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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Czech Republic

The Czech Film Fund awards €2.4 million in support of fiction feature production

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- Eight new Czech projects have received funding, including two comedies by seasoned directors Jan Prušinovský and Irena Pavlásková

The Czech Film Fund awards €2.4 million in support of fiction feature production
Director Jan Prušinovský, whose quirky comedy Grand Prix has received €377,358 in funding (© Dora Kubíčková)

The Czech Film Fund has supported the production of eight domestic projects with €2.4 million in its latest round of funding. The largest slice of the money, €471,698, was granted to the project Gregorius, the Chosen One by Polish-born FAMU graduate Tomasz Mielnik, about Pope Gregory I (540-604). Following Mielnik’s pastiche road comedy Journey to Rome [+see also:
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, his sophomore feature will be a medieval story “about the offspring of sibling love, who experiences all sorts of inconveniences, just like the sufferers (or heroes) of old myths and stories”. The project was first introduced at Czech Film Springboard in 2017 (see the report) and is being produced by one of this year’s Producers on the Move, Mikuláš Novotný, of Background Films (see the interview).

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The projects Ordinary Failures [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristina Grosan
film profile
]
, A Furious Beauty and Grand Prix all received the same amount of funding, €377,358. Cristina Groșan’s Ordinary Failures, produced by Marek Novák, of Xova Film, is the director’s sophomore feature, which follows three female characters after a mysterious explosion (see the news). Meanwhile, A Furious Beauty, produced by Miloš Lochman, of Moloko Film, will be directed by Štěpán Altrichter. The story follows “five females from the same family who have gathered together during a small-town Czech Catholic festivity to look for happiness, while magical little things start happening in the town”. The quirky comedy Grand Prix is the next project by director Jan Prušinovský, after Mistakes (see the news). It follows “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 is being produced by Ondřej Zima and the director himself for their outfit OFFSIDE MEN and is planned as a Czech-Slovak co-production.

The project Mr. and Mrs. Stodola by documentarian Petr Hátle received €277,552 and is being produced by Tomáš Hrubý, of nutprodukce. The film is inspired by an infamous case about two Czech serial killers who robbed and murdered eight retirees and are serving life sentences. Jiří Konečný, of endorfilm, is producing the psychological drama Borders of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tomasz Wiński
film profile
]
(working title: Images of Love) by first-time director Tomasz Wiński. The film revolves around the questions of infidelity, monogamy, intimacy and honesty, and received €283,019 for its production. Meanwhile, Irena Pavlásková is following up The Prague Orgy [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
with A Christmas Story, a relationship comedy produced by Europeana Production (€150,943). Finally, popular Czech actor Jan Budař is producing and directing the fairy tale Prince Mamma’s Boy, based on his book about a prince who has been deeply dependent on his loving and caring mother since his childhood (€150,943).

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