Three Czech coproduction films have been selected for the Berlinale IFF. The psychological drama Touch Me Not, directed by Adina Pintilie, will be included in Competition, while the road movie Interpreter, directed by Martin Šulík and starring Jiří Menzel and Peter Simonischek, premieres in Berlinale Special, and the painfully relevant documentary When the War Comes by Jan Gebert will open Panorama.
The Czech Film Center, division of Czech Film Fund, is once again the official presenter of Czech cinematography at Berlinale. Running a stand at the EFM (No.137, MGB, 1st floor,), the Czech Film Fund serves as a primary contact place for international film professionals interested in Czech film, co-production or shooting with the Czech Republic.
Read the article published in the Czech Film magazine Spring 2018, HERE.
When the War Comes
Czech Republic, Croatia, 2018
director: Jan Gebert
producers: PINK - Radovan Síbrt, Alžběta Karásková; co-producers: HBO Europe - Tereza Polachová, Hanka Kastelicová; Hulahop Film - Dana Budisavljevic, Miljenka Čogelja
PANORAMA
Peter lives a seemingly happy life. He drives a new white SUV, has a pretty girlfriend and recently enrolled at university. However, his real life is elsewhere – as the head of a paramilitary called “Slovenskí branci” that recruits hundreds of Slovak teenagers with the silent approval of the authorities. The group’s goal is simple - to create a model totalitarian community based on military drill, obedience and fear. Peter dreams that one day he will convince the entire society- as a big shot politician.
Touch Me Not
Romania, France, Czech Republic, 2018
director: Adina Pintilie
producers: Manekino Film – Adina Pintilie, Bianca Oana; co-producers: Agitprop – Martichka Bozhilova; PINK – Radovan Síbrt, Alžběta Karásková, Jakub Pinkava; rohfilm – Benny Drechsel; Films de l'Étranger – Phillipe Avril)
COMPETITION
The main character, Laura, has worked for years in a mannequin factory, peeking in on other people’s intimate lives. She pays to be touched, hiring young boys to create an illusion of intimacy. Tudor is an actor who earns his living as a masseur and wants a woman who rejects his attempts at making contact. One day, Laura sees an interactive show by Tudor and Paul that deeply moves her, and gradually becomes a silent witness to their lives, their solitary longing resonating with her own. In this mirroring process, the walls that she has so skillfully built around her collapse under the torrent of her repressed emotions.
Interpreter
Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, 2018
director: Martin Šulík
producers: IN Film - Rudolf Bierman; Titanic – Martin Šulík; COOP99 – Bruno Wagner, co-producers: RTSV: Radio and Television of Slovakia; Czech TV
BERLINALE SPECIAL
80-year-old Ali Ungár (Menzel) comes across a book by a former SS officer, describing his wartime activities in Slovakia. Ali realizes that one of the passages recounts the execution of his parents, and sets out to visit the former SS man, who now lives in Vienna. Instead of his parents’ murderer,
though, Ali finds only his 70-year-old son. Georg Peis (Simonischek) is a former teacher who has distanced himself from his father’s past and is now struggling with alcoholism. The interpreter’s visit stirs his curiosity, so he decides to find out who exactly his father was before he dies. So it is that the two old men, the ascetic Ali and the bon vivant Georg, embark on a journey together to find the surviving witnesses of the wartime tragedy.
Five other movies will be introduced at the European Film Market:
Barefoot (CZ, SK, DK, 2017, director: Jan Svěrák),
Epic Complex (CZ 2018, director: Jan Strejcovský),
Harvie and the Magic Museum (CZ, BE, RUS, 2017, director: Martin Kotík),
Nina (SK, CZ, 2017, director: Juraj Lehotský),
The Ash Lad - In the Hall of the Mountain King (NO, IE, CZ, 2017, director: Mikkel Brænne Sandemose).
All the films were supported by Czech Film Fund.
