Festival to
feature three films from Czech Republic
The
Bermuda International Film Festival will feature three
films from the Czech Republic at its 10 th anniversary
event, March 16-24.
The
love story, Beauty in Trouble, and comedies Holiday Makers
and Rail Yard Blues will each screen once at the nine-day
festival. Beauty in Trouble won a Special Jury Prize at
the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival as well as
Best International Feature at the Santa Barbara International
Film Festival and Best Feature at the Starz Denver Film
Festival. Holiday Makers won two prizes at the Tribeca
Film Festival – one for Best Ensemble Cast and another
for actress Eva Holubova.
All
three films are in Czech with English subtitles.
“Few
countries have a cinematic history as rich as the Czech
Republic, which has maintained a consistent output of
films stretching from the silent era to today,” says BIFF
deputy director Duncan Hall. “The Czech New Wave era of
the 1960s was the high point – two films from then-Czechoslovakia
won the Best Foreign Film Oscar between 1965 and 1968.
Some observers are calling the current Czech filmmaking
scene the New New Wave.”
“Modern
Czech cinema is almost directly based on the styles and
techniques that were used from
1964-68,” says festival programmer Ondrej Hindl, who is
from the Czech Republic. “Harsh realism is mixed with
comedy, a good dose of humanity, and there is usually
a focus on a larger cast as opposed to a single main character.”
The
three Czech films chosen are:
Beauty
in Trouble
(d.
Jan Hrebejk, 110 minutes)
Director
Jan Hrebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovsky touch upon
complex inter-personal relationships in modern Czech society
in this love story about an ordinary young woman, Marcela,
who must choose between two men: her undeserving but beloved
husband and an affable, wealthy, elderly foreigner. The
elegant Czech-Italian represents a secure future for Marcela
and her two children – but she enjoys a strong sexual
chemistry with her husband, despite his faults. Under
the guidance of these experienced filmmakers, a simple
plot becomes an intricate genre piece with an unexpected
ending.
Rail
Yard Blues
(d.
Pavel Gobl and Roman Svejda, 90 minutes)
One
of the most original Czech debuts in recent years, Rail
Yard Blues is a lightly absurd tragicomedy that takes
place at a small Czech railway station over one July week
and follows the personal and professional relationships
between the railway employees with a degree of hyperbole.
The characters include the cleaner Gabina, who has just
lost her prospective groom and, on the rebound, chooses
despatcher Ales as her new beau. But he has already been
involved with the cashier Jaruse and is currently having
an affair with the daughter of the fearsome ticket inspector
Evzen. The combination of absurd caricature and realistic
depiction of the everyday routine of railway staff make
this film a delightful journey full of comic moments.
Holiday
Makers
(d.
Jiri Vejdelek, 117 minutes)
Jiri
Vejdelek’s comedy is based on a novel by the contemporary
Czech writer, Michal Viewegh. Ostensibly about a trip
to the Adriatic seaside by a motley crew of vacationers,
the film develops as a series of comic incidents and absurd
situations, revealing more about everyone than just their
swimwear. There is sympathetic Jolana, her permanently
quarrelling parents, two charming older women, a gay couple,
the skirt-chaser, Max, and the guide Pamela, who is intent
on turning them into “a great gang”. Friendships, surprise
meetings, summer romances and wild holiday passion are
all on the menu in a story full of humour and gentle irony.
The interaction between the tourists also reveals a great
deal about modern Czech society.
Tickets
to BIFF 2007 will go on sale in early March both online
at www.biff.bm as well as at the
festival’s physical box office at # 6 Passenger Terminal,
Front Street, Hamilton.
The
mission of the Bermuda International Film Festival is
to advance the love of independent film from around the
world, and create a community welcoming to filmmakers
and filmgoers.
Media
Contact:
Duncan
Hall
Deputy
Festival Director
Bermuda
International Film Festival
Tel:
293-3456
Fax:
293-7769
E-mail:
deputydirector@biff.bm