CZECH FILM_Summer 2016

Summer 2016
Czech Film Center
The Czech Film Center (CFC) was established in 2002 to represent, market and promote Czech cinema and
film industry and to increase the awareness of Czech film worldwide. As a national partner of international film
festivals and co-production platforms, CFC takes active part in selection and presentation of Czech films and
projects abroad. Linking Czech cinema with international film industry, Czech Film Center works with
a worldwide network of international partners to profile the innovation, diversity and creativity of Czech films,
and looks for opportunities for creative exchange between Czech filmmakers and their international
counterparts. CFC provides tailor-made consulting, initiates and co-organizes numerous pitching forums and
workshops, and prepares specialized publications.
Markéta Šantrochová
Head of Czech Film Center
e-mail: marketa@filmcenter.cz
tel.:+420 724 329 948
Barbora Ligasová
Festivals Coordinator
e-mail: barbora@filmcenter.cz
tel.: +420 778 487 863
Martin Černý
Documentary Films / Publications
e-mail: martin@filmcenter.cz
tel.: +420 778 487 864
Denisa Štrbová
PR / Sales Support
e-mail: denisa@filmcenter.cz
tel.: +420 724 329 949
Artemio Benki /
Interview with the French-born
producer, the co-producer of
Marguerite, Personal Shopper
and The Dancer, who has lived in
Prague for more than 20 years.
28
10
Jan Hřebejk /
One of the most active
and successful Czech
directors talks about
his new film The
Teacher.
14
8
Co-productions with France
/ In the past few years, the Czech
film industry has benefitted from
its cooperation with France, which
resulted in some of its most acclaimed
films being Czech-French
co-productions.
12
LA QUINZAINE DES
RÉALISATEURS
Jan Němec /
The original
talent and
a member of
the Czech New
Wave died before
finishing his last
film.
16
Czech Film Springboard
Happy End / The young Czech / A new pitching session for
animator Jan Saska speaks to
his teacher and a famous Czech
animator Michaela Pavlátová
about his participation in the
official Cannes line-up.
Czech film projects took place at
the Finále Plzen festival in April.
2
EDITORIAL / CZECH
FILM NOW
12
CANNES CLASSICS /
IKARIE XB 1
24
INTERVIEW / CZECH
FILM COMMISSION
6
UN CERTAIN REGARD /
THE DANCER
19
SEMAINE DE LA
CRITIQUE / SUPERBIA
32
INTRODUCING / JAKUB
KOUŘIL
7
COMPETITION /
PERSONAL SHOPPER
20
PROFILE / KARLOVY VARY
IFF
35
36
NEW CZECH RELEASES
FILMS TO COME
1
EDITORIAL
The Czech film industry is having a really good run. At the
most recent Berlinale, three Czech films were in the official
line-up, and the interest that international festivals have shown
has continued throughout the spring. This year’s Cannes is also
quite exceptional: After many years of almost no participation,
the festival will showcase five films either produced or
co-produced by the Czech Republic, and we are represented
in nearly all the official sections.
But it wasn’t easy to reach this point. If you had dropped by
the Czech Pavilion in Cannes 10 years ago expecting the usual
cheerful atmosphere, you would have been disappointed.
Shortly before the festival, back in 2006, the new audiovisual
law, a big hope for the whole Czech film world, failed to win
enough political support. The visiting Czech filmmakers and
professionals, like their colleagues back home, were still trying
to digest the crushing news and were deeply frustrated.
Fortunately, a lot has changed since that sombre occasion and,
at least in the film sphere, certainly for the better. In 2013 the
new law was finally approved, which led to the establishment
of the independent State Cinematography Fund. The number of
international co-productions is on the rise, along with financial
support in this area. Since 2010, the film incentive programme
has also been in force.
A recent development also brings positive news from the
legislature. A special amendment to the law went into effect
right before Cannes, bringing two major changes with it: more
money for the Fund’s budget, which means a more stable
position for the institution, and improvement in the production
incentive scheme, especially in the application process. Newly,
the rebates will be allocated throughout the year.
The increase in the budget, which doubles the current amount,
will be used primarily to support the development and
production of Czech films and their promotion at home
and abroad.
My thanks for all this incredible progress goes to Helena Bezděk
Fraňková, the driving force behind this accomplishment and
the director of the State Cinematography Fund, as well as her
colleagues, for their unwavering determination and targeted
efforts to change the Czech film landscape and push it (back)
into the limelight.
Czech
Martin Kurel won the
César for Marguerite
This past February, Czech production
designer Martin Kurel won the French César
Award for Marguerite, directed by Xavier
Giannoli. Marguerite is set in Paris during
the Golden Twenties. A major part of the
shooting took place in the Czech Republic,
where the film was co-produced by Czech
production house Sirena Film. Scenes were
shot in Prague in the Neo-Renaissance
Vinohrady Theatre and the neoclassical
Faculty of Law and other places.
The historical setting is the real thing for
Martin Kurel, who has been working in
the film and television industry since the
beginning of the 1990s. He has worked on
more than 30 Czech or international projects
and has been nominated three times for
the national film award, the Czech Lion.
However, it is on the international projects
where Kurel’s affection for the past really
shines. He worked as the art director on the
historical drama The Affair of the Necklace,
as well as Hart’s War, and the crime
thriller Lord of War. More recently, Kurel
collaborated with Sirena Film on the Danish
historical drama A Royal Affair by Nikolaj
Arcel, which received two Silver Bears at the
Berlinale. Two of his latest projects, Serena,
a love story set during the Depression era
and directed by Susanne Bier, and 1864,
a television series about the bloodiest
battle in Denmark’s history, were locally
co-produced by Sirena Film.
© ČFTA
So come to our pavilion today – the mood will be really good!
Markéta Šantrochová
Head of Czech Film Center
Martin Kurel
2
CZECH FILM NOW
The Tree
© IDF
© MAUR Film
East
Doc
Platform
For this year’s East Doc Platform (EDP) were selected
32 upcoming documentary projects, which competed
for 9 awards. The main prize, The East Doc Platform
Development Award, received a Czech documentary
When the War Comes by director Jan Gebert and
producers Viktória Hozzová and Radovan Síbrt (film’s
profile at page 39). The award for the best project in the
development stage was associated with the financial
support of €7 500. Second success for Czech documentary
film was the DOK Leipzig Award for the project Avtovaz
by director Petr Horký and producer Martin Jůza. The
authors will have a chance to present their project at the
12th DOK Co-Pro Meeting. EDP is the largest event for
documentary filmmakers from Central and Eastern
Europe taking place annually in Prague.
Czech Animation on the Move
© Patmat film
Film
Now
© MasterFilm
Czech animation films were selected for Cannes,
Annecy and other important film festivals. The
animation scene continues to break new ground
while paying homage to the tradition.
In April, the Czech Film Center presented Best of
Czech Animated Shorts – a selection of the last two
years short film production at Festival of Animated
Films in Stuttgart.
The selection includes a classic animation Alien,
The Entangled, bringing back the spirit of Czech
animation legend – Karel Zeman and also brand new
productions as The Tree by Lucie Sunková, Transport
Er combining puppet animation with archive footage
and the innovative The Christmas Ballad showing
hypothetical horrors of the future.
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival
official selection include 2 Czech graduation short
films in competition: Raven Mother by Noemi
Valentíny produced by Tomas Bata University, and
Happy End by Jan Saska produced by FAMU, which is
also in the Cannes official line-up (see page 4).
Pat & Mat, a feature length puppet animation by
Marek Beneš, was selected for the official
programme, out of competition. The characters of
two clumsy neighbours Pat and Mat are very popular
not only in the Czech Republic.
Pat & Mat
Director Jan Němec, one of the most original
and talented members of the Czech New
Wave, died on 18 March 2016 at the age of 79.
His debut feature, Diamonds of the Night, which
premiered in 1964, was based on a story by Arnošt Lustig
and followed two Jewish boys escaping from a transport
during the Holocaust. His second film, A Report on the
Party and the Guests, voted Best Film of the Year by
Film and Filming Magazine, brought him prohibition
from further film work. A complete ban followed in 1968,
after he smuggled to the West his footage of Soviet tanks
in the streets of Prague. Upon his death, Jan Němec
was working on his new autobiographical comedy
The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street produced by
Masterfilm, where Jiří Mádl plays young Němec
(see more at page 14).
3
/ JAN SASKA
Happy
End
© Jan Saska, FAMU
ONLINE CHAT
MICHAELA PAVLÁTOVÁ
LA QUINZAINE DES
RÉALISATEURS
Michaela Pavlátová
Famous Czech animator and Jan
Saska’s teacher. The awards she
received for her animated short film
Repete include the Golden Bear, the
Special Jury Prize at Annecy and
the Grand Prix at the Hiroshima
International Animation Festival. She
won the Annecy Cristal in 2012 for
her short film Tram, which was also
shortlisted for an Academy Award
and shown in the Directors’ Fortnight
section at the Cannes International
Film Festival in 2012.
Jan Saska
Student of Michaela
Pavlátová at FAMU whose
animated short film Happy
End is included in this year’s
Directors’ Fortnight section.
…in an online interview
MP: Are you there?
JS: Yes.
MP: So, are you finally happy?
Do you realise how big this is?
JS: You mean Cannes?
MP: Sure.
JS: Yes, I am. And yes, I do)
MP: How was the idea for Happy
End born?
JS: Happy End is an adaptation of
a joke that a friend once told me at
4
university in Zlín. I remember
I didn’t even laugh too much back
then, but I liked the structure and
immediately had a visual idea of
the situations. Then one day
I needed a film idea at university,
and I decided to use it. When
I transcribed it onto a storyboard,
I realised it was all silent, except
for one verbal reaction, at the end.
That’s where the disordered
structure of the film originated.
I wanted to avoid the verbal punch
line and to be able to narrate the
whole thing just with images...
which turned out to have added
value.
MP: Why didn’t you finish Happy
End in Zlín?
JS: In Zlín it was impossible for me
to stretch my studies any further,
and the whole film had to be ready
in one year. The animatic I made
then was not perfect, but it worked
and was kind of funny thanks to the
imperfect way it was drawn – with
a computer mouse, actually.
MP: If you didn’t have to think
about making money, what would
you like to do in your life? Apart
from thinking about nothing,
drinking beer, watching films,
drawing, reading books and going
to New Zealand?
JS: I like what I am doing a lot. I am
very fortunate, and here I have to
mention that it is thanks to my
parents that I can do what I do.
But I am a bit sorry that, although
I’m moving in that direction, too,
animation is in fact becoming an
office job. In a sense you sit at the
computer and create something
through it. That’s why I like comics so
much, because paper is still involved
a lot, and you can take the whole
thing and go to the garden with it,
or somewhere. Moreover, I find it
very similar to film, animated film in
particular. I think the experience and
knowledge gained is really valuable,
for example regarding editing,
framing etc. But drinking beer and
watching films is great, of course!
And New Zealand, at least for
a couple of weeks, will happen one
day, too.
MP: I have one more question
about animation – its usefulness
or uselessness. Apart from liking
to do it, why are we doing it?
JS: I start from the other end. I was
always interested in animation, and
fortunately already during my
childhood it was possible to
somehow practise it at home.
I mean the technology was already
available, so I just jumped in without
thinking. Many people liked film and
often tried to shoot something. But
I find a huge advantage of animation
that it is created as a film, but
a creator can in fact be an asocial
person, without needing anybody
else, at least at the beginning. Later
you have to work in a team as well.
(I didn’t mean to make animation
a discipline for weirdos, though.)
MP: But animation IS for weirdos,
mostly. Although not all of us are
asocial, we are always holed up
somewhere, we are selfish about
our surroundings, family and
friends, because we need a lot of
time alone.
JS: It’s true that sometimes you are
more or less driven to be asocial,
although you are not like that by
nature. But some people are
naturally asocial, and it’s great that
even these people can make a film,
which is otherwise a collective work
involving dozens of professions. For
example, I would never be able to
lead actors, make others believe in
my idea, which is just formulated in
my head. The core of it all is that
animation enables us to play,
without immediately having to carry
the whole weight of responsibility for
the crew and money invested. You
can take the project quite far in
sketches and ideas as part of
a tentative search, and mostly with
much greater control.
MP: Simply said, the feeling of
being God, the creator. Without
you, there will be nothing. Is that
what you mean?
JS: Yes, that too. The feeling that
something comes to life under your
hands is great.
MP: The final question: Can you
remember at least one thing
I taught you as your teacher?
JS: Yes. For me it was the
playfulness. You just do something
you enjoy and...
MP: ...and then you go to Cannes!
JS: Yes! Exactly.
Happy End
CZ 2015, short animation
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Jan Saska
PRODUCTION COMPANY FAMU
A black comedy about death with
happy ending. A splendid chain of
unlikely encounters. Hunters,
a tractor driver, a disco boy, and
a corpse.
© Jan Saska, FAMU
MP: With a mouse?! That’s great!
It will be in all your interviews!
JS: :) Even greater was the surprise
I experienced while transforming the
animatic into the final film. I thought
I would just take the whole thing and
colour it, improve some details, while
the animation and timing would
remain unchanged. But I found that
when drawn in more detail, with
a background in the shot that
increases the volume of visual
information, the viewer would need
more time to orientate himself. And so
I had to animate it all over again with
different timing, more accuracy, etc.
5
PROFILE
THE DANCER
The Dancer
Artemio Benki, the Czech co-producer of Stéphanie Di Giusto’s début feature
film The Dancer, which has been included in the Un Certain Regard section,
talks about shooting the film in Prague.
UN CERTAIN
REGARD
© Wild Bunch
The Dancer |
La danseuse
A
rtemio Benki was already
involved in the project
during the early stages of
the script’s development, in
2012. The Czech Republic appeared
very early on as both a co-production
and a shooting solution. The film
received support from the State
Cinematography Fund in the Czech
Republic in two ways – from the film
incentive programme and as
a minority co-production.
“The story is really captivating.
The director is demanding but
really gives you the motivation
and the desire to work for her,
because she is just… she wants the
6
film to be perfect, and you want to
do it for her. Also, the relationship
was very special. She took the
co-producers through many stages
of the film, during the writing, the
preparation, the editing. I was
giving some notes, and she was
really taking them to heart,”
Benki said.
A significant part of the production
took place in the Czech Republic,
and the shooting in Prague made
use of a few very big historical
locations, including the Municipal
House and Hotel Europa.
FR, CZ, BE 2016
DIRECTOR Stéphanie Di Giusto
SCRIPT Stéphanie Di Giusto,
Sarah Thiebaud
CAST Soko, Gaspard Ulliel, Mélanie
Thierry, Lily-Rose Depp, François
Damiens
PRODUCTION COMPANY Les
productions du tresor (FR)
CO-PRODUCTION Artemio
Benki – Sirena Film (CZ), Les films
du fleuve (BE)
INTERNATIONAL SALES Wild Bunch
There was nothing in her
background to prepare Loïe to
become the toast of the Folies
Bergères in Paris and stages across
the world. Then she created the
‘Serpentine Dance’…
PROFILE
PERSONAL SHOPPER
Personal
Shopper
© MK2
COMPETITION
Personal Shopper
FR, CZ, DE 2016
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Olivier Assayas
CAST Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger,
Anders Danielsen Lie, Nora von
Waldstätten, Sigrid Bouaziz
PRODUCTION COMPANY CG Cinema (FR)
CO-PRODUCTION Artemio Benki – Sirena
Film (CZ), Detail Film (DE)
INTERNATIONAL SALES MK2
When the Cannes film festival revealed its line-up,
Artemio Benki was doubly happy. He is the Czech
co-producer of two films selected for the official
programme: Personal Shopper and The Dancer.
B
enki was optimistic about
the film’s chances to be
selected: “First of all,
there is the director. A few
of Olivier Assayas’s movies have
been in competition at Cannes,
and he is an important French
director. On top of that, there is
Kristen Stewart in the leading
role. So, it is a French movie, but
it is also in English. It is an
auteur film with an international
potential, and that is a really
important thing.”
The story of Personal Shopper is set
mostly in contemporary Paris and
London. Prague partly doubled for
these cities, which is quite
exceptional, as foreign productions
usually tend to seek out the Czech
capital for historical films. The shooting
in Prague took four weeks, and the
majority of the crew was Czech.
Concerning the chances to
co-produce the film, there were
many factors and connections at
play: “We were good co-producers
on Marguerite, and the director
of Marguerite had produced two
films directed by Olivier Assayas in
the past [Clean and Demonlover].
So it has to do with reputation –
Maureen is a young American in Paris
making her living as a personal shopper for
a celebrity. Also, she may have the psychic
ability to communicate with spirits, just like
her twin brother, Lewis, who recently
passed away. Maureen soon starts
receiving mysterious messages coming
from an unknown source. In Personal
Shopper Olivier Assayas enters the fashion
underworld revisiting the classic codes of
genre films.
people get to know you better –
and connections.”
Moreover, the Czech State
Cinematography Fund supported
the film through both production
incentives and minority co-production
support. “Besides the location there
was also the help of the rebate,
which is the link to the shooting or
to the spending. And there is also
the minority co-production
support. So, it makes it pretty
strong, these two points.”
7
FOCUS
CO-PRODUCTIONS WITH FRANCE
The Czech/French
connection
By André Crous
© moloko film
T
The Way Out
demonstrated a tremendous
readiness to collaborate with
countries, especially its European
siblings, on feature film productions
in particular. In fact, around half of
the country’s annual film output
comprises international co-productions.
In the past few years, the Czech film
8
industry has benefitted greatly from
its cooperation with the land of the
Lumières, which has resulted in
some of its most acclaimed films
being Czech-French co-productions.
Examples include I, Olga Hepnarová,
by Petr Kazda and Tomáš Weinreb,
which premiered at the most recent
Berlinale; Petr Vaclav’s The Way Out,
winner of seven Czech Lions at the
annual national film awards in 2015;
Olmo Omerzu’s Family Film, a panEuropean production that was part
of the New Directors section at last
year’s San Sebastian International
Film Festival; and Michaela
Pavlátová’s erotic animated short
film Tram, which screened in the
Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in
Cannes in 2012 and won the top
prize for shorts at the Annecy film
festival in the same year.
The co-production partnership
between the French and Czech film
industries is one of the oldest in
Europe and stretches back nearly
Tram
© Negativ
here are multiple
incentives for nations
across Europe to work
together on film productions,
including the increasing
likelihood of wider distribution and
funds made available specifically
to encourage transnational
co-productions. As one of Europe’s
two most prolific producers
of motion pictures (along with
the United Kingdom), France has
© Black Balance
Co-productions between the Czech and French film industries were
formalised nearly half a century ago. In recent years, these two
countries, as well as institutions at the European level, have provided
incentives and financial support to bolster more intensive cooperation.
I, Olga Hepnarova
half a century. Signed in 1968
between France and thenCzechoslovakia, the agreement
remained in force after the
dissolution of the latter in 1993,
when it split up into the independent
nations of the Czech Republic and
Slovakia. Among other stipulations,
the agreement requires that each of
the two signatory countries contribute
between 30% and 70% in the form of
technical and artistic support.
In the Czech Republic, the State
Cinematography Fund’s incentives
scheme, which has been in effect
since 2010, offers filmmakers grants
and tax rebates for producing their
films in the country, which makes it
possible for the producers to recoup
up to 20 percent of their expenses.
Since its inception, the fund has
© endorfilm
Family Film
and that is why we need international
financing. France is an obvious
choice. And since Petr has been
living in Paris, we prefer to edit in
France, where we cooperate with
[French editor] Florent Mangeot,
who is a friend and a great editor,
and who gives Petr’s films
a different feel.”
For Macola, because of the kind of
films that Vaclav makes, these
two reasons – money and art – are
among the most important elements
in the production. When asked
whether there is any calculation
during the development process to
produce a film that would be palatable
to both Czech and French audiences,
he points to Vaclav’s experience
living in France for an extended period
of time to argue that the director
knows both markets very well.
He goes on to emphasise the
production team’s common desire
to travel where the story takes them
instead of squeezing it into artificial
moulds, also known as making
“Europudding”, which happens
frequently when films incorporate
the disparate locations of their
European co-production partners.
For him, the decision to shoot in
different countries should stem from
the requirements (“the natural
setup”, in his words) of the story
and not simply be a transparently
opportunistic ploy to showcase
the scenery of the co-production
partners’ native lands.
France has been a generous partner
to the Czech film industry, whose
directors and producers, particularly
those involved in less commercial
ventures, praise the country’s
receptiveness to their ideas.
“The whole environment is much
more cultivated, and arthouse
cinema is not something weird
or special”, adds Macola.
A noteworthy example of collaboration
is Marguerite, a recent FrenchCzech-Belgian co-production. The
film was shot entirely in the Czech
Republic, and the production drew
on the talents of the crew members
from all three countries involved in
the partnership. It premiered at the
Venice Film Festival in 2015, and the
Czech production designer, Martin
Kurel, ended up winning his
country’s first-ever César Award.
Artemio Benki, who hails from
France but has been living and
working in Prague for more than
two decades, executive produced the
film in the Czech Republic. He is
very optimistic about the growth he
has seen in the local film industry
during his time in the country, and
particularly with regard to directors’
perspectives beyond their own borders.
“Until now, most of the co-productions
in the country were between the
Czech Republic and Slovakia”, he
explains. “It’s a financial thing. It
doesn’t really add production value.
But this has now started to change,
thanks to the State Cinematography
Fund and also the new generation
– new producers and new directors
who are starting to think a little
wider than the Czech Republic. They
know the end of the world is not
in Rozvadov [a Czech town on the
© Artcam
contributed to around 150 feature
film and television projects, most
notably with an incentive of nearly
200 million CZK (7.3 million EUR)
allotted to the successful 38-episode
production of Borgia, a CzechFrench-German-Italian television
series shot at Prague’s Barrandov
Studio that attracted filmmaking
talent from all across the continent.
Among the best-known figures
in the world of Czech-French
co-production is decorated Czechborn director Petr Vaclav, who has
been based in Paris for almost
15 years. All of his films dating back
to his 1996 début feature, Marian,
have been co-produced between
France and the Czech Republic.
According to producer Jan Macola,
whose Mimesis Film production
company has worked with Vaclav on
four different projects since 2012,
“there are two main reasons for
co-production”: The one is funding,
and the other has to with artistic
considerations.
“It is difficult to finance the films
that we make entirely with Czech
resources. We have a small budget,
but even for our needs, the financing
from the film fund is insufficient,
Marguerite
border with Germany]!”
With respect to funding, he also
lauds the range of grants available
in France. “If you don’t get one
grant, you can go to another place
where there is another grant”,
he says, corroborating Macola’s
description of the French financing
system as a supporter of cinema,
including projects that are
“auteur-driven”.
France’s widespread backing of film
ventures has not only led to an
impressive number of productions
inside the country (300 in 2015) but
also to fruitful collaborations with
other countries, including more than
140 transnational co-productions.
Over the past few years, this interest
in international partnerships has
dovetailed with the low production
costs in the Czech Republic to yield
numerous notable films and
television productions.
9
INTERVIEW
The ‘many
doors’ of
Czech-French
film funding
© Artcam
ARTEMIO BENKI
Artemio Benki, the CEO of Prague-based
Sirena Film, is a French-born producer who
has lived in Prague for more than 20 years.
Artemio Benki
D
uring this time, he has
been involved in a range of
projects and has frequently
worked with production
partners from the country
of his youth. He served as executive
producer in the Czech Republic on
Xavier Giannoli’s Marguerite, a film
that was shot in its entirety in and
around the Czech capital. His
production company, Sirena Films,
co-produced the upcoming The
Dancer, which has been selected to
premiere at the Cannes International
Film Festival in Un Certain Regard,
as well as Olivier Assayas’s Personal
Shopper, which will screen in
competition as part of the official
selection at the French Riviera’s
coveted film festival.
Do you feel like the Czech film
industry is at a disadvantage
because of its size?
No, not because of its size. When
I look around, some countries are
comparable to each other. But
France is hardly comparable to the
Czech Republic. It has seven times
more people, it is much richer, it is
producer no. 1 in the whole Europe.
And it has millions of grants! If you
don’t get one grant, you can go to
another place where there is another
grant. If you don’t get the second
10
grant, you can go to another place for
a third, and then you still have a Plan
D, or a Plan E. At one point, if you get
a “no” everywhere, you know it’s
wrong, and then you might think
about doing something else. Here in
the Czech Republic, you go for Plan
A. There is something between
a Plan A and a Plan B; but after that,
it’s finished. If you don’t get a grant,
and nothing from Czech TV, then your
project won’t happen, unless you
already have a fortune… or you win
the lottery!
Is it easier to secure funding if
a project is a co-production?
It is not easier, but it definitely opens
more doors, for example in terms of
distribution. I am not saying that it
makes it easier to find money in the
Czech Republic. It is hard work.
Obviously, in the Czech Republic it
works very well if you want to make
the next comedy. But comedies don’t
travel; the genre doesn’t travel well,
because a French joke is not funny in
the Czech Republic, and a Czech joke
is not funny in France. For a comedy,
or something that is very local, it can
be interesting, but the film stays
inside the country. For somebody
who has the ambition to go abroad,
whether with a very auteur-driven
film or a very commercial film – for
example, Petr Vaclav or Jan Svěrák
– it is going to be very expensive. It’s
gonna take more time, but you’re
gonna have the potential to make
more money, and your film will be
shown around Europe, which is
important. If we look at the projects
that are shown abroad, most of them
are co-productions.
How is France different from
other co-production partners?
The system in France is pretty
particular compared with any other
country in Europe; it’s a bit more
complicated. It’s a rich country in
terms of granting, and it has strong,
relatively rich television channels
that want to invest in cinema.
But each country has its own
particularity. I would rather say there
is a big difference between Europe
and let’s say Anglo-Saxon countries
in terms of economy. Even England is
somewhere between Europe and the
US in terms of financing.
How does the system in the UK
compare with the one in France,
or in the rest of Europe?
More difficult. With England and the
US, [a Czech partner is] more focused
on service production. Right now, I am
co-producing a French film on which
we are the minority partner, and at
INTERVIEW
ARTEMIO BENKI
some point, I started talking to some of
these partners about a majority Czech
project that can find some money or
distribution in France. So, this kind of
“renvoi d’ascenseur”, this reciprocity,
can work – or it can theoretically work
– between countries in [mainland]
Europe. With the US or England, not
really. Some reciprocity is starting to
happen, though. The tax rebates
started to change things and make it
more attractive.
because he started to have the idea
when he was shooting a commercial
here 10 years ago. He was walking,
he told me, “I want to shoot here.
I have this idea, but I don’t have
a script yet.” He wanted the film to
work here, but he wanted it to work
all around the world. The film was
sold abroad, and it has been pretty
successful, but he was not pointing
specifically, like, “Oh, it should work
in France and the Czech Republic.”
Can you give a brief summary of
the assistance provided by the
European Commission’s MEDIA
programme and the Council of
Europe’s Eurimages fund?
The MEDIA programme is much more
for the projects you are developing
yourself. It gives you money to develop
a film [or a television drama]. The very
funny thing is that your project has to
be developed enough to get money for
development. Eurimages is for the
production process. It provides money
for shooting, and it is much more
money than Media. Let’s say the
money for developing a feature film
can be 50,000 EUR. A grant from
Eurimages can be 500,000 EUR. And
Eurimages happens only when it is
a co-production between countries.
How did it benefit Marguerite to
have the shooting take place in
Prague?
The production costs would have
nearly doubled if we had shot the
film in France! People asked us,
“Really? You did it for that amount
of money?” That was an advantage;
that was inspiring for the director.
The film was bigger than it would
have been because he could do a lot
with the money he had. That was
a big advantage.
You mentioned that comedies are
often too local to travel beyond
their borders. When you were
developing Marguerite, did you
ever consider how the film, which
is partly a comedy, would play in
two very different cultures,
namely France and the Czech
Republic?
When the director [Xavier Giannoli]
and I were discussing it, he was
thinking more about whether it
would work on the audience in
general, also abroad. Of course, he
wanted the film to work in the Czech
Republic, and he’s also attached to
the country because of the shooting,
How has the atmosphere changed in
terms of co-production between the
Czech Republic and other countries
in Europe since the 1990s?
Compared with the beginning of
the 1990s, when I started, the Czech
crews are far better, and the system
is working much better. In the
1990s, people had just come out of
a system, communism, which had
been a very different way of working.
They started to work on bigger films,
Do you think it is easier to
produce a French film in the
Czech Republic than to make
a Czech film in France?
Theoretically, no. In practice, yes.
Theoretically no, because you can get
the money in France. But it becomes
more complicated in practical terms,
because France is
not an easy place
where to shoot. It is
more complicated
because it is more
expensive, because
of where the country
is: It is more
complicated to shoot
in France in general
than in the Czech
Republic. Regarding
Xavier Giannoli and Artemio Benki
the financing, there
are grants that are
only for co-productions with other
European films, Western films; they
countries. So, it is theoretically
started to learn more about their
possible. The shooting part is more
profession and learn a certain
complicated because France is more
rhythm. In the 1990s, the
complicated! But they are trying to
technicians or the crew members
change it, to make it more
were not among the best in Europe.
welcoming.
But I think that now they are.
© Artcam
And is that an incentive for you
to get more countries involved
as co-producers?
Yes!
In your experience, how does the
challenge of funding and marketing
a Czech-language film compare
with that of a film in French?
In the minds of people worldwide,
a French film is from a big country
that is making many films. Here in the
Czech Republic, and all around the
world, everybody will know some
French actor. They will talk about
Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard,
they will know Juliette Binoche
or Catherine Deneuve or [Gérard]
Depardieu. If you mention the Czech
Republic, they will think of the Czech
New Wave and all these sweet-sour
comedies, this kind of humour,
but that is really far back. That is
something that has disappeared from
the minds of people who are 20, 30,
even 40. So, I think it is easier to
market a French film.
11
PROFILE
IKARIE XB 1
Restoration returns
Ikarie XB 1
to the film screens
© NFA
This unique classic Czech sci-fi movie makes use of masterful
special effects and an impressive production design together with
modern electronic music and a strong ensemble cast. The film is
said to be among the most important sources of inspiration for
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Ikarie XB 1 was digitally restored by National
Film Archive (NFA) in 2016.
“We have been captivated by the intensity of this
particular space travel—a voyage that took our minds
and senses. The music was terrific as well as the sound
design, combined with a tight exploitation of camera
angles, reflecting the human souls as deep as they can
be. Besides, the restoration work was high-quality with
particularities such as the marks that are historically
significant, said Gérald Duchaussoy, co-ordinator of Cannes
Classics section of Cannes IFF.
12
CS 1963
DIRECTOR Jindřich Polák
SCRIPT Pavel Juráček, Jindřich Polák
DOP Jan Kališ
EDITOR Josef Dobřichovský
MUSIC Zdeněk Liška
SET DESIGNER Jan Zázvorka
CAST Zdeněk Štěpánek, Radovan Lukavský, Dana Medřická,
Miroslav Macháček, František Smolík, Jiří Vršťala
It is the second half of the 22nd century and a spaceship
called Ikarie XB 1 is on its way to Alfa Centauri to
search for extraterrestrial forms of life. Its crew, made
up primarily of scientists from various fields, being far
from our solar system, is exposed to unknown and
unimaginable dangers. At the same time, though, it
also deals with a number of their everyday worries as
well as their delights. The film was digitally restored within the project
“Digital restoration of Czech film heritage” which was
supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and
Norway and co-financed by the Czech Ministry of
Culture. Project partners were the National Library of
Norway and CESNET.
“Restored films have been screened at the
big festivals for many years, but having
Ikarie play at Cannes is a huge success for
the National Film Archive. I was pleased
that even in Cannes they appreciate our
efforts to preserve the period character
and charm”, said the Director of the National
CANNES
CLASSICS
Film Archive in the Czech Republic, Michal Bregant.
from Hungarian Filmlab.
© NFA
“It was a great pleasure for us
to co-operate on the project that
returns Ikarie XB 1 to the film
screens. The fact that Cannes
IFF selected the restored
version for its programme
shows its appreciation of the
high quality of the restoration
and the collaboration of the
experienced team of the
Hungarian Filmlab and the
Czech National Film Archive.
The whole process – scanning,
grading and restoring image
and sound – was undertaken in
detailed consultation with the
restorers, and a lot of attention
was devoted to preserving the
authentic shape of the image
and the sound from 1963 in the
digital version”, said Róbert Nagy,
Restoration supervision (NFA): Tereza Frodlová,
Jeanne Pommeau
Color corrections consultant (NFA): Branislav Daniš
Digitization consultant (NFA): Jan Zahradníček
Sound consultant (NFA): David Šmitmajer
Data management (NFA): David Ernst
Scanning supervision (Hungarian Filmlab):
János Polyak
VFX supervision (Hungarian Filmlab): Zsolt
Ormándlaky
Lead image restorer (Hungarian Filmlab):
Balázs Tóth
Colorist (Hungarian Filmlab): László Kovács
Sound engineer (Hungarian Filmlab): Daniel Böhm
Data management (Hungarian Filmlab): Zsolt
Erdélyi
Project manager (NFA): Anna Batistová
Project coordinator (NFA): Matěj Strnad
Project coordinator (Hungarian Filmlab):
Róbert Nagy
© NFA
© NFA
Restoration credits for Ikarie XB 1:
13
HOMAGE
/ THE WOLF FROM ROYAL VINEYARD STREET
JAN NĚMEC
The Czech New Wave
Jan Nûmec’s swan
He was not the only Czech director to have
a film in competition that year: Jiří Menzel’s
Capricious Summer and Miloš Forman’s
The Firemen’s Ball were the other two. This
was the last time Cannes saw such a Czech
presence at the highest level of the festival.
Now, after 48 years, Jan Němec decided
to return to Cannes and eternalise this
situation in his new autobiographical
feature film The Wolf from Royal Vineyard
Street. He didn’t choose the 68th edition of
the Cannes Film Festival by chance: On the
contrary, his intention was to pass the 1968
festival sign in the film.
Occupying a highly valued place at
the fence, a grumpy old man in
a wheelchair appeared next to the
red carpet in front of the Palais des
Festivals in Cannes last year. But he
wasn’t taking pictures of film stars
or the Golden Palm. He seemed
detached, in his own world, focused
on the space in front of him with an
imaginary camera. A young man
devotedly pushed his wheelchair to
help him find the best shots. If
Jean-Luc Godard had passed by,
maybe he would have recognised
the stubborn septuagenarian as
Czech film director Jan Němec,
a famous member of the Czech New
Wave. The two met at this very spot
back in 1968, when Němec’s film
A Report on the Party and the
Guests was in competition and had
a good chance to pick up an award.
His possible victory was thwarted by
the revolutionary enthusiasm of
French filmmakers, including
Godard, who declared the festival
cancelled as a gesture of solidarity
with striking workers and students.
14
Unfortunately, The Wolf, as he named his
autobiographic main character, will be
missing at the premiere. The director died
shortly before finishing the film.
“The film has a Wolf in its
title – a wild, cunning,
uncontrollable being. A wolf
in sheep’s clothing and vice
versa. You will see the crime
scenes, authentic dialogue,
author commentary,
archives – both original and
false”, Němec promised
icon
song
“For us as his former students, it was great life lesson. He adapted
filmmaking to the means and the tools that were available to him,
not vice versa: No binding, ironclad screenplay, no settled narrative
norms. For him, the process of creating a film was constantly the
main idea. Jan Němec was an enduring iconoclast and surrealist.
He didn’t want to make films for a small group of people; he was
creating for everybody, including this film, but he didn’t want to
hypnotise. He wanted to provoke, excite, upset…” remembers Jakub
Felcman, one of the crew members
The Wolf from Royal
Vineyard Street | Vlk
z Královských Vinohrad
CZ, SK, FR 2016
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Jan Němec
CAST Jiří Mádl, Karel Roden, Martin
Pechlát, Gabriela Míčová, Tatiana
Pauhofová, Tomáš Klein, Jiří Bartoška,
Jiří Menzel
PRODUCTION COMPANY Tomáš
Michálek, Dagmar Sedláčková –
MasterFilm
CO-PRODUCTION Czech Television,
Media Film (SK), Bocalupo Films (FR)
© MasterFilm
His team, consisting mainly of former
students from Prague’s FAMU film
school has a big task now – to finalise
the film the way Němec would have
wanted it to be. The film has been
shot, the editing is almost ready, and
they received the greenlight from the
director to complete production at all
costs. But it is still a tough task...
Němec was unpredictable.
The story of John Jahn, a filmmaker
always crossing the line of good
behaviour. In the fatal year of 1968,
Czechs had three films in the main
competition of the Cannes film festival,
and one of them was about to seize the
Golden Palm Award. But a would-be
revolution of French filmmakers put
a stop to that year’s festival and ruined
the Czech party. For John Jahn, that
meant going back home just in time to
see his homeland invaded by the
Soviet-supported armies. Forced into
exile, having lost both his success and
his fame, waiting to return home and to
film. Instead of the Champs-Elysées, he
walks the avenues of Prague’s
Vinohrady, past the city limits, all the way
to absolute freedom.
15
INDUSTRY
CZECH FILM SPRINGBOARD
A first step
for domestic
projects
By Martin Kudláč
Finále Plzeň, a showcase of Czech domestic production, decided to attach a new
initiative to the festival, following a revamp of its concept, the Czech Film Springboard
co-organized by Czech Film Center. Round-table discussions followed the pitching
session, allowing filmmakers to discuss their projects’ concepts and international
potential, as well as production and exploitation strategy with industry professionals.
T
© Finále Plzeň
he annual gathering Finále Plzeň
traditionally offers the crop of Czech
production from previous year,
a comprehensive summary and crashcourse in the domestic cinema. The festival has
Round tables at Czech Film Springboard
16
recently revamped the programming concept
to press its finger more tightly on the pulse
of domestic production. The renewed festival
thus tracks even recent premieres and minor
international co-production painting a detailed
INDUSTRY
CZECH FILM SPRINGBOARD
portrait of the Czech film landscape and industry
especially nowadays when the visibility of Czech
production on the international circuit has risen as
well as a new generation of talented filmmakers,
a sort of renaissance moment in domestic cinema
likened to a new wave.
Besides programming, the festival’s industry side
underwent a facelift with major novelty being a new
initiative Czech Film Springboard co-organized
by Czech Film Center attached to it rounding up
previously unexposed projects at one stage.
A pitching session succeeded with round table
discussions where filmmakers had a chance to
discuss the concept and international potential
of their projects, production and exploitation
strategy with a cohort of international experts
and experienced industry professionals. The event
serves also as a sneak-peek of promising films in
the pipeline given the fact the most projects were
at early phase of development. The quality of the
story, its potential, film crew, financial plan or
script were the calling cards in curating the
line-up for the inaugural edition of the Czech
Film Springboard platform curated by Czech
Film Center.
Emerging talents as well as up-and-coming
filmmakers visited the event among them Ondřej
Hudeček who recently travelled the festival
circuit with short film Peacock netting several
nominations and accolades including Short Film
Special Jury Award for Best Direction at Park City
at Sundance. Hudeček’s feature debut Bohemian
Rhapsody revealed at Czech Film Springboard is
going to be a follow-up to Peacock. Despite the
main protagonist, enigmatic figure of Czech
playwright Ladislav Stroupežnický, the director
stressed out Bohemian Rhapsody will be different
story, different genre and different form. The film’s
producer Tomáš Hrubý of Czech outfit nutprodukce
called Bohemian Rhapsody a postmodern thriller
“operating with historical facts loosely and with
hyperbole” and Hudeček added the film will be
utopian dream about dystopian society but also
a story about telling stories and how they influence
a life in certain period. The project is in early stage
of development and filmmakers intend to take the
script to a screenwriting lab, possibly at Sundance
or Torino expecting the production in 2018.
Another young filmmaker of Slovenian origin,
Olmo Omerzu, has debuted with feature-length
film Family Film starring Karel Roden last year
and is already bracing up for sophomore film,
Jackdaws On the Road. Written by Petr Pýcha, the
road comedy follows two twelve year old boys and
their suddenly acquired sense of freedom on the
run in a stolen car. According to the director, the
film is supposed to be fluid genre-wise kicking off
as a comedy and slowly transitioning into another
genre. With the principal photography set for this
summer, the final cut is expected to be ready in the
first half of the next year. Although Jackdaws On
the Road features child protagonist, it does not
target specific audience segment and “it won’t
be a kids film,” concluded Omerzu.
Young Slovak director Tereza Nvotová is currently
shooting her graduate film Filthy doubling as her
feature debut which was also brought to the fore at
the new platform. Nvotová tackles the issue of rape
Pitching session at Czech Film Springboard
17
INDUSTRY
CZECH FILM SPRINGBOARD
and what happens when victim tries to repress
the act and avoid the perpetrator. Miloš Lochman,
the film producer of Czech production company
moloko film, explained Filthy will be intimate
psychological drama while the rape won’t be the
centrefold and not the main reason for the film’s
inception. “It’s another obstacle in life”, he adds.
His colleague and Slovak co-producer Peter Badač
from BFILM elaborates that the filmmaker “looks
at other aspects of young girls’ lives – their
first love, first sexual experience, nightlife and
relationship with their parents.” The rough cut
is expected to be ready in October with the
filmmakers eyeing Berlinale for world premiere.
Tomáš Klein and Tomáš Merta are readying
collaborative feature debut Where is My Home,
a loose adaption of the namesake autobiography
about professional deceiver Zdeněk Perský who
crafted his own myth in order to escape from
prison. “He is an inspirational person despite his
criminal past” says the co-director Tomáš Klein
who along his colleague Tomáš Merta represented
Czech Republic in Cannes’ sidebar Cinéfondation
with short film Retriever last year. Klein calls the
film “a monodrama about a warrior using words
instead of swords”. The real-life figure and the
film’s inspiration Zděnek Pruský is expected to play
himself while the directors plan to work with real
people in authentic environments eyeing 2018 for
the principal photography.
© Finále Plzeň
Czech Film Springboard welcomed also
experienced filmmaker Bohdan Sláma, the director
of The Village Teacher or Four Suns, currently
18
shooting Ice Mother which was already picked
by Match Factory at Berlinale Market and
simultaneously developing his next project. Scars,
a book adaptation packing an award for best
unrealized script, is a family drama about uncanny
family reunion. The film’s producer Viktor Tauš of
Fog’n’ Desire production outfit called the film
a coming-of-age film and the first time Sláma
won’t be directing his own script.
Czech Republic is equally active in co-producing
various projects most notably from the Visegrad
region. Such is the case on the feature debut By
A Sharp Knife of budding Slovak director Teodor
Kuhn produced by nutprodukcia, the Slovak branch
of Czech outfit nutprodukce is a thriller about
impotent justice system and the corrosive power
of corruption from the perspective of a father
whose son was murdered and the culprits set free.
Jakub Viktorin, the film’s producer called the
drama with crime elements based on real events,
“a film for cinemas”. Next project at Czech Film
Springboard came from Hungary, an ecological
fairy tale Maze-in-Lake written and directed by
Csaba Bollók. The director himself calls his
upcoming feature outing “a fairy tale from the end
of times” and intends to shot the dystopian setting
on location without the use of CGI. Bollók
confessed his aim to use naturalistic approach
shooting the film “however it won’t be a depressive
story” adding in the same breath.
Despite the number of projects stemming from
Visegrad region, it does not represent a comfort
zone for Czech co-producing activities. Czech
Republic participates on a variety of projects from
a range of diverse countries as Romania, Iran,
France, USA, UK, Germany or Slovenia. From
Slovenia comes the last project in this year’s
Czech Film Springboard’s line-up, Wake by Matjaž
Ivanišin, a drama about a man contemplating
his brother’s death and life in a series of vivid
memories. “We are trying to build a non-narrative
film because this nostalgia has no narrative,” said
the producer Miha Černec of Staragara revealing
the film’s unconventional form. Czech outfit i/o
post stepped in as the co-producer because of the
use of laboratories since Wake will be shot on
16mm.
PROFILE
SUPERBIA
SEMAINE
DE LA CRITIQUE
Superbia
“The cooperation was great... from
the very first version we knew the
film would be good... and we were
not mistaken. The tenacity of the
director to finish the film and
be in a position to send it to the
pre-selection round of Cannes was
incredible. For us it was a valuable
experience that opened up new
distribution possibilities. We look
forward to seeing the film on its
successful tour all over the world.”
HU, CZ, SK 2016, short animation
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Luca Tóth
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Péter
Benjámin Lukács – FAKT Visual
Lab (HU), Martin Vandas – MAUR
Film (CZ)
The native people of the surrealistic
land of Superbia, where men and
women form separate societies, face
the changes sparked by the first
equal couple in their history.
© MAUR Film
“Since then we have been
negotiating about a possible
co-production. After gaining
the support of the Hungarian
Film Fund, we asked the
Czech Cinematography Fund
for minority co-production
support.“
© MAUR Film
“The film is remarkable in its
poetic hinting at themes of gender
equality”, according to Martin
Vandas, the film’s Czech producer,
who explains that he discovered the
project at the last year’s Visegrad
Animation Forum at the Anifilm
festival in Třeboň (CZ).
© MAUR Film
French film critique Charles Tesson, artistic director
of the Semaine de la Critique described Superbia as
“a bustling animation film, an orgy of colors against
the backdrop of joyful bacchanals.”
19
PROFILE
KARLOVY VARY IFF
Karlovy
© KVIFF
Stepping into the
next half-century
20
PROFILE
KARLOVY VARY IFF
Vary IFF
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of
the oldest festivals in Europe, and its origins date
back to the post-war period of cultural euphoria.
uring its first four decades, the festival
introduced innovative artistic perspectives and opened the doors to great cinematic personalities but also had to
resist the pressures resulting from
communist totalitarianism. After the revolution in
1989, it suddenly had to defend its right to exist.
But under the direction of President Jiří Bartoška
and former Artistic Director Eva Zaoralová, the
team built a modern, inspirational festival that
has found its unique identity by connecting filmmakers and audiences, building platforms for
young, ambitious filmmakers and creating an interface between the films of Western and Eastern
Europe. Last year the Karlovy Vary IFF celebrated
its 50th anniversary. It now enters its next halfcentury with a strong foundation and many innovative ideas.
D
filmmakers and the public and the opportunity for
creative dialogue among the filmmakers. Film professionals, distributors and film journalists are
gradually getting used to going to Karlovy Vary to
see interesting films from Central or East European
filmmakers that they cannot see elsewhere in such
a comprehensive programme.
Jamie Dornan
While searching for its place among the film revues in Europe and the world, the Karlovy Vary Festival has long banked on an unforgettable atmosphere for the audiences, a connection between the
“The festival’s ambition is also to bring young artists to the world of cinema at the beginning of their
careers”, explained Kryštof Mucha, executive director of the festival. “We want to connect young
© KVIFF
The festival team’s longstanding stability was the
foundation for it to develop its programming philosophy. “Each year we present new films, guests
arrive and events take place”, stated President Jiří
Bartoška. “That is always the biggest challenge –
building on the success of previous years and making every year better than the last.”
21
PROFILE
KARLOVY VARY IFF
filmmakers with important people from the film
business at the beginning of their careers so that
fledgling directors and producers do not waste an
important period in their careers looking for the
right contacts. In past years we have managed to
push forward many promising projects that, thanks
to our support, obtained interesting co-producers
and paved the way to other festivals or international distribution.”
That is why the Karlovy Vary Festival emphasises
the industry programme, which is a success here.
The basis of the 51st KVIFF programme will be the
Official Selection – Competition, the international
East of West competition, just like the thematic
sidebar programs, but there will also be a lot that
is new.
This year the festival wants to continue improving
its facilities for film professionals and be a place
for them to get connected and meet one another
while showing the Czech Republic as a destination
suitable for film production and post-production.
At the same time the Film Industry Office, in cooperation with its partners, is striving to be a better
platform for new filmmakers, established directors and producers from the East European region
or film buyers and distributors from all over the
world.
© KVIFF
Over the 12 years of its existence, the Works in
Progress project has enabled the creation and
completion of many new films. The prize for the
most promising Works in Progress project from
Central and Eastern Europe, the post-Soviet countries, Turkey and Greece will be even more attractive thanks to its new partners. The winning project
Harvey Keitel with family
will receive a post-production package, including
video and audio services, as well as finances for
the completion of the film in Czech post-production studios which, if compared to previous years,
will be far more substantial in 2016.
The festival will also be presenting the first Eurimages Lab Project Award, which will be given to a European project that is on the edge of the conventional approach to film and presents a new form of
artistic and visual expression. The eight projects
that have been chosen and presented will vie for the
award with a financial reward of 50,000 euros.
Traditionally, documentary projects from Central
and Eastern Europe in the production and postproduction phases (Docu Talents from the East), as
well as Czech and Slovak projects that are still in
the development phase but have international coproduction potential (Pitch&Feedback), will also
be presented in cooperation with our partners.
For the second year in a row, the Karlovy Vary Festival will be hosting the annual gathering of the network of independent European Distributors, Europa
Distribution, whose workshops on the theme of
“Film Education and Literacy” will also be open to
film professionals. At the same time we hope to be
devoting more time to the issue of the digital market
in the context of new strategies from the USA.
Educational platforms at the festival enable filmmakers to meet experts in their fields. The part-
22
© KVIFF
Since last year the festival has also successfully
spread its activities out over the entire year. It has
established the distribution label KVIFF Distribution in cooperation with the established local distributor Aerofilms and Czech Television, a longstanding media partner of the festival.
Thus the Film Industry Office will once again be
able to arrange even more interesting creative
workshops for the wider public of film professionals, as well.
Thus Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, which won the Audience Award at the 50th KVIFF, and Oscar nominee
A War by Danish writer-director Tobias Lindholm
were released under the KVIFF Distribution label.
© KVIFF
nership with Torino Film Lab opens up an opportunity to look at the comedy genre – how to approach
it properly so that it works on an international level.
About 60 TFL graduates and tutors will be meeting
in Karlovy Vary to examine the genre’s opportunities and pitfalls. This year for the first time the
MIDPOINT screenwriting platform, in cooperation
with experts from the Sundance Institute, will be
presenting an intensive programme as part of the
Karlovy Vary Festival. The Future Frames programme will also be taking place for the second
time. Its aim, in cooperation with European Film
Promotion, is to introduce 10 selected students
from European film schools to leading experts
from the film industry, helping them make contacts important for their future careers. “The initial
year of Future Frames was one of the most successful events at last year’s Karlovy Vary IFF and
was the most visible abroad”, stated the artistic
director of the festival, Karel Och. “After the world
premiere in Karlovy Vary, a rising star of Czech
filmmaking, Ondřej Hudeček, made the rounds at
various festivals with his student film, Peacock, including at Toronto and Sundance, where the film
received the award for best director. Patrick Vollrath, a student at the Filmacademy Vienna, was no
less successful. His film, Everything Will Be Okay,
can boast an Oscar nomination and the Student
Academy Award.”
“We were looking for a way to inform the wider
film-going public about films that were successful
at the Karlovy Vary Festival so that they do not get
lost in the weekly offer of films at the cinemas. In
addition, thanks to the year-round work of our Program Department, we know about a lot of films
that, because of time, for example, we are not able
to include in the festival programme, but we would
like to draw attention to them. These are films that
need an individual approach, both in terms of introduction and promotions. By joining it with the
Karlovy Vary IFF brand, we can help lead viewers to
exceptional cinematic works that should not escape their attention”, stated festival President Jiří
Bartoška.
William Friedkin
The 51st Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival
takes place July 1–9, 2016.
23
INTERVIEW
LUDMILA CLAUSSOVÁ, FILM COMMISSIONER
Czech Film
Commission
speaks
Filmmaking
The Czech Film Commission is a key component
of the Czech film industry. Ludmila Claussová
has led the commission since its establishment
in 2004.
How does the Czech Film Commission help
filmmakers?
We are the most comprehensive resource for information about filmmaking in the Czech Republic,
from legal requirements and permits, to talent and
useful tips about production issues filmmakers
didn’t even think of yet. We will connect them with
service providers, crews, facilities and other partners, and assist them with preliminary location
scouting. We will also consult filmmakers on the
incentive program and how to get the rebates. Another aspect of the Czech Film Commission’s mission is to serve as the liaison between the film industry and local authorities. We listen to the needs
24
of the industry with the aim of creating beneficial
conditions for filming.
What are the benefits of filming in the Czech
Republic for foreign producers?
Filming in the Czech Republic will save productions
money and make them look great. Our highly-experienced crews have worked on countless international productions and offer outstanding expertise
and production value so more of the budget ends
up on the screen. In addition, the Czech Republic is
conveniently nestled in the heart of Europe, making
travel arrangements and location moves a breeze.
The variety that filmmakers find in our country is
© Petr Dobiáš-Stillking Films
What about incentives? Do you offer any?
Czech Republic offers very competitive incentives
since 2010, making it one of the most cost-effective filming destinations in Europe. International
film and TV productions can qualify for cash rebates of 20% of local spend, plus an additional
10% rebate for international cast and crew. The
government just increased the funding for the incentives and allocated 33 milion USD per year
from the state budget over the next three years.
And our Prime Minister just returned from Los
Angeles, where he discussed the incentives with
studio executives. It’s great to have a government
that supports our industry.
for the German television station ZDF, with more to
come soon.
Is there a best time of year to make a film in the
Czech Republic?
The Czech Republic is a great place to film any
time of year. It depends on what environment filmmakers are looking to capture. We have four distinct seasons, with winter starting in November
and spring coming back around March. Winter in
Prague can be mystical and dark. You wouldn’t encounter many tourists. The summers in the countryside are rich with greenery and other vivid colors
that make for memorable, romantic sights.
What kinds of crew professionals are available for
film and TV productions in the Czech Republic?
There is such a depth of experienced crew people
available that we can accommodate the largest and
most demanding productions. Our crews have
world-class skills, are used to working 10-12 hours
a day 6 days a week, and speak English, German,
© Artcam
just amazing. Czech locations present memorable
period or modern looks and beautiful natural wonders. Our historic architecture lets our cities double for Paris, London or nearly any other European
city. We also have sound stages of all sizes, adaptable backlots, excellent post facilities, and stateof-the-art equipment.
On the set of Interlude in Prague
Marguerite
What productions are taking place in the Czech
Republic this year?
There are a number of projects filming in the Czech
Republic in 2016. These include some high-profile
period films and television productions. Currently
being shot is the feature Interlude in Prague, based
on the true-life events of Mozart’s visit to Prague in
1787, centering on the creation of his opera Don
Giovanni. Additionally, two big shoots are prepping
now and will be filming until December – the historical TV series Knightfall, as well as Britannia,
a 10-episodes epos. ABC Studios just filmed a pilot
for their TV series Spark. We hope it will be picked
up, and they will return to Prague to film the whole
season in the summer. Also filming are German TV
projects The Glassblower (Die Glasbläserin) and
the two-part miniseries State Justice (Landgericht)
French and other languages. It’s common for international producers to arrive with only their director,
lead actors and a few department heads. They staff
the rest of their teams locally. For instance, 2016’s
Mozart-themed film Interlude in Prague staffed
90% of their crew of 175 in the Czech Republic.
Available are experienced professionals for all departments, from all levels of camera crew, lighting
and sound technicians, visual effects specialists,
stuntmen, animal trainers, horse wranglers, simply any profession and position.
Would you point out one department? One particular profession?
One of our top groups of professionals work in the
art department. We have award-winning production designers and art directors, most of whom
25
INTERVIEW
LUDMILA CLAUSSOVÁ, FILM COMMISSIONER
What do you like most about this job that you’ve
held for 12 years?
It’s been a very rewarding 12 years. I love promoting what I truly believe in. I am convinced that the
Czech Republic is a great, beautiful country, with
© CzechTourism
Why do you think that is?
Czech art department crews take advantage of the
amazing resources at their disposal in our country.
In Prague you will find one of Europe’s largest collections of period costumes, from medieval garb to
recent fashions. Czech tailors regularly help filmmakers adapt existing pieces and create entirely
new wardrobes on demand. There are also thousands of props: historical furniture, firearms and
other weapons, and hundreds of historical vehicles
- horse-drawn and motor, military and civilian.
The skillset of Czech design craftsmen also extends
beyond carpentry and painting to stone masonry,
blacksmithing, woodworking and upholstery. You
will be hard-pressed to find better in the world.
Some recent standout work by our designers includes Martin Kurel receiving a César for his work
diversity and easy accessibility of locations is one
of the main reasons filmmakers keep returning to
the Czech Republic. From idyllic countrysides to
industrial wastelands, the regions of our country
can offer a great range of storytelling possibilities.
Our landscape is a tableau of beautiful lakes, rolling hills, deep forests, and snow-capped mountains. It also has the highest concentration of period castles and chateaux in all of Europe as well
as former military bases and camps, old factories
and even mines that can be molded to your production.
What’s more, we have partners in the regions who
can help filmmakers get the most from the locations. Together with the Audiovisual Producers’ Association and CzechTourism, we have also instituted
the initiative Film Friendly Region to give additional
focus to the most welcoming film regions of the
country.
©-CzechTourism
have cut their teeth on the many design-heavy period films that have been shot in the Czech Republic. For example, if you look at the films and series
shot recently in our country, you will see the majority being historical adventures - shoots which demand a lot of construction, decoration, costumes
and props.
Perštejn
Karlovy Vary Region
on Marguerite. Another excellent designer is
Ondrej Nekvasil, whose credits include Underworld 5 (2016), Snowpiercer (2013), and such TV
shows as Crossing Lines (2014) and Missing (2012).
professional filmmakers who love what they do.
That’s really an amazing bonus of the work - I love
communicating with passionate, creative people
who want the best for their productions. It’s also
such a privilege that I can constantly rediscover
and get to know better my own country thanks to
organizing and taking part in many location scouting trips to the regions.
Besides Prague, where else in the Czech Republic should filmmakers take their productions?
As beautiful as Prague is, the Czech Republic has
a lot to offer in many other locations. In fact, the
26
In Your Dreams! (CZ, SK, BG, 2016) – supported by MEDIA Development in 2013,
World Premiere at the Berlinale 2016
CREATIVE EUROPE
MEDIA SUB-PROGRAMME
Support for the DEVELOPMENT of drama, animation and creative documentary
CZECH PROJECTS SUPPORTED IN 2015
Call
EACEA/18/2014
EACEA/18/2014
EACEA/18/2014
EACEA/18/2014
Company
FOG’N’DESIRE FILMS
INFINITY PRAGUE
NUTPRODUKCE
HYPERMARKET FILM
EACEA/17/2014
EACEA/17/2014
EACEA/17/2014
Total
BARLETTA
AXMAN PRODUCTION
TWIN STAR FILM
Project
Lucerna, Samko Tale: the Book about Cemetery, Scars
Svejk, Cavalry Watch, Beautiful Sadness
Mendel’s Dwarf, A Good Wife, On Another Side, Darwin's Eye
FREM, Polish God, The Divine Voice,
The White World according to Dalibor
Living Large
American Chick
Cradle of Death – The Curse of the Baron Gautsch
www.kreativnievropa.cz | www.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe
Category
Fiction
Fiction
Fiction
Documentary
EUR
101 357
150 000
134 000
90 500
Animation
Fiction
Fiction
60 000
50 000
50 000
635 857
Kreativní
Evropa
27
INTERVIEW
/ THE TEACHER
JAN HŘEBEJK
The Teacher | Učitelka
SK, CZ 2016
DIRECTOR Jan Hřebejk
SCRIPT Petr Jarchovský
CAST Zuzana Mauréry, Csongor Kassai, Zuzana
Konečná, Tamara Fischer, Martin Havelka, Éva Bandor,
Oliver Oswald, Peter Bebjak
PRODUCERS Zuzana Mistríková, Ľubica Orechovská –
PubRes (SK)
CO-PRODUCTION Radio and Television Slovakia,
Ondřej Zima, Jan Prušinovský – Offside Men (CZ),
Czech Television
Since the arrival of the new teacher, Maria
Drazdechova, to a Bratislava suburban school in the
year of 1983, life has turned upside down for students
and parents. The convincement of the teacher’s
corrupted behaviour and one of the students’ suicide
attempt that could be related to that matter, makes
the school Principal call the students’ parents for an
urgent meeting that will suddenly put the future of all
the families at stake. They are asked to sign a petition
to move Miss Drazdechova out of the school. The
teacher’s high connections within the Communist
Party makes everyone feel threatened, but at this point
they have no choice but to make a decision: will they
dare to go against Miss Drazdechova and stand up for
what they believe in at any risk, or will they just remain
silent and let things be?
Certain subjects
are coming back
Director Jan Hřebejk, who has experienced the development of the Czech
post-communist film era since the early years, is one of the country’s
most active contemporary filmmakers in both film and TV. Denisa Štrbová
spoke to him about his most recent film, The Teacher, and other interesting
subjects connected with his work.
28
INTERVIEW
/ THE TEACHER
© Offside Men
JAN HŘEBEJK
“Thematically, The Teacher
is closest to Divided We Fall:
In both, the subject is fear.”
film than we would have made in the Czech Republic. One of the important advantages for me
was that – with just a few exceptions – I didn’t know
the actors, and in my eyes they merged much more
with the film characters. But I do realize it will be
more difficult to promote a film with unknown actors. Otherwise, there weren’t any production or
artistic obstacles. The story takes place at the beginning of 1980s in Czechoslovakia. Everybody had
similar problems, and it was natural to hear both
Czech and Slovak. That’s why the film won’t be
post-synchronized.
How did you find working with Slovak film
crew?
© Offside Men
I have always collaborated with Slovaks. I have
never shot a film with anyone other than a Slovak
costume designer.
Your new film The Teacher is a Slovak-Czech coproduction with Slovak dialogue. What was the
reason for this, and what was the experience like?
We mainly had production reasons to shoot in Slovakia, as we didn’t get financial support at home.
But I am saying this without any bitterness, as it
meant that we – for many reasons – made a better
The Teacher takes place in 1980s. How did you
find the right film locations?
The Teacher, which was originally intended to be
a television film, is primarily financed by RTVS (Radio and Television Slovakia). That gave us an opportunity to shoot almost the entire film in a single
location: the original building of Slovak Television,
which was built during this period. Today, it’s falling apart, and it has no water or electricity anymore, but otherwise it fits perfectly. We shot everything there: the classrooms and staff room but
also the airport and the hospital – all on just a few
square meters. We were shooting the airport in the
morning, then turned the camera around and we
29
INTERVIEW
/ THE TEACHER
© Offside Men
JAN HŘEBEJK
were in the hospital. The only place we had to build
was an apartment.
The story is set during the period of so-called
normalization, when you grew up as well. Several of your films deal with this subject by using
humour. The Teacher is a different story, though.
It is as hair-raising as Karel Kachyna’s The Ear.
Yes, I used to say that The Teacher is like Pupendo
without humour. But in fact it is only a question of
genre. My early films were made in cooperation with
Petr Šabach (a famous Czech author of humorous
novels), so the humour was also in our films. I used
to call this genre “nostalgic comedy”. It later established itself in the Czech cinema very strongly and
reached its zenith in the films of Jan Svěrák. But at
the time I started making films it wasn’t the case.
Nobody was making this kind of films, and we
couldn’t find financing even for Cosy Dens. The
Teacher, however, is a drama, or more accurately
a parable – and humour has no place in it.
The subject of manipulation and fear is present
in more of your films. And it doesn’t concern
only the era of communism as the end of The
Teacher suggests. Is this a key subject for you?
What other subjects are you interested in?
Certain subjects are coming back to us. Thematically, The Teacher is closest to Divided We Fall: In
both, the subject is fear. While writing the script of
The Teacher, we realized that it has a structure
similar to 12 Angry Men, but it turned out to be like
this only afterwards. For Petr Jarchovsky as an au-
30
thor, another important subject is human dignity,
integrity that becomes a heroic deed: A character
takes a risk for something he considers to be right,
but it can seriously jeopardize him. This theme appears in all of Petr’s key films.
From today’s point of view, the start of your career almost resembles the American Dream.
Big Beat won at the Czech Lions, Cosy Dens was
a distribution blockbuster, and Divided We Fall
was nominated for an Oscar.
It was not all so fast and simple as it may seem
now. It had its development. The beginning of the
1990s was different from the end of the 1990s. Nobody cared too much back then about Czech film.
In cinemas there was a peculiar mixture of films:
On the one hand, the banned films, then masterpieces like Cabaret by Bob Fosse and One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and next-door there were
soft porn films like Emmanuelle. There were also
great new Czech films playing in the cinemas, but
nobody wanted to watch them, and they didn’t run
longer than a week.
But Big Beat was a success.
Big Beat was the first debut made with private money. It was a musical and the most expensive film
INTERVIEW
/ THE TEACHER
JAN HŘEBEJK
Jan Hřebejk
© Offside Men
The Teacher, however, is
a drama, or more accurately
a parable – and humour has
no place in it.
I have ever made. It had good reviews, got the Czech
Lion for the Best Film, and by today’s standards it
attracted a huge audience in the cinemas, but still it
didn’t make much money. However, it was generally
considered to be a commercial success.
With Petr Jarchovský you started immediately
after the studies, and you are still cooperating to
this day. How does your collaboration continue
to work?
I consider myself to be an auteur filmmaker. Petr
is my twin brother, and our films are auteur films.
I like to work with him. He writes instead of me,
and I direct instead of him. He has no desire to direct, and I have no patience to sit through the writing process. Films like Kawasaki’s Rose, Up and
Down, Divided We Fall, Cosy Dens and Beauty in
Trouble are our confessions, our auteur films.
You are working for television a lot now. For
HBO you made a TV series originally from Israel – a series titled Shall We Kiss. Was is difficult to make the script into something local?
Head Over Heels (Až po uši) is conversation comedy – a genre that is difficult to write and cast. (The
best conversation comedies are those of Woody Allen, of course.) I didn’t like the original format at
one of the most
successful and active
contemporary Czech
filmmakers –
director of 17 feature
films – working in
tandem with the
screenwriter Petr
Jarchovský, the
author of screenplay
to almost all his
films. Their film
Divided We Fall was
nominated for Oscar
in 2000. The latest
Hrebejk’s film is
The Teacher.
the beginning at all. It was melodramatic and
lacked humour, but technically it was written very
well – with just a few film locations it looked very
rich. I knew it would work when we remake it our
way. HBO gave us the freedom, and the screenwriters (Iva Klestilová and Tereza Dusová) did
a great job. In Hungary they remade it as a realistic
drama; we bet on humour and casting against
type. We cast the best actors and gave them a lot of
space for improvisation – even in co-creating dialogues. In Israel, the series was not renewed, but
in the Czech Republic it will be, and we are already
working on the next parts.
What do you think about contemporary Czech
cinema?
I try to follow it. I think recently many new remarkable filmmakers have emerged. I saw I, Olga Hepnarova, The Noonday Witch and Family Film – the
films are also resonating with international audiences. I really like them. Also the directors of my
generation, like Petr Zelenka, Petr Václav and
Bohdan Sláma, have a high standard in their work.
It’s a pity that not enough people go to see their
films in the cinemas. Then there are films that
many people go to see, but I can’t remember a very
popular film that was also really good. In the past
people went to see good films. Today the offer and
access is huge: 450 releases a year, and the marketing costs more than the production.
31
INRODUCING
JAKUB KOUŘIL
Meet the new Czech
talent Jakub Koufiil
© Jakub Kouřil
Director, screenwriter and visual artist Jakub Kouřil is undoubtedly one of the
contemporary talents of Czech animation. He graduated from Tomáš Baťa University
in Zlín and continued his studies at FAMU’s animation department. He also completed
an internship at the famous art and design school in Paris, ENSAD. Kouřil is currently
preparing his professional debut. Denisa Štrbová found out more about his background.
Waterman
T
wo student films brought
you fame: M.O. (2012),
the story of an old lady
who orders a mechanical
grandpa by mail to put an end to
her loneliness reached the final of
the Student Academy Awards 2013
and won the Magnesia Award for
Best Student Film. The Little
Cousteau (2013) was awarded at
the Palm Springs, Montevideo and
Blue Ocean (Florida) film festivals
and many other places.
32
What inspired you to make
this film?
The film is an homage to Mr. Cousteau,
whose documentaries I watched on
TV when I was a child. For a little
boy from a Central European
country, the world of octopuses and
Pacific fish was extremely remote
but all the more attractive. I often
imagined I was diving into the
depths and discovering new,
unknown animals. But the idea to
use this subject in a film came
much later, thanks to my internship
at the art school in Paris. I fell in
love with the city and became a real
Francophile. The Little Cousteau
is a mixture of various memories
I have. Only now do I recognize
another source of inspiration for
my character – the French book
Little Nicholas, which is beautifully
illustrated by my favourite
cartoonist, Jean-Jacques Sempé.
The animated story of a little
boy in a snow-covered city who
longs for deep-sea adventures
charmed not only the audience
at numerous festivals but even
relatives of Cousteau who
complimented you for your
sensitive and original treatment
of the material. Did you expect
that the film would appeal to such
a wide range of viewers of all
ages around the world?
Nowadays, short film is a difficult
genre to sell, and it’s not easy to
get it into the cinema or on TV.
International film festivals with their
large audience bases are often the
only hope for these films. So already
at the stage of an idea for a film it is
useful to consider this and choose
a universally understandable story
that could appeal to many viewers,
regardless of their age or nationality.
But on the other hand, it is often
only a matter of good luck (or
coincidence) to find such a story.
The fact that the film is without
dialogue, doesn’t need subtitles and
is made for young audience can
certainly be a plus, but it still
doesn’t guarantee a positive
audience response. It helps with
distribution, though. The success of
The Little Cousteau really surprised
me. And it inspired me to continue
making films.
At the moment you are preparing
the short film Waterman, produced
by Negativ. The film is based on
a short story written by your
colleague Kristina Nedvědová,
who also collaborated on the
script of The Little Cousteau.
What is the story about?
As I re-read the story, I recognized in
the character of Waterman certain
similarities with my own father and
realized the subject matter was even
closer to me than I had thought.
In the figure of Magdalena
I increasingly saw myself, travelling
from Prague to visit my parents in
Moravia and explain to them yet
again why I wasn’t a mathematician,
a brilliant biologist or at least
a wealthy businessman.
Waterman is a film about mutual
understanding and reconciliation
between these two worlds. It tells us
that each of us should try to be what
we really are.
Is Waterman a live-action film?
Waterman is not completely without
animation. It is a combination film
– innovative in its artistic concept,
and this kind of filmmaking attracts
me most. I like the stories where
real life is confronted with
something magical, even surreal.
That is why a grandmother lives with
a mechanical grandfather, or a boy
encounters an octopus in a city
covered in snow. In literature they
call this genre magic realism, and
this phrase expresses exactly the
way I think about storytelling.
The project Waterman was
presented at this year’s ClermontFerrand International Short Film
Festival in the Euro-Connection
Co-production Forum and
subsequently discussed at the
Berlinale Talents’ Short Film
Station. How did you profit from
this meeting?
I have participated at several
international workshops before,
for example last year at Wiesbaden,
as part of the East West Talent Lab.
But the one in Berlin was exceptional
and the most beneficial for me.
Each participant had a mentor –
a European script editor or
screenwriter, which provided the
opportunity to deal with every script
really thoroughly. I think I am not the
only one, who – after the discussions
is Berlin – decided to make bigger
changes to the script.
What attracts you to filmmaking,
and what kind of films would you
like make in the future?
I have enjoyed drawing and painting
since I was a child, and I’ve always
admired the work of book
illustrators. With time I realized that
it is not that important how a picture
looks like or how perfectly it is
drawn. What IS important is the
story behind it. Good illustration,
painting or photography always
rests on a good story. Now I know
that the storytelling is the main
thing that attracts me to illustration.
And both perfectly merge in
animation in film. However, I am
more and more attracted to
live-action film.
Who have influenced you most
during your studies, and in
what way?
To simplify it, it was Jan Švankmajer
who inspired me to become an
animation filmmaker. Paradoxically,
his work no longer appeals very
much to me today, but I used to
know it by heart. I mainly admired
the combination film Faust. I was
fascinated with the range of artistic
possibilities that film as a medium
offers. During my studies
I discovered the power of silent film.
I was also greatly impressed by The
Return of Russian director Andrey
Zvyagintsev, which proves it is not
necessary to offer the viewer
a complete story. From
Czechoslovak filmmakers I was
most influenced by Karel Kachyňa
(Jumping Over Puddles) and Juraj
Herz’s The Cremator. They are
inexhaustible sources of inspiration
for me.
Jakub Kouřil
33
FACTS & FIGURES
CZECH FIGURES 2015
Population
CZ 18.1%
10,5 mil
Czech Feature Film Release
others
3.1%
35
16
Total Cinema Admissions 13 mil
Admissions to Czech Films 2,3 mil
National Market Share 18,1%
Number of Theaters 294
Digital Theaters 228
Number of Screens 514
Number of Multiplex Cinemas 29
Czech Documentary Film Release
Market share 2015
(admissions)
EU 18.4%
US 60.4%
DE 6%
others
5%
FR 8%
Market share 2015
EU Films
UK 31%
CZ 50%
TOP 20 IN 11/2015 – 3/2016
Rank
Original Title / English Title
Country
Distributor
Date of release
Admissions
Box Office / CZK
1
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
US
Falcon
17/12/15
622,991
98,198,301
2
Spectre
UK
Forum Film
5/11/15
425,108
60,425,571
3
Padesátka / Chasing 50
CZ
Bontonfilm
24/12/15
419,577
56,166,935
4
Lída Baarová / The Devil’s Mistress
CZ, SK
CinemArt
21/1/16
388,237
51,604,871
5
Deadpool
US
CinemArt
11/2/16
338,476
47,521,421
6
Revenant, The
US
CinemArt
14/1/16
266,867
37,948,523
7
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
US
CinemArt
28/1/16
219,366
27,218,738
8
Hunger Games, The: Mockingjay - Part 2
US
Forum Film
19/11/15
202,366
27,897,513
9
Zootopia
US
Falcon
3/3/16
166,507
23,303,724
10
Fack ju Göthe 2 / Suck Me Shakespeer 2
DE
CinemArt
29/10/15
154,287
19,584,104
CZECH FILMS TOP 20 IN 11/2015 – 3/2016
34
Rank
Original Title / English Title
Country
Distributor
Date of release
Admissions
Box Office / CZK
24/12/15
419,577
56,166,935
21/1/16
388,237
51,604,871
1
Padesátka / Chasing 50
CZ
Bontonfilm
2
Lída Baarová / The Devil’s Mistress
CZ, SK
CinemArt
3
Řachanda / Crazy Kingdom
CZ
CinemArt
25/2/16
152,302
18,581,061
4
Decibely lásky / Decibels of Love
CZ
Falcon
11/2/16
127,192
17,390,572
5
Aldabra: Byl jednou jeden ostrov / Aldabra:
Once Upon an Island
CZ
Falcon
19/11/15
113,953
14,131,833
6
Gangster Ka: Afričan / Gangster Ka: African
CZ
Bioscop/AQS
26/11/15
106,850
13,702,838
7
Vánoční Kameňák / Christmas „Killing Joke“
CZ
Indigo Film
3/12/15
88,543
10,037,664
8
Dvojníci / Doubles
CZ
Bioscop/AQS
17/3/16
65,261
9,007,374
9
Polednice / The Noonday Witch
CZ
Falcon
3/3/16
59,613
8,120,987
10
Zkáza krásou / Doomed Beauty
CZ
Aerofilms
7/1/16
52,118
5,100,233
NEW CZECH RELEASES
Dust of the Ground
Prach
Like in a Movie
Jako z filmu
/
/
CZ 2016, 84 min
DIRECTOR & SCRIPT Tomáš Svoboda
CAST Gabriela Míčová, Martin Pechlát, Roman Zach, Miroslav Krobot, Jiří Menzel
The feature film of visual artist Tomáš Svoboda is not solely preoccupied with
film. It is not a quaint reflection on the moving image. It is not a hilarious story of
one summer afternoon. It cannot be viewed as a record of a work in progress.
Neither is it a narrative film. And it most certainly isn’t about the technology used
in creating film footage. The film is about life.
PRODUCER Jordi Niubó – i/o post
CO-PRODUCTION Tranzitdisplay
CZECH RELEASE 26 May, 2016
CONTACT Jordi Niubó, +420 604 703 308, [email protected]
CZ 2015, 87 min
DEBUT
DIRECTOR Martin Jelínek
SCRIPT Martin Jelínek, Vít Zapletal
CAST Matěj Meruňka, Agáta Kryštůfková, Josef Láska, Vít Rohr, Matěj Anděl
A film about the current generation of young people, their disorientation,
absence of important values, goals, imagination and personal opinion. Jakub and
Ilona have known each other since their childhood and they are now meeting
after a long time in their hometown. Because she is spontaneous and he is
bored, together they set off on a journey to an unknown destination in an old red
Ford. Their initially joyful trip becomes rather frustrating for both of them.
PRODUCERS Ondřej Šejnoha, Kristýna Květová – FAMU
CZECH RELEASE 26 May, 2016
CONTACT Kristýna Květová, +420 731 203 715, [email protected]
Road-Movie
The Teacher
DEBUT
CZ 2015, 98 min
DIRECTOR Vít Zapletal
SCRIPT Vít Zapletal, Václav Hrzina
CAST Radek Valenta, Hana Jagošová, Vojtěch Poláček, Eliška Stejskalová, Filip Truksa
Two brothers, the elder married, the younger with a lover and a young child,
meet at their parents’ country home after their father has a stroke. A subtle
family drama from debut director Vít Zapletal that distinguishes itself from the
usual Czech production through its unaffected accent on the Christian faith.
PRODUCER Radim Procházka – Produkce Radim Procházka
CO-PRODUCTION FAMU, Barrandov Studio, Czech Television
CZECH RELEASE 11 August 2016
CONTACT Radim Procházka, +420 603 862 161, [email protected]
/
Učitelka
SK, CZ 2016, 102 min
MINORITY
DIRECTOR Jan Hřebejk, SCRIPT Petr Jarchovský
CAST Zuzana Mauréry, Csongor Kassai, Zuzana Konečná, Tamara Fischer,
Since the arrival of the new teacher to a Slovak suburban school in the year of 1983,
life has turned upside down. The convincement of the teacher’s corrupted behaviour
and one of the students’ suicide attempt makes the school Principal call the
students’ parents for an urgent meeting that will suddenly put the future of all the
families at stake. They are asked to sign a petition against Miss Drazdechova. The
teacher’s high connections within the Communist Party makes everyone feel
threatened, but at his point they have no choice but to make a decision.
PRODUCERS Zuzana Mistríková, Ľubica Orechovská – PubRes (SK)
CO-PRODUCTION Ondřej Zima, Jan Prušinovský – Offside Men, Radio and
Television Slovakia, Czech Television
CZECH RELEASE 21 July, 2016
CONTACT Ondřej Zima, +420 736 751 010, [email protected]
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Films
© Mimesis Film
to come
Skokan
36
FILMS TO COME
Even Mice Belong in Heaven |
Myši patří do nebe
IN DEVELOPMENT
CZ, FR 2018 | animation
DIRECTORS Denisa Grimmová & Jan Bubeníček
A film about two mortal enemies – a little Mouse and a Fox, who
after an unfortunate accident, meet in animal heaven. They lose
their natural instincts and become best friends. Their wish to
stay together after they return to earth comes true, but they are
reborn into opposite roles. Thanks to the power of friendship
they can even overcome what seems to be impossible.
The film Even Mice Belong in Heaven is about hope, a quest for
love and courage, and about overcoming prejudices and old
pains. It is a story about two outsiders, who combining their very
different personalities and ways of thinking, are able to
overcome tremendous obstacles and handle situations that
might have been considered already lost.
PRODUCER Vladimír Lhoták / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Fresh Films, Le Films du Cygne (FR) / CONTACT Vladimír Lhoták,
+420 777 080 353, vladimir@freshfilms.cz
The Halves | Poloviny
IN DEVELOPMENT
CZ, IR 2018/2019
DIRECTOR Ali Mosaffa
Rouzbeh arrives in Prague from Iran to visit his Czech half brother Vladimir.Their
father,a communist, fled to Prague in the late 50’s,married a Czech woman and had
a son.With the 1978 revolution, he left his family and returned to Iran where he
remarried and had a second son.He never returned to Prague and died recently. When
Rouzbeh arrives at Vladimir’s apartment he realises he has committed suicide and is
dead.Staying in the apartment, surrounded by Vladimir’s belongings and friends,he gets
closer to the soul of his unseen brother, discovering his life’s hidden corners and his
search for a woman. Rouzbeh learns a shocking secret of his father’s past relating an
actress. Looking for her, he follows a course of events similar to the one preceding
Vladimir’s death, finding himself a new identity.
PRODUCER Jordi Niubó / PRODUCTION COMPANIES i/o post, Road Films Noire (IR), Europe Media Nest / CONTACT Jordi Niubó,
+420 604 703 308, [email protected]
HIGH | HIGH – Lety peklem
IN DEVELOPMENT
CZ 2018
DIRECTOR Viktor Tauš
A nun and a therapist Jamie fights with her own alcoholic past and at the same time patiently deals with the challenge to try to
help a nineteen year old drug addict to find courage within himself to change… First film adaptation of the awarded Broadway
play HIGH by Matthew Lombardo is a drama about faith, healing and forgiveness with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
PRODUCER Viktor Tauš / PRODUCTION COMPANY Fog’n’Desire Films / CONTACT Viktor Tauš, +420 775 204 809,
viktor@fogndesirefilms.com
37
FILMS TO COME
Domestic | Domestik
DEBUT
IN DEVELOPMENT
CZ, SK 2017
DIRECTOR Adam Sedlák
Roman is a domestique in a second-division cycling team.
Financial cuts in the team forced him to individual home
training. In his bedroom he sets up an oxygen tent, which
should help him improve his performance. The tent, however,
is loathed by his wife, who feels is to be an obstacle to
achieving what she desires the most—to conceive a child. The
film Domestic is an uncompromising debut taking place on
a few square metres, dealing with a modern man and the
demon in him.
PRODUCER Jakub Jíra / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Shore Points, Sentimentalfilm (SK) / CONTACT Jakub Jíra, +420 602 846 925,
[email protected]
Hornet in a bottle | Sršeň v láhvi
PRODUCERS Radim Procházka, Mikuláš Novotný
PRODUCTION COMPANY Background Films
CONTACT Radim Procházka, +420 603 862 161,
prochazka@backgroundfilms.cz
H*ART ON
CZ, SK, PL 2018
DIRECTOR Vít Zapletal
IN DEVELOPMENT
Jan is a 23-year old young man who has recently been sacked
from a university as a result of purges at the beginning of the
1970´s in communist Czechoslovakia. His mates are consumed
by apocalyptic visions of their country´s future and hatred of the
culprits responsible for the present situation. After the
unexpected emigration of his girlfriend, Helena, he decides he
no longer wishes to live in Czechoslovakia. He tries to organise
his escape before he is called-up for his compulsory army
service but is unable to arrange it all in time and „secretes
himself away“ as a pretend-patient on Prague´s psychiatric
clinic in Bohnice. Thanks to discussions with the Consultant,
hospitalisation turns into a meditation regarding the futility of
life and phenomena such as fear, despair, freedom and taking
everything with a pinch of salt. Jan sets out later for the border
which at that time comprised of an electrified barbed wire fence.
But Jan can no longer pinpoint the actual reason for wishing to
leave. He decides to return, travelling through the countryside
with an almost empty petrol tank and skint – but for the very
first time just then he becomes calm and equable.
CZ 2016 | documentary
DIRECTOR Andrea Culková
IN POST-PRODUCTION
How do you find meaning in everyday fear, love, sex and
loneliness? H*ART ON dives off the deep end of modern art.
A film about the yearning to create, to mould everyday
emotions into a meaningful life and, most of all, to live beyond
one’s death. A struggle that gets to the existential core of each
of us.
PRODUCER Miroslav Novák
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Duracfilm, Czech Television
CONTACT Andrea Culková, +420 777 184 520,
[email protected]
38
FILMS TO COME
The Family Party | Sešlost
IN DEVELOPMENT
CZ, SK 2018
DIRECTOR Tomáš Pavlíček
Gloomy Autumn. Father and mother are selling a cottage they inherited. The mother is not sure she really wants to sell and
insists that the family gathers at the cottage and spends a night there. The father doesn´t like the idea, the grandmother hates
the place, the grandfather doesn´t live in reality anymore, the daughter lives in Germany with a boyfriend, the son was recently
left by his girlfriend. But the mother won´t give up and during the All Souls day the whole family is heading for the cottage. It is
difficult to even get there. The stressful atmosphere escalates, reaching its top at night. Before dawning the grandfather gets lost
and everybody looks for him in the woods. It´s not sure the house will be sold.
PRODUCERS Tomáš Michálek, Jakub Mahler / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Master Film, Media Film (SK) / CONTACT Tomáš
Michálek, +420 602 630 466, tomas@masterfilm.cz
When the War Comes |
Až přijde válka
CZ 2017 | documentary
DIRECTOR Jan Gebert
IN PRODUCTION
Peter drives a new white SUV, has a nice girlfriend and recently
enrolled at university. Yet his real life is elsewhere: in the
mountains and in the forests, with his own militia Slovenskí
branci (Slovak Recruits) of four hundred young people, mostly
teenagers, with units all around Slovakia, one of the largest
paramilitary organizations in Eastern Europe. Three years ago
Peter took a military course with the Cossacks in Russia, and
pursued the same training as the Ukrainian separatists. Now
he is the one giving orders. He believes Europe is headed for
an inevitable clash of civilizations and he is determined to
defend it with a gun.
PRODUCERS Radovan Síbrt, Viktória Hozzová / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Pink Productions, HBO Europe / CONTACT Radovan
Síbrt, +420 777 161 552, [email protected]
Quartet | Kvarteto
CZ 2017
DIRECTOR Miroslav Krobot
IN PRODUCTION
Have you ever played in a band? It’s like a second family with
all its history and the family members yearning for happiness
and experiencing all kinds of adventures together. Just like
family members, gather at one table in the evening, despite of
all good and bad, the quartet members of so called
contemporary music gather at their next concert. Somewhat
incoherent quaternion headed by an introverted musician
Robert, his attractive and confused girl friend - a cellist
Simona, a young vivid musician Tomáš and an elderly history
connoisseur “Funés” on their way to their most independent
song with a rock roots experience together a series of comic
situations, but also misunderstandings.
PRODUCER Ondřej Zima / PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Evolution Films, Czech Television / CONTACT Ondřej Zima,
+420 736 751 010, ozima@evolutionfilms.cz
39
FILMS TO COME
Normal Autistic Film | Normální autistický film
IN POST-PRODUCTION
CZ 2016 | documentary
DIRECTOR Miroslav Janek
The term autism can be interpreted as a different way of thinking that should be recognized and respected as a social category
(neurodiversity). Therefore, the right question is “What is different about an autist?” and not “What is wrong about him?” This film
does not perceive autism as a diagnosis but as mysterious way of thinking that might bring a certain message to the majority of
society or it might attract its attention to so called normal conditions people are living in.
PRODUCER Jan Macola / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Mimesis Film, Czech Television / CONTACT Jan Macola, +420 724 938 883,
[email protected]
Skokan
CZ, FR 2016
DIRECTOR Petr Vaclav
IN POST-PRODUCTION
Skokan, 28 years-old man, finished his stay in prison. He is
given the clothes in which he was arrested there a few years.
Outside, in front of the wall decorated with barbed wire, the
street is empty. Nobody expects Skokan. In the city where he
lands, he has nowhere to go. No house. No work. His family
does not want him. Overnight, he decides to leave everything in
order to launch his singing career, and heads for the Cannes
Film Festival.
The film was selected for First Cut Lab 2016, an editing
workshop in frame of When East Meets West CO-PRODUCTION
market in Trieste.
PRODUCER Jan Macola / PRODUCTION COMPANIES Mimesis Film, Cinéma Defacto (FR) / CONTACT Jan Macola,
+420 724 938 883, [email protected]
She Is a Harbour | Piata loď
PRODUCERS Katatrína Krnáčová, Jiří Konečný /
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Hulapa film (SK), SiLVERaRT (SK),
endorfilm, Katapult Film (HU) / CONTACT Jiří Konečný,
+420 602 358 373, jiri@endorfilm.cz
40
SK, CZ, HU 2016/2017
DIRECTOR Iveta Grófová
IN PRODUCTION
Jarka is growing up as child of the housing estate,
admired and feared by other children for her freedom and
independence. She is only allowed to call her mother by her
first name so that she does not remind her of her premature
motherhood. She lives on the street and in a flat full of
suspicious visitors and parties, where she does not even
have a place of her own in her bed. The garden shed in the
vineyards above the housing estate becomes her refuge.
Incited by the desire to create a functional family, or at least
the illusion of one, she herself becomes the mother of two
infants for a while, taking care of them in the shed together
with her schoolmate Kristián.
This is a second collaboration of Iveta Grófová and Jiří
Konečný, after Made in Ash in 2012.
CZECH FILM / Summer 2016
Issued by Czech Film Center / National Film Archive
Editors Denisa Štrbová, Martin Černý, André Crous
Graphic design Cellula s.r.o.
Cover photo Happy End by Jan Saska
Printed by Uniprint
Print run 600
Not for sale
With the support of
Czech Film Center
Národní 28
Prague 1, 110 00
Czech Republic
info@filmcenter.cz
www.filmcenter.cz
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