13-03-2013

PRODUCTION: Colette in Postproduction

By
    Colette, dir. Milan Cieslar Colette, dir. Milan Cieslar

    PRAGUE: Milan Cieslar has finished shooting his romantic war film Colette based on the book of the same name by Pulitizer Prize nominated Czech writer Arnost Lustig who also co-wrote the script.

    Colette, produced by Happy Celluloid, is a Czech/Slovak/Dutch coproduction. The 100M CZK (4 m EUR) film was supported by Czech Film Industry Support Programme

    The story begins in 1995, when a septuagenarian writer Willie is invited to a dinner party hosted by his son’s girlfriend. There he encounters the mother of his son’s girlfriend and, coincidentally, his first love, who he met at a death camp. The two now feel a distance between them. Without revealing their secret to their children, Willie communicates between the lines of the dinner conversation to the still beautiful woman that he was waiting for her after the war. When Willie returns home, he begins to write a story about a young, beautiful Belgian Jewish girl named Colette. The viewer is taken back in time to Auschwitz / Birkenau in the summer 1943 as seen through Willie’s eyes.

    Following the 2000 film Pramen života (The Spring of Life) and 2005 Krev zmizelého (Blood of the Missing), Colette is Cieslar´s third film with the a WWII subject.

    The lead roles are played by Clémence Thioly and Jeremi Durand from France and Czech actors Ondřej Vetchý, Petr Vaněk, Jiří Mádl and Michal Dlouhý.

    The film was shot in English, in anticipation of wide international release. A Czech version will also be released.

    The film will be distributed by Bioscop, with the release scheduled for September 2013. However, complicated postproduction requirements might postpone the opening until 2014, Cieslar said.


    Contact Information:

    Happy Celluloid
    Na břevnovské pláni 16a
    Praha 6, Czech Republic
    m +420 602 218 960
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    www.celluloid.cz