22 September 2020
From the total amount of 26 projects that applied for support in the call for the production of fiction features, 8 projects were granted altogether CZK 64 million (EUR 2 415 094, rate = 26,5). The support received experienced authors as well as young talents of Czech cinema.
The Council granted the highest amount CZK 12,5 million (EUR 471 698) to Polish-born FAMU’s graduate Tomasz Mielnik. His second film Gregorious, the Chosen One is a medieval story of a sibling love offspring who experiences all sorts of inconveniences just like the sufferers (or heroes) of old myths and stories. Mielnik’s comedy took part at the Czech Film Springboard programme (CFS) back in 2017, and it is being produced by this year’s Producer on the Move Mikuláš Novotný of Background Films.
Czech Film Springboard marked the development of two other films supported in this call, both with CZK 10 million (EUR 377 358). – Ordinary Failures (CFS 2019) and A Furious Beauty (this year’s participant). In Ordinary Failures, young Romania-born director Cristina Groșan tells a story of three women of different generations, connected by an apocalyptic dream. This dystopian psychological drama is a co-production between Czech Republic (Marek Novák of Xova Film), Italy (Rosamont) and Hungary (Laokoon Filmgroup).
A Furious Beauty is a project of producer Miloš Lochman (moloko film) directed by a rising talent Štěpán Altrichter (Schmitke, National Street). A black comedy with elements of magical realism is based on the script by Eliška Kováříková. In her debut script, Kováříková follows five females of the same family who gather together during a small-town Czech catholic festivity to look for happiness, while little magic things start happening in the town.
Highly popular Czech director and scriptwriter Jan Prušinovský (Most!, The Snake Brothers, Sunday League) prepares another quirky comedy called Grand Prix. Czech-Slovak co-operation, helmed by experienced Ondřej Zima and the director himself of OFFSIDE MEN, focus on two small-town guys with both funny and dangerous mental disorders and addictions, who take a trip through three EU states in a small van to use the Formula 1 tickets they won in a TV contest. The film was supported with CZK 10 million (EUR 377 358).
Two films depicting the problems of two different marriages were also supported in this call. Petr Hátle’s Mr. and Mrs. Stodola, produced by Tomáš Hrubý of nutprodukce, tells a story of husband and wife who try to cover a murder that husband made during an unsuccessful burglary attempt. Tomasz Wiński in Images of Love follows a successful couple, trapped inside the virtual images and ideas they have created around themselves. Wiński’s psychological drama debut, produced by Jiří Konečný (endorfilm), received CZK 5 million (EUR 188 679), Hátle’s crime-drama was granted CZK 7,5 million (EUR 283 019).
While Irena Pavlásková prepares A Christmas Story, a relationship comedy produced by Europeana production and granted CZK 5 million (EUR 188 679), Jan Budař directs and produces his fairy-tale about a prince who is deeply dependent on his loving and caring mother since his childhood. Prince Mamma’s Boy received the amount of CZK 4 million (EUR 150 943).
13 December 2023
Email: info@filmcenter.cz