Illustrative photo – Polish director Agnieszka Holland spoke on August 17, 2020 in Prague at a press conference after the screening of the film The Charlatan.
Prague – The State Cinematography Fund distributed 60.8 million crowns for the production of seven full-length feature films. The highest support, 22 million crowns, was given to the film Franz by Oscar-winning director Agniezska Hollandová. ČTK was informed about this by the fund's spokesperson Jiří Vaněk. 24 projects applied for the call, the total amount they requested exceeded 250 million crowns.
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Among the seven supported projects were three dramas, one biography, two films on the border between the genres of drama and comedy, and one audience-attractive comedy. “The tendency of a number of filmmakers to combine artistic ambitions and originality with the potential viewership of the resulting film was gratifying,” said Marta Švecová, vice-president of the Council of the State Cinematography Fund. The council supported three debuts by directors of internationally acclaimed short films.
The film by Agniezska Hollandová, whose films include The Charlatan, Mr. Jones, The Burning Bush and Over the Bones of the Dead, will consist of fragments from the life and work of Franz Kafka. The result is to be a mosaic that goes beyond his life to the present, but also presents the dramatic world of Kafka's fantasy. Germany, Ireland and Poland will also participate in the project as a co-production.
The second supported film is Dance with the Bear by director and screenwriter Jitka Rudolfová. The councilors supported the drama from the present with ten million crowns. The young protagonist is faced with the dilemma of whether to give birth to a child who may have a congenital disability, or to have an abortion, as recommended by doctors and family. The swirl of events is fueled by the question of the professional end of a career and the revelation of a family past.
Domá zajáčka is a disappearing ritual in the microcosm of which the good and bad qualities of people are revealed, and it became the template for the feature debut of director Adam Martinec, the author of the award-winning short of the film Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon. The film called Mord supported the fund with the amount of 7.4 million crowns.
The new film by director and screenwriter Šimon Holé called Chica Checa was supported by a fund of seven million crowns. On the one hand, the main character deals with the care of her old and sick mother, copes internally with her son's homosexuality and his unconventional profession in the Canary Islands, and is also troubled by the lack of money to repair the house. She has a growing feeling that she cannot live the rest of her life as she would really like. The project found foreign co-producers in Hungary and Spain.
The second debut among the supported projects is the film On the other side of summer directed by Vojtěch Strakatý. The fund supported a film about girl friendship with the amount of 6.4 million crowns. The third feature debut is Far/Near by director Ondřej Erban. The councilors supported the film about self-knowledge and the willingness or unwillingness to change one's behavior and inner self with six million crowns. The latest supported film is a new comedy by director and screenwriter Jiří Vejdělek Aristocrat on the Boil. The Council supported the continuation of the popularly successful film from 2019 The Last Aristocrat, about the Kostka family of Czech Americans, to whom their ancestral seat was returned, for two million crowns.
