Famous names and talented young ones reached minority co-production support

08 March 2019

Film Industry

Famous names and talented young ones reached minority co-production support

Film Industry

Famous names and talented young ones reached minority co-production support

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Czech Film Fund announced minority co-production support for 10 from the total of 25 submitted projects with the sum of CZK 24 million (EUR 941 176). Six feature-length fiction films, 2 animated films and 2 documentaries were supported, including Vitaly Mansky´s new documentary about Mikhail Gorbachev, or works by promising young Poles. Grzegorz Jaroszyk and Jan P. Matuszyński.

“Strong and well-prepared co-production projects have the opportunity to succeed at Eurimages, which brings producers additional funding. And therefore the national fund´s support is so crucial,“ explained Helena Bezděková Fraňková, CEO of Czech Film Fund. „Czech producers cooperate with colleagues from Poland, Germany, France or Baltic countries and create new co-production relations. The secured majority producer´s financing is crucial for the minority scheme,“ added Council‘s Charmain Petr Vítek.

The highest amount CZK 4 million (EUR 156 862) was granted to Je suis Karl. A German-Czech film, co-produced by Negativ on the Czech side, tells a story about a terrorist attack in Berlin from three different perspectives. One of director Christian Schwochow’s previous films Cracks in the Shell premiered at KVIFF 2011 and won the award for best actress.

The same sum was granted to the Swiss-Czech co-production feature Lost in Paradise by Fiona Ziegler about the son of a Czech emigrant and a Swiss mother, that will be filmed this summer both in Prague and Bern.

The second highest support CZK 3,5 million (EUR 137 254) went to animated feature-length film Of Unwanted Things and People. The Czech-Slovak-Slovenian-Polish co-production film, which involves directors and producers from 4 different countries, including MAUR film on the Czech side, received last week the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (EUR 20 000) at Cartoon Movie.

The second animated film supported in this call with CZK 400 000 (EUR 15 686) is Joseph Wallace’s short Salvation Has No Name, which combines various techniques of animation and is a British-Czech co-production with Animation People on the Czech side.

A Polish-Czech co-production feature Leave No Traces by Jan P. Matuszyński (Czech producer Background Films) was granted CZK 3,3 million (EUR 129 411). A story inspired by a true historical event is set in Poland in 1983. Young student Grzegorz Przemyk is killed during an interrogation. His friend, the only eyewitness, stands against the State Security and his own family, which does not want him to testify. Director Jan P. Matuszyński’s debut The Last Family was released in Czech theatres in 2017.

While Robert Kirchhoff prepares the story about the Prague Spring’s icon Alexander Dubček All Men Become Brothers, which was granted CZK 2,3 million (EUR 90 196) and will be a Slovak-Czech co-production with endorfilm on the Czech side, the respected Ukrainian-born director Vitaly Mansky portraits the man, who was leading Soviet Union in the times of revolutionary changes in his documentary Gorbachev. Heaven. A Latvian-Czech co-production is already the third cooperation between the director and Czech co-producers from Hypermarket Film, and received the amount of CZK 1,5 million (EUR 58 823).

Grzegorz Jaroszyk’s tragicomic story Dear Ones received CZK 2,5 million (EUR 98  039) and is another cooperation between Czech Axman Production and Polish MD4 after their successful film Fugue, which premiered last year in Semaine de la critique at Cannes. The intimate story about brave characters involves an international cast, the main role being interpreted by Olaf Lubaszenko, well known in the Czech Republic from Sekal Has to Die by Vladimír Michálek (1998).

Slobodan Šijan’s Serbian-Czech-Slovenian-Croatian-Montenegrin co-production feature The Great Tram Robbery tells a story about stormy 1920s in Belgrade through the eyes of avant-garde artist and first Balkan’s cinephile Boško Tokin. The project set in the era of jazz, Charleston, Dadaism and sexual revolution after World War I was granted CZK 2 million (EUR 78 431) and is prepared by Sirena Film on the Czech side.

Last, but not least, is the film A Prince Came Passing By by young Romanian director Cristina Groșan which focuses on sexually motivated violence. A Romanian-Czech co-production (Xova Film on the Czech side) received an amount of CZK 500 000 (EUR 19 607).

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

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