21-08-2014

Czech TV Coproducing with ARTE and Discovery Channel

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    Jan Hus by Jiří Svoboda Jan Hus by Jiří Svoboda ČTK Doležal Michal

    PRAGUE: Czech TV is coproducing three major projects with the Franco-German cultural channel ARTE and Discovery Channel: the documentary Life according to Vaclav Havel, the television miniseries Jan Hus and the cycle Fish Legends with Jakub Vagner.

    The documentary by Andrea Sedláčková, Life according to Václav Havel mapping  the life of one of the most famous Czechs, is designed to not only attract foreign audiences, but thanks to the unique personality of Václav Havel in the context of a complex historical period to also reach the younger generation of Czech viewers. The documentary, made in coproduction of Czech TV and ARTE will mark the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The TV release at both ARTE and the Czech Television is planned for the fall 2014.

    The two-part historical drama Jan Hus, directed by Jiří Svoboda and currently in production, is one of the biggest projects in the history of Czech Television and it will appear on TV screens in 2015 to mark the 600th anniversary of the burning of Jan Hus, the important preacher who influenced the fate of the Czech nation. This historical miniseries is another joint project with ARTE. Czech Television is among three public broadcasters in Central and Eastern Europe, currently coproducing with this significant cultural broadcaster.

    "Co-production with ARTE allows us to address interesting topics in many different and attractive formats and thus bring our viewers unique and high quality programmes. This collaboration is equally interesting for the French- and German-speaking audiences of ARTE which, thanks to the Czech coproduction, receives culturally totally unique works,"said the director of Czech Television´s new formats development, Jan Maxa.

    Czech TV is also coproducing the adventure series Fish Legends with Jakub Vagner. Discovery Channel already showed its interest in the first two very successful seasons of the series and is currently involved in the filming of the third six-part series that brings viewers to the waters of Congo, Mongolia, Thailand, Tanzania, Ecuador and Peru.