01/06/2006

The war between the film industry and politicians over film financing in the Czech Republic is gathering pace. Filmmakers, producers and even the country’s famous film school have all joined forces against the parliament’s rejection of a much anticipated new film law.

All professional associations continue to petition the Minister of Culture and the parliament, for what is clearly a blow for Czech cinema. The law, if passed, would have added a much needed 200% increase of state funding for film from the mere €2.5m euro it now receives annually.

In an unprecedented move FAMU, Prague’s famous Film and Television School, raised its voice against the vote, while the school’s students also raised a banner with the words "For sale" outside their building in downtown Prague.

The Czech Film Center symbolically "closed shop" at their Cannes pavilion day last week, to protest the outcome and director Jan Hrebejk said he wouldn’t object if his producer Ondrej Trojan withdrew their film Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích) from competition at the country’s best known film showcase, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, next month.

While Hrebejk and Trojan were still thinking about it, others had already done it. The films Rafters (Raftaci), An Angel of the Lord (Andel Pane), Restart and Fimfárum 2 were all pulled out from the Zlin International Film Festival for Children and Youth, which ends June 3. "I am not sure if [the withdrawal] is the right method to protest. It looked as if they held the young public as hostages", commented Petr Kolina, Zlin’ artistic director.

But Aurel Klimt, author of the acclaimed animated Fimfárum series, gave an indication of how heavy the atmosphere is when he said that he is seriously thinking about giving up his efforts for change in the Czech film animation scene and taking his trade to the UK.