30/06/2006

On the eve of the country’s most important film event, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 30-July 8), the Czech Film Centre announced that its petition to the government has already been signed by hundreds of well known industry figures from across Europe, Russia and the other side of the Atlantic.

These include established directors Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki, Angieszka Holland, Krystof Zanussi, Marta Meszaros, Jerzy Stuhr, Liv Ullman; production houses like Zentropa; the Federation of European Film Directors; and the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

“Almost 450 festival representatives, producers, directors and actors…have signed the document. Add your voice to the one of Czech filmmakers from May 25”, the Film Centre, which supports and promotes Czech cinema abroad, said in a statement. The petition is to be forwarded to the Ministry of Culture and the Czech Parliament, which recently rejected a new film law that would have improved state subsidies for local film production.

The written dissent follows more drastic forms of protest earlier this May when the Film Centre symbolically shut down its booth at the Cannes Film Festival (read news). Then a few producers canceled their films’ screenings in the Zlin International Film Festival for Children and Youth, while producer Ondrej Trojan threatened to withdraw Jan Hrebejk latest film, Beauty in Trouble (Kraska v nesnazich), from the Karlovy Vary official competition.

Trojan changed his mind but the irony is that filmmakers will have to wait some time before their petition will even be read by someone. The June general elections produced a hung parliament and the negotiations for the formation of a new, viable government coalition are expected to be a long process.