Yes, It Is Easy to Co-produce with the Czech Republic

07 March 2016

Film Industry

Yes, It Is Easy to Co-produce with the Czech Republic

Film Industry

Yes, It Is Easy to Co-produce with the Czech Republic

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

The State Cinematography Fund, the main tool for public support of cinema in the Czech Republic offers even better conditions this year and its overall budget has increased. The Fund has supported minority co- productions since 2010. For 2016, the budget for this support, in comparison with previous years, has increased by half – to €1.5 million. The Film Incentive Programme was also launched in the Czech Republic in 2010. Tax incentives contribute highly to the to international producers’ increasing interest in filming in the Czech Republic, often combining minority co-productions support and tax incentives.

It is evident from current productions that Czech producers understand that it is often necessary and moreover beneficial for a project to join forces. They welcome international co-production partners for their films and they are also more and more interested in becoming co-producers of foreign films. Of 2015’s 34 Czech-produced feature films, 14 were co-productions. Slovakia, the traditional Czech co-production partner, has, in recent years, been joined by Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Slovenia, France, and for the first time Iran, with whom the Czech company i/o post is already at work on a second project.

All three Czech films in this year’s official Berlinale programme are co-productions: We Are Never Alone (Forum) by Petr Václav is a Czech-French co-production, In Your Dreams! by Petr Oukropec is co-produced by the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria, and I, Olga Hepnarova by Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda is a Czech-Polish-Slovak-French co-production.

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

Co-production is increasingly frequent in the realm of documentaries as well. Koudelka Shooting Holy Land by Gilad Baram (Germany, Czech Republic), Cinema, mon amour by Alexandru Belc (Romania, Czech Republic) and Under the Sun by Vitaly Mansky, are only a few examples.

Besides the producers of the project Outside, Petr Oukropec and Pavel Strnad from Negativ production company, who also have the film In Your Dreams! in Berlinale’s Generation 14plus, a number of other Czech producers active in the area of co-productions are participating in the Berlinale Co-Production Market. Endorfilm, founded by Jiří Konečný, is undoubtedly one of the most active Czech companies involved in co-producing. Endorfilm has recently produced Family Film and as a minority co-producer has been involved in award-winning films including Aferim! and Koza, both premiered at Berlinale 2015. Karla Stojáková from Axman Production has rich experience with co-productions with Scandinavia, and she was also involved in the production of the Georgian film Corn Island, the winner of the Crystal Globe at the 49th Karlovy Vary IFF, and Life in a Fishbowl, a minority co-production with Iceland. Barrandov Studio represented at the market by Petr Tichý and Lubomír Konečný, functions both as a service and a pro- duction company. Bionaut, closely collaborating with HBO Europe, is represented in Berlin by Danny Holman. Mimesis Film, founded by Jan Macola, who is also present at the Co-Production Market, works mainly with France, as is also the case of We Are Never Alone by Petr Vaclav, a part of Berlinale’s Forum this year, and is also the producer of the exceptional Czech-Italian project Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka. Last but not least to mention, Pavel Berčík from Evolution Films was recently a part of the Slovenian-Czech-Macedonian co-production Šiška Deluxe.

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

Czech Film Center
division of the Czech Film Fund promoting Czech cinema worldwide

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