The Prague studio MagicLab has been participating in production of more than
45 Czech and foreign movies since its foundation. Among others it co-produced
and completely post-produced images of the the winning Iranian movie A man of
Integrity in the prestigious Un Certain Regard competitive section. The movie will
be introduced to the Czech audience at the Karlovy Vary International Festival in
the Horizons section.
The latest directorial enterprise of reputable movie director Mohammad
Rasoulof tells a story about Reza, who avoids the city nastiness and lives a
simple life with his wife and a single child in a remote village somewhere in the
northern Iran. Nearby a private company with close contacts to the government
and local institutions seized control over almost every aspect of life in the
region. Its shareholders, heaping up riches, power and economical rents oppress
the local farmers and small holders, they try to ruin their properties, farms and
real estate for the benefit of the influential system of the company and its
monopoly. Thanks to its pressure many villagers became the local contacts of
the wider corruption web. Meanwhile Reza tries to resist the pressure and save
its farm. But soon he realizes that he cannot resist its powerful, yet hidden
corruption web anymore. He gives up and decides to sell his property and move
away. Anyway, the company decides to increase the stakes.
The pivotal scenes of this movie were created with the help of MagicLab, a
Czech postproduction studio. The director himself feared the combination of
CGI and the real environment: “I was afraid that the scene would look too
Hollywood-like and will not correspond to my style of narration. Luckily we had
an excellent team of MagicLab which patiently built up the scene with us the
way not to stand out of the movie. My fear of visual effects is completely gone
now.”
MagicLab is working now on two coproduction movies, a Latvian-Lithuanian
biography under the directory of Iňara Kolmane, Bille. The story is situated in
the period of World War II. The movie is based on the literary bestseller by
Vizma Belševica, nominated to the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The other movie is an epic war drama from World War I Blizzard of Souls by
director Dzintars Dreibergs. The love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is
interrupted by the First World War. After losing his mother and his home, he
finds some consolation in joining the army.
Bille premiers in 2018 and Blizzard of Souls in 2019.
This year´s 42nd edition of MFF Karlovy Vary contains 6 projects of MagicLab.
A Czech movie Absence of Closeness by director Josef Tuka contests in the
section East to West. The winning Cannes movie A Man of Integrity will be seen
at the Horizons section, the biographical Masaryk by director Julius Ševčík will
be included in the best Czech Movies Review together with the daring debut by
Tereza Nvotová Filthy. In the Future Frames section introducing young
promising moviemakers will be seen a short movie Jail directed by Damian
Vondrášek. The Special Presentation section will also offer an internet series
Grow House by director Andy Fehua.
Official website: www.magiclab.cz
Official Facebook: https://facebook.com/magiclabstudio/