20/11/2008

“A population of ten million and an average 25 features per years” is the calling card of cinema from the Czech Republic, this year’s guest of honour at European Days in Turin. The figures presented by Olga Raitoralova (from the Media and Audiovisual Department of the Ministry of Culture) speak of a growing industry, due in part to “a very active MEDIA Programme and state funds that this year with €12m have supported only not production but also screenplay development, and encouraged investment in new technologies”.

There are no lack of problems, however, beginning with the difficulties in penetrating the international market, “but they are the same as in the rest of Europe: especially because of American blockbusters,” says Milan Cieslar, director (of the multiple award-winning Spring of Life , 2000) and producer with his Happy Celluloid.

The company’s new project is entitled The Rain Fairy and is inspired by a 19th century novel. Cieslar is thinking big for this “ethical and ecological fantasy with avant-garde special effects. I refuse to produce it on a tiny budget and would rather see it made on a European scale.”

Are co-productions the future then of Czech cinema (as well)? “There is certainly a strong tendency to search for independent partners abroad, especially if you need consistent funds,” says Barbora Kinkalova of První Verejnoprávní, a traditionally very independent production company (behind the recent 16mm title It’s Gonna Get Worse, which cost €150,000 to make and screened to success at the Berlinale), which this year received Polish monies for Petr Zelenka’s The Karamazov Brothers [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The most reliable partners for Czech producers are still the Slovaks. The president of the Slovak Association of AV Producers, Marian Urban (ALEF Film & Media Group), is an expert on the subject. In 12 years he has made 10 features, including most recently Zdenek Tyc’s Small Celebrations, and has received support from the Czech Republic (Czech Television and Filmove Ateliery Zlìn), as well as Italy’s Carlo D’Ursi Produzioni.

Worthy of its own discussion is the country’s animation renaissance, confirmed by producer Martin Vandas whose MAUR Film is among the companies carry on the legacy of one the most admired and influential traditions in the world. “Since 2002, one animated Czech film has come out theatrically per year, and we are working on the first 3D project,” says Vandas, who is looking for co-producers (especially in Italy and the UK) for his new project, based on a Hans Christian Andersen fable and set in modern-day Hamburg.

(Translated from Italian)