12-12-2010

Hřebejk Film Released in USA

By Irena Zemanová

    Jan Hřebejk´s Oscar hopeful Kawasaki´s Rose produced by Rudolf Biermann of Infilm (www.infilm.cz) has been released in the US by North American company Menemsha Films (http://www.menemshafilms.com). Hřebejk attended the presentation at Film Forum Cinema (www.filmforum.com) in New York City.

    The film has already received several favourable reviews in American newspaper, including The New York Times.

    "Kawasaki´s Rose considers the ways in which the past never stops informing the present, especially in societies where secrets were the way of life, and professional or personal success could depend upon a single well-placed piece of information, be it true or false," Menemsha Films said, explaining why it acquired the film for the American market.

    "I think that the story of a former communist prison investigator and his guilt, his victims, and the punishment that never came, may now interest several new foreign distributors," Jan Hřebejk said. "I guess that only the possibility of a future Oscar nomination can help us abroad."

    Kawasaki´s Rose was previously awarded at this year´s Berlinale and won two national Czech Lions. Hřebejk's 2000 film Divided We Fall was previously nominated for the Oscar.

    Hřebejk is currently in production with a drama, Innocence.