nowadays he needs a van, and for Tobruk he had to get 200 kilograms of equipment into the desert. by Vojtěch Rynda

You’ve worked on war dramas with Václav Marhoul, conversational films with David Ondříček, children’s movies with Jan Svěrák. Which genre appeals to you the most? I enjoy variety. I would get bored if I always worked on just one genre. I like challenges, difficult shoots. Marhoul’s Tobruk, for example, was logistically tough. Being out in the desert for three months, whatever you didn’t bring with you, you just didn’t have. Ondříček and I are working on Zatopek now, which has athletes in sleeveless shirts chatting as they run. That will be tough to shoot. On Svěrák’s Three Brothers, which is a children’s musical, we had to invent technology to allow the actors to sing live. I don’t think I would enjoy filming an endless series, where you’re always doing the same thing.

Three Brothers

ow that he’s gained experience in every aspect of soundcraft, he’s looking forward to going back on set, though he still enjoys the silence of trails in the wilderness.

You’ve won six Czech Lions. Nobody working in any other branch of film could win that many awards, right? In our branch of the industry, the important thing is what kind of film you’re working on. If you’re making a war film, there’s a good chance someone will notice the sound. A drama with four people chatting at a table might actually be more difficult in terms of sound design, but it doesn’t have the same impact on the viewer. Our profession is pretty thankless, so I don’t attach too much value to awards.

People who don’t know any better probably think that you can get by with a boom, a mic, and a tape recorder. And headphones. I actually did when I started out, 17 years ago. I didn’t need anything else, and we adapted the shooting method accordingly. For instance, there was much more postproduction sound engineering. Nowadays crews are used to each actor having their own wireless microphone, but at FAMU I learned to record everything on a single mike, and if that wasn’t possible, then on a single mike, and if there was absolutely no alternative, then also on a single mike. I normally bring seven or eight. How big of a change was digital technology? When I was starting out, the dialog track was used pretty much the way it was recorded and it was just cut to fit. Nowadays every actor and every microphone is recorded separately on separate tracks, then the tracks are cleaned up by editors, and then the dialog is mixed together. The principles of audio are the same as they were 30 years ago, but the demands on sound are greater. It used to be that a lot of the time it was enough to just set up the sound equipment. Now it’s more a method of narration itself: You’re building multiple sound levels, using audio motifs for individual characters.

interview jakub čech

Another director you’ve worked with repeatedly is David Ondříček. But you didn’t work on Dukla 61, which must have been interesting sound-wise, with its coal mining setting. Were you disappointed? I was, but it overlapped with The Painted Bird, which I had already promised to do. I realize more and more that you have to be humble in what you do. When I started out, the sound man generally worked with a film from start to finish. That’s not the case today. Things develop so quickly and technology gets so advanced that one person can’t do all the phases of sound production equally well. They have to specialize and teams of sound specialists emerge. I might regret not doing a final mix, but I know a specialist will do it better. Isn’t it frustrating, though? You do all that work with the soundtrack, and then somebody watches the film on a plane. You could say we do it for ourselves. So we’re satisfied that everything’s been done properly and the director likes it. Maybe 10 percent of viewers appreciate our work. But if the sound is truly good, then you don’t notice it. It has an effect on you, it drives your story, it tells the story, but as soon as you start noticing the sound design, something’s wrong.

Tobruk

Jakub Čech

How so? Like the specific rhythm of someone’s gait, puffing on a pipe. You don’t even have to see the character to know they’re there. Or you use sound to reach the viewer’s subconscious. Like in Svěrák’s Empties, for example, the Tkalouns have an important argument in the kitchen, where the wife complains to her husband that he’s always off somewhere so he won’t have to spend his “peaceful” retirement with her. At the same time, on the other side of the wall, someone is practicing scales on a piano and they’re making mistakes. It gets on your nerves, but subconsciously. We played the scene for people, asking if they minded the piano behind the dialogue, and they said they didn’t even notice it.

The principles of audio are the same as they were 30 years ago, but the demands on sound are greater. How do you work with a director to think up the audio concept for a film? It differs from film to film. With simple conversational films, there’s nothing to think about. Like every other crew member, I have to read the screenplay first and determine where the tricky parts are. Then I start talking to the director about how to approach it: Are we going to try to get purely contact sound? Are we going to use prerecorded playbacks? Are we going to adjust the costumes for microphones? With Marhoul, for example, the sound design was actually part of the screenwriting process, which is the best-case scenario. In The Painted Bird they speak something like a Slavic Esperanto. Did you have any creative input on that? Originally, Marhoul wanted the language to be totally artificial. But real languages convey emotions, whether you understand them or not. You don’t have to speak Russian to hear that the word babushka sounds cuddly, while vrag sounds threatening. If we used a completely made-up language, those emotions wouldn’t be there. So we went for a language compiled from various Slavic ones. Have you suffered any “professional deformations”? Are there sounds that irritate you? Not really. I like radio plays and audiobooks, but I can’t stand having to constantly change the volume. I do a lot of walking in nature, so I’m aware what it sounds like to hear coyotes howling in the desert or deer bellowing in the forest. I’m aware of the silence when I’m alone on a snowy plain at 4000 meters and all I can hear is my heart and my breath. Thanks to my profession, I’m more intensely aware of those things.

Films to Come

FILMS TO COME in development

Films to Come Selected new Czech feature films in development, production, post-production or ready for release. For more information please contact us at info@filmcenter.cz.

IN DEVELOPMENT

A Marriage Several years after their official marriage, wheel-chair bound Zdenka from the Czech Republic and her Pakistani husband Tabish, still communicate only over the internet and Skype. Czech authorities repeatedly deny Tabish a visa to enter the country, convinced they are protecting Zdenka and the Czech state from an economic migrant seeking entry into Europe. Shot in both the Czech Republic and Pakistan, the film unfolds as a mystery discovering the nature of this digital relationship. Will the final reunion in the small Czech town mean a victory or yet a bigger challenge for the couple?

Adam Ondra: Pushing the Limits

debut

Several times during his carrier, the Czech climber Adam Ondra has rewritten the limits of what is possible. A multiple world champion, he defined a new, so far unbeaten climbing grade 9c in 2017. In the next two years he plans to devote himself to the preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan where the climbing will be an Olympic sport for the first time. Already today, Adam is seen as one of the favourites of the competition. The documentary maps the life journey and the inner world of a man who has been fulfilling his dream by facing new challenges, which he does in an obstinate, extraordinary demanding, consistent, and primarily joy-bringing way.

Black Mill

2nd FILM

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

Twelve-year-old Ivo doesn’t have an easy life. When he was four, he witnessed his father’s heroic death during the Black Mill fire. Since that horrible night, Ivo, together with his mum, have been looking after his disabled sister – Mela. The boy does it unwillingly, dreaming of an average teenager’s life with his friends. This summer the children can do whatever they want. Their holiday time passes by on biking excursions, swimming in the abandoned excavation and playing computer games together. But there is one thing they have to bear in mind – to keep away from the mysterious and dangerous Black Mill. One day, children break the rule and awaken evil powers living in the mill...

Bloody Bride

2nd FILM

Martin and Simon are renowned youtubers. Their success consists of the ability to present staged situations as real. On their way from a youtubers’ festival they witness a car accident. The car ahead of them makes several rolls and flips. The driver of the flipped car is in shock, mumbling something about a figure in white which caused the accident. Simon, having promptly turned on the camera to shoot the scene, manages to capture something the man in shock hallucinated about: a fragment of a figure dressed in white – the dead bride. The accident happened where a bridal procession was massacred out of jealousy in the 16th century, and to this day the event is commemorated by nine big wooden crosses. Martin and Simon decide to chase the bride with their camera ready.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Manželství runtime: 70 min estimated release: December 2019 director: Kateřina Hager, Asad Faruqi produced by: Kateřina Hager – Bohemian Productions (CZ) in co-production with: Asad Faruqi – Revolutionary Films (PK)

DOCUMENTARY original title: Adam Ondra: posunout hranice runtime: 80 min estimated release: October 2020 director: Jan Šimánek, Petr Záruba produced by: Alice Tabery – Cinepoint (CZ)

FICTION original title: Černý mlýn runtime: 90 min estimated release: May 2020 director: Mariusz Palej produced by: Andrzej Papis, Maciej Sowinski – TFP (PL) in co-production with: 8Heads Productions (CZ)

FICTION original title: Krvavá nevěsta runtime: 85 min estimated release: June 2020 director: Andy Fehu produced by: Jakub Ševčík – Snake Catcher (CZ)

FILMS TO COME IN DEVELOPMENT

Breaking Europe

debut

Euroallegory from the building of the European Parliament. Observational docu-comedy, which inspects the insides of the European Union's main node. What happens, when there's a faulty pipe in the offices or when the translators go on strike? A bureaucratic boredom and a colorful mosaic of human stories from inside the base camp of European integration is the basis of a story about the operation of a hundreds-million community.

Lost in Paradise

debut

After having built up, managed and lost his underground music club in Prague, the city his father emigrated from in the 1960s, bankrupted Evžen (39) shows up as a surprise guest at home in Switzerland. His initial plan to get a loan and come quickly back to Prague to save his dream will change shortly after his arrival. He has to face his family's life struggles. Apparently, those didn't change much since he left to Prague many years ago.

Pongo Story The story of a successful Roma family which had left the Czech Republic for Britain 12 years ago as a result of discrimination. The children have become educated Brits building new careers. But the personal ambitions of the loved offspring are threatening to upset the unity of a traditional Roma family.

The Boxer

debut

Mníšek pod Brdy is a picturesque small town near Prague. And everybody here fears Michal. He’s a 14-year-old brat who describes himself as a psychopath. “I just need to punch someone to let off steam” he claims. On the other hand, he is a brave and sensitive boy who lives in chains of his unorthodox family. He is being trained by a boxer master Jan Balog who aims to teach him how to control his anger and fight an honourable fight. Will Michal manage to fit in or will he end up in jail as everybody thinks?

The Websters

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

The Websters are a spider family that lives in the corner of a lift machine room. The family is big – grandma and grandpa, mum and dad, two children – Hugo and Lili. The Websters’ world is wide, created to the smallest detail. Friends, school, the distribution centre for canned flies, the shopping mall, their eating habits and history events. The story is always built around the main character – Lili, but all members of this family have their own problems to solve. Just like in any human family – the life in this spider family is also full of mistakes and wrong expectations. The film tells everyday life stories to help children find understanding, forgiveness and offer them right models for expressing their feelings and emotions.

Victim

2nd FILM

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

Irina is a Ukrainian single mother living in a small border town in the Czech Republic. She loves her 13-year-old son Igor and wants to give him better life than she used to have. Igor, unlike his mother, is fully integrated into Czech society and has a great future like a young gymnast. One night, Irina learns that Igor was attacked and almost killed. After surgery and waking up from narcosis, Igor admits that the attackers were Roma. Irina is fighting for justice and wakes up the whole of Czech society to act and punish the culprits, but over time she starts to be aware of certain inconsistencies in Igor's story, until one day Igor shamefully admits he has devised the whole assault. But Irina finds out too late.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Bourání Evropy runtime: 75 min estimated release: May 2021 director: Ondřej Šálek produced by: Marek Novák – Xova Film (CZ)

FICTION original title: Ztraceni v ráji runtime: 100 min estimated release: January 2020 director: Fiona Ziegler produced by: Rajko Jazbec – Cognito Films (CH), Kristýna Michálek Květová – Cinémotif Films (CZ) DOCUMENTARY original title: Pongo Story runtime: 80 min estimated release: November 2021 director: Tomáš Kratochvíl produced by: Radim Procházka – Produkce Radim Prochazka (CZ)

DOCUMENTARY original title: Boxer runtime: 90 min estimated release: September 2021 director: Karolína Peroutková produced by: Martin Jůza – Krutart (CZ)

ANIMATION original title: Websterovi runtime: 70 min estimated release: December 2021 director: Katarina Kerekesová produced by: Katarina Kerekesová – Fool Moon (SK) in co-production with: 13ka (CZ)

FICTION original title: Oběť runtime: 90 min estimated release: May 2021 director: Michal Blaško produced by: Jakub Viktorín – nutprodukcia (SK) in co-production with: nutprodukce (CZ), ESSE Production House (UA)

FILMS TO COME IN PRODUCTION IN production

1968 – Reconstruction of the Occupation

debut

How I Became a Partisan

My Father Antonín Kratochvíl

My Sunny Maad

Of Unwanted Things and People

The author of the documentary presents archive material to the public and launches the search for its origin. He looks for people captured in the film shots. The people who have responded enter the film as protagonists. The theme of the search becomes secondary over the time. The film covers the events from August 1968 to the beginning of so-called normalization. It is evident from the testimonies that for many characters from the film it was a turning point that fundamentally changed their lives. These strong personal stories together with the unique archive material are the moving force of the film resulting into a society-wide reflection of our collective history that forms our present to a great extent.

DOCUMENTARY original title: 1968 – Rekonstrukce okupace runtime: 52 min estimated release: August 2019 director: Jan Šikl produced by: Alice Tabery – Cinepoint (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ)

Documentary feature How I Became a Partisan comes with an unprecedented story of Slovak, Czech or Czechoslovak history. Main theme of the movie is searching for the fate of forgotten Roma partisans. The author of the film is the Romani director Vera Lacková. Her search for and revealing of the stories of Romani partisans is based primarily upon the life story of her great-grandfather; Romani partisan Ján Lacko. The autobiographical quest brings the director closer to the previously unpublished facts concerning our history and discovers stories about people, who regardless of their different ethnic origin stood united against evil.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Jak jsem se stala partyzánkou runtime: 75 min estimated release: April 2020 director: Vera Lacková produced by: Vera Lacková, Jan Bodnár – Media Voice (SK) in co-production with: Film a Sociologie (CZ)

Three generations of photographers marked by totalitarian regimes. Through the youngest Michael, we follow the fates of the Krathochvíl clan, focusing particularly on the most famous of them – Antonín. At 18, Antonín emigrated from Czechoslovakia, where his father Jaroslav spent a life marked by the communist terror. Antonín left a newborn son behind. In America, he tasted fame and became a sought-out war photographer. He met his son for the first time after 20 years. Antonín wants to make up for the guilt of abandoning a small child, Michael attempts to process reuniting with father.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Můj otec Antonín Kratochvíl runtime: 85 min estimated release: March 2020 director: Andrea Sedláčková produced by: Martin Hůlovec – Punk Film (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ)

When Herra, a Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta, who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband. Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and even less that not everybody wants to be saved by Westerners.

ANIMATION original title: Moje slunce Maad runtime: 85 min estimated release: May 2020 director: Michaela Pavlátová cast: Zuzana Stivínová, Hynek Čermák, Ivan Trojan, Martha Issová produced by: Petr Oukropec, Kateřina Černá – Negativ (CZ) in co-production with: Sacrebleu (FR), BFILM (SK), Czech Television (CZ)

Stanley and Emily lose their parents. They are left alone and nobody wants them except for their cat that magically transforms in a loving aunt. In another part of the town, two boys find an overgrown garden with piles of old apple cores. Only an old Indian lady down the street knows the truth about the two monsters that used to live here. In the old city centre, a man collects useless broken things. One day he repairs an old magical book that can bring the reader back to the past. Finally, isn't that old man sitting alone in the park, Bogdan, the first man who knew how to fly? He visited distant continents with herds of birds, but no one remembers him anymore. Except maybe for his little neighbor, who would sure like to learn to fly, too.

ANIMATION original title: O nepotřebných věcech a lidech runtime: 70 min estimated release: March 2021 director: David Súkup, Ivana Laučíková, Leon Vidmar, Agata Gorzadek produced by: Martin Vandas – MAUR film (CZ) in co-production with: Artichoke (SK), ZVVIKS (SI), WJTeam – Likaon (PL)

FILMS TO COME IN PRODUCTION

2nd FILM

Olympic Halftime

Personal life of the Hole

debut

The New Shift

debut

The Pack

The Pilot 40

The film explores and critically reflects the gestalt of the Olympic Games in several cities in Europe and Asia, that have already hosted the event and are preparing for another round. What was the benefit of the Olympics for those cities and countries? What are the pros and cons of organizing mass sports events? What is their impact on urbanism, communities and countries where they take place? In addition to Europe, we will also visit Asia to watch different approach to organizing the Olympics as well as their architectural gestalt and impact on the public space – Beijing, Tokyo, Paris – the cities that have the organizing experience and are now in “half time” of preparations for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Olympijský mezičas runtime: 75 min estimated release: February 2021 director: Haruna Honcoop produced by: Vít Janeček – D1film (CZ) in co-production with: VIRUSfilm (SK), Grab the Cat (FR)

We are in the hole of the ages and the hole of nonsense. It has been caused by radioactive waste in the atmosphere from more than two thousand nuclear explosions during which alpha particles are formed. The hole of nonsense lies in the fact that our economic system is based on valuation of labor and the notion of “labor costs” is the same as “yellow logarithm”. Nonsense because it connects unconnectable. What to do with this absurdity? What to do in this world in which traditions die and new ones do not arise? In the film, we find a pile of rubbish – the only content of holes in which we live. When we learn to love the garbage, we take the whole world.

EXPERIMENTAL original title: Osobní život díry runtime: 62 min estimated release: November 2019 director: Ondřej Vavrečka produced by: Alžběta Janáčková – Silk Films (CZ)

Tomáš is almost fifty, he is radical football fan of his club Baník and for the past 25 years he has worked in the Paskov mine. Demand for coal has been falling and the mine was closed. Tomáš and his dismissed colleagues were offered to try to retrain in new profession, which is now in the highest demand – the computer programmer. Tomáš accepted the life challenge and we follow his story of this radical change in an intimate time-lapse portrait. How does a radical Baník fan with a mining slang fit into a group of young programmers? And will we soon be forced to face a similar challenge as a result of the ongoing automation of work? A hundred years of work development and its culture reflected in the story of one person.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Nová šichta runtime: 75 min estimated release: September 2019 director: Jindřich Andrš produced by: Miloš Lochman, Augustina Micková – moloko film (CZ) in co-production with: FAMU (CZ), Czech Television (CZ)

David (16), a promising goalie, is placed in a new hockey team. The team doesn’t exactly welcome him with open arms. David works hard and tries to stand up to the team’s unacceptance. Finally, the bullies’ brute aggression awakens his instinct of self-preservation. Grabbing his hockey stick, he strikes his competitor – a predator’s reflex more than anything else. David is terrified of what he had done. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He got what he wanted – he’s the starting goalie. But at what price? There’s an inquiry. David’s father wants to bribe the hearing committee; David, however, refuses to become part of his father’s world of bribery, and refuses to submit to the cruel rules of the team.

FICTION original title: Smečka runtime: 90 min estimated release: February 2020 director: Tomáš Polenský produced by: Julietta Sichel – 8Heads Productions (CZ) in co-production with: Ego Media (LV)

Pavel has worked for a number of years as a chemist in Israel and witnessed several terrorist attacks. After his return to the Czech Republic, he is approached by an old friend to help him with film commercials, flying a drone. Pavel enjoys working with the drone, but he realizes that life around him is dissatisfying – there is a lot of tension among the people, but none is able to take direct action or to see a bigger picture. So Pavel sets out to “do the right thing”. He goes straight to the top, choosing to eliminate Dick Cheney, the controversial American politician and businessman, on his upcoming visit to Prague. It’s not too difficult for Pavel, an ex-chemist, to build a home-made explosive. The question is – can he succeed?

FICTION original title: Modelář runtime: 100 min estimated release: January 2020 director: Petr Zelenka cast: Jiří Mádl produced by: Petr Zelenka, Martin Sehnal – 0,7km films (CZ) in co-production with: Punkchart film (SK), Fabula (SI), Czech Television (CZ)

FILMS TO COME in post-production IN post-production The film opens the hitherto taboo topic of online child abuse. Statistics show that the problem is becoming bigger with each passing day. Unfortunately, awareness remains very low. The main narrative line of the film follows a radical psychosocial experiment, through which we show what the children aged 10–14 years face in the virtual space. The experiment comes out of reality and several months of research.

DOCUMENTARY original title: V síti runtime: 90 min estimated release: July 2019 director: Vít Klusák, Barbora Chalupová produced by: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda - Hypermarket Film (CZ) in co-production with: Peter Kerekes Film (SK), Czech Television (CZ)

A new film essay by Karel Vachek is a collage composed of staged passages of utopian and contemporary literature, his own memories as well as tableaux of world events. Apart from Vachek, actors also present texts and become opponents, partners, an ancient chorus and a modern voice band reciting amongst the hundreds of books in libraries. And to boot, music plays and jollity is the order of the day. 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.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Komunismus runtime: 300 min estimated release: December 2019 director: Karel Vachek produced by: Mikuláš Novotný, Radim Procházka – Background Films (CZ) in co-production with: Atelier.doc (SK), Czech Television (CZ)

Based on Hanna Schott‘s book of the same name, the film depicts the political events of the autumn of 1989 in Leipzig as seen by little protagonist Fritzi, who is searching for her friend Sophie. Sophie had asked Fritzi to look after her dog Sputnik for the summer holidays but instead of coming back to school, Sophie and her parents emigrated to the West and Fritzi doesn’t know how to return the dog to Sophie. Fritzi’s efforts lead her to the demonstrations which are starting to take place every Monday. Thanks to her bravery and the miracle of historical situation they meet again.

ANIMATION original title: Fany byla při tom runtime: 79 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Ralf Kukula, Matthias Bruhn produced by: Ralf Kukula – Balance Film (DE), Richard Lutterbeck – TrickStudio Lutterbeck (DE) in co-production with: MAUR film (CZ), DogHouse Films (LU), Artemis Productions (BE) international sales: Global Screen

Joël Farges, a French filmmaker in his 60s is looking for a destiny of his favorite film from his childhood. It was a Prince Bayaya by Jiří Trnka. Trnka’s career peaked when the Cold War raged between the East and West blocks. His films were presented as an artistic counterweight to commercial production of Disney, winning prizes in Cannes and Venice and became a valuable export article for the totalitarian regime. Trnka found that he had become a puppet himself of a political system. His disillusion led him to revolt. He left us a body of work celebrating a unique experience, the freedom associated with eternal youth.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Jiří Trnka – Nalezený přítel runtime: 75 min estimated release: July 2019 director: Joël Farges produced by: Vladimír Lhoták – Hausboot (CZ) in co-production with: Kolam (FR), Czech Television (CZ)

Analytic film essay.The documentary about the Czech society principles within Eastern Europe. Each one of us has his own opinions as to where and how we might improve things. Each one of us is talking about these changes. Politic parties, daily life, demonstrations, cries of migration, celebration of the "old Europe" values. Probably last days of Europe? Inspired by Karl Kraus’s novel Last Days of Human Being.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Poslední dnové Evropy v Česku? runtime: 100 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Martin Kohout produced by: Jakub Wagner – GPO Platform (CZ)

Caught in the Net

Communism

2nd FILM MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

Fritzi - A Miraculous Revolutionary Tale

Jiří Trnka – A Missing Friend

2nd FILM

Last Days of Czech Mankind in Europe? 41

FILMS TO COME IN POST-PRODUCTION

2nd FILM

Moravia, O Fair Land III.

2nd FILM

National Street

1st FILM

Nomad in the City

Ivana Slabáková, the guru of Moravian brass music, announces a historical discovery - The Mikulčice Script, revealing historical importance of the Great Moravia. Slabáková puts together Moravian patriots, brass band, clero fascist Jan Uprka and Jiří Valtr, a satanist from Brno. A drama will be staged. Senior club from the village Rohatec rehearses the Great-Moravian drama, which reanimates the dead from ancient Slavic grave fields. Zombie apocalypse ensues and Moravia is cleansed of Christian scum. After this epic clash of cultures, the life in Moravia goes back to normal. Brass music plays, zombies work in the vineyard and hope for even better crops next year.

EXPERIMENTAL original title: Morava, krásná zem III. runtime: 70 min estimated release: June 2019 director: Petr Šprincl cast: Ivana Slabáková, Jan Sedal, Jiří Valter, Eva Machourková produced by: Marek Novák – Xova Film (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ)

This used to be a deep dark forest, now it's a housing estate of prefabricated apartment buildings. The home of the protagonist, a manual worker painting roofs, whom everyone just calls Vandam. He lives alone in a housing estate apartment in the suburbs of Prague, working out every day to stay in shape. The evenings are spent drinking beer with his chums at the local pub, the North Star. Vandam's chums from the North Star dub him their “national hero”. According to a local legend, Vandam took part in the demonstration on the National Street in Prague on 17 November, 1989, where – according to the legend – he set history into motion by dealing the first blow.

FICTION original title: Národní třída runtime: 95 min estimated release: September 2019 director: Štěpán Altrichter cast: Hynek Čermák, Kateřina Janečková, Jan Cina, Václav Neužil produced by: Pavel Strnad – Negativ (CZ) in co-production with: 42film (DE), Czech Television (CZ), ZDF / ARTE (DE)

It has been more than one hundred years since the last wolf was killed in the area of the Czech Republic. Nowadays wolves are coming back. However, they are not always welcomed. The whole story takes place in the Broumov region which is known for its beautiful environment, but also for the highest concentration of sheep farmers in the Czech Republic. Film follows a conflict which is escalating between two groups of inhabitants: On one side there are farmers who become more and more radical and try to find the way to expel wolves again. On the other side there are people who welcome the wolves and try to protect them.

Documentary original title: Nomád ve městě runtime: 90 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Anji Sauvé Clubb produced by: Alice Tabery – Cinepoint (CZ) in co-production with: Anji Sauvé Clubb (US), i/o post (CZ), Suzanna Sumkhuu (MN)

In the middle of Europe, two nations coexist side by side, close to one another in many ways and yet worlds apart. The Czechs are dedicated atheists, while the Poles are born as baptized Catholics. Czechs shake their heads in disbelief at Polish piety, while Poles hold Czechs in contempt for living without God. A Czech documentary crew sets out on a summertime pilgrimage across Poland in order to investigate through the camera the concrete situation regarding the notion of “Czech atheism vs. Polish religion”.

Documentary original title: Český Pepík jede do Polska poznat lásku k Bohu runtime: 90 min estimated release: September 2019 director: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda produced by: Jana Brožková, Zdeněk Holý – Vernes (CZ) in co-production with: Hypermarket Film (CZ), Czech Television (CZ), Plesnar & Krauss Films (PL), Peter Kerekes Film (SK)

In January 1991, the dying days of the USSR, the Central Television in Moscow brought together youngsters from the 15 Soviet Republics to ask how they see their future in the “glorious stronghold of people’s friendship”, as the Soviet anthem called it. Some of the participants had enough courage to openly call for the dismantling of “the awful USSR”, wanting to leave totalitarianism behind. After more than 25 years the same young people, now matured, hear Vladimir Putin calling the breakup of the USSR “the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century” and see not only the regalia and rhetoric of the totalitarian era making a comeback, but also some ugly traits of Homo Sovieticus in people’s minds and attitudes.

Documentary original title: Sovětský muž runtime: 80 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Ivo Briedis produced by: Elīna Gediņa – Ducena – Mistrus Media (LV) in co-production with: Frame Films (CZ), Monoklis (LT)

Pepik the Czech Goes to Poland in a Quest for Love of God

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

Soviet Man 42

FILMS TO COME in post-production

In 1980, two friends, Michal and Juraj, apply for the studies at the Roman Catholic seminary so they can escape the moral devastation of the society. The initial excitement wears off as they discover that the Seminary is now controlled by Pacem in terris, an organisation of clerics collaborating with the communist regime.

FICTION original title: Posel runtime: 90 min estimated release: July 2019 director: Ivan Ostrochovský cast: Samuel Skyva, Samuel Polakovič, Milan Mikulčík, Vladimír Strnisko produced by: Ivan Ostrochovský – Punkchart films (SK) in co-production with: Film & Music Entertainment (IE), POINT FILM (RO), Negativ (CZ)

The Heaven is a story of love, an unconditional love the caring (and unpaid) nuns give to unfortunate children. It’s a story about selfless sacrifice in a communist and fiercely materialistic society. The surge in numbers of abandoned handicapped babies started in 1979 when the “one child policy” was introduced in China. Being forced to have only one child, many parents who had a handicapped newborn simply killed or abandoned it and tried to have a healthy one, as children are expected to take care of their parents when they grow old.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Nebe runtime: 75 min estimated release: July 2019 director: Tomáš Etzler produced by: Jan Macola – Mimesis Film (CZ)

The picturesque story of the Czech-American family of Count František Antonín Kostka of Kostka who learns that his aristocratic forebearers have left him their ancient family seat – the Castle of Kostka. Frank thus leaves New York with his wife, Vivien, and daughter, Marie, to return to Bohemia and reassume his estate. Unfortunately, the castle is not in any condition to get rich off of – quite the opposite. It requires a big investment that they do not have. Frank and his family thus face the task of saving their family tradition. Making it all the more difficult, they have “inherited” not only the castle but also its peculiar warden, hypochondriac repairman, and a cook with a fondness for homemade nut brandy.

FICTION original title: Poslední aristokratka runtime: 100 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Jiří Vejdělek cast: Hynek Čermák, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Martin Pechlát, Pavel Liška produced by: Ondřej Zima, Silvie Michajlova – Evolution Films (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ), PubRes (SK)

The famous American writer Philip Roth based his book partially on his authentic experiences in 1970’s when he used to visit Prague after the Soviet occupation in 1968 in order to help the banned Czechoslovak writers. Despite the political oppression, the social life, full of amusement and open relationships, was rampant in Prague. The greater pressure of the regime was, the more people would resort to their free private intimate worlds. The story of The Prague Orgy depicts a journey of the famous American writer Nathan Zuckerman who arrives in Prague in 1976. He carries out a mission to save a unique collection of brilliant tales written in Yiddish by smuggling them across the border.

FICTION original title: Pražské orgie runtime: 90 min estimated release: October 2019 director: Irena Pavlásková cast: Jonas Chernick, Ksenia Rappoport, Pavel Kříž produced by: Viktor Schwarcz – Prague Movie Company (CZ) in co-production with: Analog Vision (CZ), Arina (SK)

A famous Watchmaker takes in an orphan, Urban, raises him, teaches him his craft and after years even betroths him to his daughter Laura. And yet it is not Christian charity that drives him. He believes a prophetic vision – that on the day of his marriage, Urban is destined to receive inestimable wealth. And the Watchmaker wants in on his riches. But shortly before the wedding, a mysterious Beggarwoman issues a prophecy: the day of their marriage will be the Watchmaker’s last. What now, when Urban and Laura love one another and can’t wait to say “I do”? The terrified Watchmaker decides to get rid of Urban once and for all. He sends him on a pilgrimage from which he can never return…

FICTION original title: Hodinářův učeň runtime: 90 min estimated release: August 2019 director: Jitka Rudolfová cast: Václav Neužil, Pavlína Štorková, Jaroslav Plesl, Jana Plodková produced by: Pavel Berčík – Evolution Films (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ), PubRes (SK)

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTION

The Disciple

2nd FILM

The Heaven

The Last of the Noblewomen

The Prague Orgy

Watchmaker’s Apprentice

FILMS TO COME new RELEASES new releases By means of commented filmography, the film portrays one of the most gifted 20th century filmmakers coming from Eastern Europe. Cinematographer of Diamonds of the Night by Jan Němec and Daisies by Věra Chytilová among others, Kučera had a crucial impact on the creation and fame of the Czechoslovak New Wave, a movement that helped to revolutionize cinema in the 1960’s.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Jaroslav Kučera Zblízka runtime: 62 min national release: 4 April 2019 director: Jakub Felcman, Tomáš Michálek produced by: Tomáš Michálek – MasterFilm (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television

The Swedish polar city of Kiruna is balancing on the edge between progress and destruction. Under the threat of sinking due to the iron ore mining, it is going to be relocated three kilometers to the East. A new Kiruna will be built - even better, more modern, more integrated one. Is the future of Kiruna as clear as the politicians and the LKAB mining company say? Smaller and bigger ordinary life dramas happen in the background of the city’s relocation. A teenage refugee Abdalrahman is waiting for his asylum interview for months, a young girl Maja is going back to her Saami roots, and the typical Swedish Hägg family is leaving its home after 20 years.

DOCUMENTARY original title: Kiruna – překrásný nový svět runtime: 80 min festival release: 9 April 2019 (Visions du Réel) director: Greta Stocklassa produced by: Veronika Kührová, Michal Kráčmer – Analog Vision (CZ) in co-production with: FAMU (CZ) international sales: Paul Thiltges Distributions

In love with a girl that smells of oranges while in a complicated relationship with his father, Darek is gentle, strong and devoted to his little sister and their herd of horses. Darek’s world is a story about the joy and pain of growing up in the isolated yet beautiful Lusatian Mountains. Here, horses are not expensive specimens of racing stables but beings you should care for and love. Not even that is enough in life though, as Darek finds out nearing the summer’s end, closing his childhood definitely. But just like any ending, this is a start of something new.

FICTION original title: Uzly a pomeranče runtime: 92 min festival release: May 2019 (Zlín FF) director: Ivan Pokorný cast: Tomáš Dalecký, Emilie Neumeister, Stanislav Majer, Ewa Farna produced by: Daniel Severa – Daniel Severa Production (CZ) in co-production with: Kinderfilm (DE), Trigon Production (SK) Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (DE), Radio and Television Slovakia (SK), Czech Television (CZ)

Tereza (30) and her sister Petra (29) attend their father’s second wedding. Tereza is accompanied by František, her ex-boyfriend. They didn´t tell anyone about their breakup. After the wedding all three go to visit the sister’s mother Ester who has lived with their grandma since the divorce. While visiting grandma’s house, Tereza decides she would take care of the grandma and the house from now on. The film pictures one complicated small family whose members softly balance between their expectations and illusions.

FICTION original title: Sněží! runtime: 76 min national release: 9 May 2019 director: Kristina Nedvědová cast: Petra Nesvačilová, Hana Vagnerová, Vanda Hybnerová produced by: Jitka Kotrlová – Frame Films (CZ) in co-production with: Barrandov Studio (CZ), Bystrouška (CZ), SoundMice (CZ), i/o post, love.FRAME (CZ)

A family film combining elements of animation, puppet and feature film. The TvMiniUni is a crew of puppets who answer all questions children send them. The director, Mr. Crow, always knows what to do and who to call. But right now, even Mr. Crow is clueless. All his team has to solve the mystery of strangely obedient children. And the terrified parents are asking TvMiniUni for help. Something changed with their beloved children – they stopped to be naughty, they are lethargic and without fantasy. Who is responsible for mechanical obedient children? The answer to this mystery could be found in the new game house. Its master Bambino, a 10-year-old boy, once sent a question to TvMiniUni. And it was never answered.

ANIMATION, FICTION original title: Zloděj otázek runtime: 75 min festival release: May 2019 (Zlín FF) director: Jan Jirků cast: Jiří Kohout, Hynek Chmelař, Anna Schmidtmajerová, Ondřej Nosálek produced by: Pavel Berčík, Ondřej Zima – Evolution Films (CZ) in co-production with: Czech Television (CZ)

Jaroslav Kučera – A Portrait

1st FILM

Kiruna - A Brand New World

Scent of Oranges

1st FILM

Snowing!

1st FILM

The Question Thief 44

CZECH FILM / Summer 2019 Issued by Czech Film Fund / Czech Film Center Editors Markéta Šantrochová, Barbora Ligasová Copy editor Alex Zucker Graphic design Cellula s.r.o. Cover photo Solo by Artcam Films Printed by Uniprint Print run 600 Not for sale Czech Film Center Národní 28 Prague 1, 110 00 Czech Republic info@filmcenter.cz www.filmcenter.cz