22/08/2005

When it started out there was much skepticism from part of the industry on whether this is an idea that will work. As it now completes its third year of existence, a lot of those who once spoke against it have turned into its devout supporters.
The Czech Film Center has started with a few enemies but it now has only friends, it seems, in the still barren world of servicing and promoting Czech film outside the national borders.

The Czech Film Center maintains and promotes interest in Czech film abroad and supports the networking efforts of Czech film professionals in Europe while it tries to interweave the Czech film industry into international structures. “All tough tasks, nevertheless we can only say that we try and that some of our previous efforts are paying dividends now” says the Center’s director Jana Cernik, who was witness to an extended European interest for Jiri Menzel’s upcoming project Obsluhoval jsem anglickeho krale (“I Served the King of England”) during this year’s Cannes Festival where the Center co-organized a Czech-Slovak-Polish pavilion.

The Center though does more than being present promoting Czech interests in Cannes or Berlin. It is member of the European Film Promotion and its “Shooting Stars” and “Producers on the Move” initiatives, meaning that it frequently gets the chance to present up and coming Czech talent abroad. But the Center also cares for the further education and training of the industry’s professionals. In preparation for last year’s Connecting Cottbus market the Center teamed up with the Czech Media Desk to organize a seminar by lecturer Sibylle Kurz on how to create film project presentations for international markets.

The promotion of Czech film abroad apart the Center and the adjacent Czech Film Commission office often have to answer questions by European producers on the financial aspects of filming in the Czech Republic, tax, reimbursements, and the existence of private funds or companies investing in the film industry. Recently the Film Commission has prepared a “Production Guide Czech Republic”, a 158 page packed publication with all the necessary information and contacts in the Czech film industry, especially geared towards foreign producers and filmmakers planning to film in the country.