The shooting of many Czech projects at home and abroad has been cancelled. The family series Children, the series Ulice and Ordinace v růžové zahradě 2, as well as the filming of the new feature film by Olmo Omerzu are among them, according to the Audiovisual Producers' Association (APA), which gathers more than 100 production companies.

Location scouting and shooting preparations for the long-awaited coproduction Alma and Oskar by Dieter Berner (coproduced by Dawson Productions) have been shut down too, and the same goes for international coproductions.

„We know about several international projects which will be cancelled, some projects will return to the Czech Republic”, says Magdaléna Králová, director of APA. She also said that “some countries react to the crisis by planning to introduce special incentives for filmmakers, with the aim to support domestic film industry and to be able to re-start their own economy. In the UK they are already introducing these incentives“.

Among the domestic films suffering from the closure of cinemas is the documentary Caught in the Net / V síti by Vit Klusak, which became the most popular documentary in history in Czech cinemas after two weeks since its release, with 300,000 admissions.

“The film industry is a cross-section industry and that’s why it is necessary to strategically prepare for the situation after the epidemic. The audiovisual industry should be given the opportunity to restart its economic chain of purchases, deliveries and sub deliveries,” says Helena Bezděk Fraňková, director of the Czech Film Fund.

Click HERE for the press release.