25/04/2005

Not so long ago commercial television in the Czech Republic used to ignore calls for contributing to the national film production and proposals for offering support to the filmmakers were more often than not turned down. Now, a few days after its experiment with a big screen production was turned into an immediate box office hit, Nova, the country’s most popular private channel, says "it’s ready to commit" into producing feature films – if conditions are met. Nova is behind Roman pro zeny (A novel for women or From Subway with Love), a film by Filip Renc based on a best-seller book by popular contemporary author Michael Viewegh who also wrote the script. It premiered in theatres last week, taking more than 46,000 tickets in the box office in only its first prolonged weekend.

Nova has played the role of the co-producer in a number of films since 2000 and it has already pledged an increased financial and technical support for Karel Janak’s upcoming projects Raftaci (Rafters) and Ro(c)k podvrataku (The bastards’ rock) who are also destined for big commercial success judging by the director’s pedigree with its previous feature, Snowboardaci (Snowboarders). But it is Roman pro zeny, cinema experts believe, that can provide the real turning point in commercial television’s relation with the national film production. Nevertheless all plans have to meet "certain requirements" people at Nova argue. They loved Renc’s movie and the reasons are not hard to see. Viewegh’s book, a story of a mother and a daughter searching for "Mr Right", it could have made the perfect sitcom – full of intrigue and expressive dialogue as it is – if not being made into a film. According to Nova’s director Petr Dvorak, the film has the one right ingredient that they would like to see in a proposed film project - long term commercial potential. Roman pro zeny, they believe, can also do well abroad. France, where Viewegh’s books are selling relatively well, and the Cannes festival marketplace are set to be Nova’s immediate targets.