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PRODUCTION Slovakia

The shoot for Goat wraps

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- Slovak documentarian Ivan Ostrochovský is readying his fiction feature debut

The shoot for Goat wraps
Goat by Ivan Ostrochovský

Slovak documentarian Ivan Ostrochovský, who was behind one-third of the acclaimed documentary Velvet Terrorists [+see also:
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, has wrapped the shoot for his feature debut, Goat. “Koza [translated as 'Goat', the moniker of real-life boxer Peter Baláž] is my friend; I've know him since childhood. I did a documentary about him during my studies, and we decided with my co-writer Marek Leščák to do a fiction feature film about him. We were drawn to his story, as it recounts a model situation – about a person who does not know how to handle his life, no matter how hard he tries,” explained the director. Goat is a road movie about an ageing featherweight Roma boxer. In order to save his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend and prevent her from having an abortion, he embarks upon a trip across Europe with a newfound manager, the loan shark Kálmán, to earn a little money by fighting in decaying boxing clubs.

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The International Jury awarded the project with the top Works in Progress prize at this year's Karlovy Vary Film Festival (see the news). “The development process for the project was not affected by the award; however, interest in the film did increase,” commented Ostrochovský, who is currently working on an international version of the movie for film festivals. The director is known for merging elements of documentary and fiction in his works, and will stick to his firmly established style in his fiction feature debut. Former Olympic boxer Peter Baláž plays himself in a story loosely based on his life. The creators put an emphasis on scouting out authentic premises on the outskirts of cities in France and eastern Germany for the film. 

The project is produced by the director himself and Marek Urban for Sentimentalfilm, and Jiří Konečný on behalf of Czech production company Endorfilm, and was supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund. Sentimentalfilm is also handling international sales. 

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