07-03-2011

Walking Too Fast Gets Second Distribution Chance

By Michal Procházka

    Following its triumph at the Czech Lions on 5 March 2011, Walking Too Fast is returning to Czech cinemas. The political psychological thriller produced by rising Czech company Bionaut (www.bionaut.cz) was nominated in all 13 competitive categories for the national film awards, and won the top five awards.

    In its initial distribution, the film received critical acclaim but drew only 22,000 spectators after its 4 February 2010 premiere. The film by Radim Špaček and scriptwriter Ondřej Štindl deals with the difficult history of Czech normalisation in the 1970´s and tells the gloomy lovestory of a secret agent falling for the girlfriend of a disident who was his victim.

    "We knew straight away that such a film would need a long run, considering the distribution situation in the Czech Republic. With multiplexes taking more than a 70 percent market share, every new film has to win the public very quickly during first two weeks. Otherwise it disappears from cinemas, like Walking Too Fast did," said producer Vratislav Šlajer.

    In January the new Czech Film Critics Awards also gave five prizes to the film Walking Too Fast, which added to the film's momentum going into the Czech Lions. The film's second release comes more than one year after its premiere, and three months after its release on DVD. A pre-awards cinema screening began on 3 March, and a wide release in 40 cinemas planned.

    "The Awards can help films that normally do not receive much attention from the media and the public. Czech audience prefers local box office hits. The rest of the domestic films draw under 50,000 spectators. We lack middle-range films with admissions of 300,000," Šlajer concluded.

    This is the second time when a film which was originally not well recieved returns to cinemas after reaping awards. Robert Sedláček's The True Lies also had a second distribution after being awarded the Czech Lion Critics Prize.