Following his feature debut, After Party [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Vojtěch Strakatý
fiche film], which premiered at Venice, Czech filmmaker Vojtěch Strakatý returns with The Other Side of Summer [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Vojtěch Strakatý
fiche film], which premiered in the Proxima Competition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Strakatý talked to Cineuropa about subverting narrative clichés, experimenting with structure, drawing inspiration from video games and vaporwave, and navigating the challenges of low-budget filmmaking.

Cineuropa: The Other Side of Summer begins as a quiet coming-of-age story before a magical pond shifts the tone. What inspired you to blend everyday realism with mystery and fantasy?
Vojtěch Strakatý: I usually start from the perspective of an audience member thinking about what I’d like to see that I haven’t yet. With a bit of hyperbole, we can say that everything’s been done, but originality, to me, lies in how ideas, themes, and characters are combined and structured. This blend of genres made sense because summer evokes a longing for something greater. That desire to discover new worlds naturally brings in the mysterious and the magical. I was drawn to a group of women spending an ordinary summer in the Czech Republic and wanted them to experience an adventure. When I imagined a scene where one of them is transported through a pond, everything clicked, and I wrote the first draft.

The film seems to subvert typical tropes of adolescent escapism. How intentional was this slower rhythm, also in comparison to After Party, which has pretty intense pacing?
I love assembling elements and tropes that are common within a genre, then doing something unexpected with them. After Party was structured with a more intense beginning and first half, then took a detour into a slower final act. The Other Side of Summer goes the other way, from a slow, seemingly uneventful, start to a more adventurous final act. Since summer holidays naturally have a slower rhythm, it made sense to begin that way. But I wanted to thread mysterious, foreboding elements in from the beginning, so the story could gradually build towards the genre shift. I’ve always loved slower summer films like The Swamp by Lucrecia Martel, as well as more heightened mystery films and series like Lost, Stranger Things and Picnic at Hanging Rock. I’ve always wanted to combine those two approaches.

After Party had a single female lead, while The Other Side of Summer follows a group of girls. What draws you to the female point of view, and why explore girlhood dynamics this time?
Since my short Stuck, I’ve been writing more female characters. After Party focused on one, but I’ve always been drawn to group narratives and shifting PoVs, inspired by TV series, video games and ensemble films from Ford to early Hitchcock. About a decade ago, I veered towards female-centred stories. Women often carry the heaviest burdens, and I want to give them space and a voice. It’s not radical; it just feels natural to have women as the leads, subverting clichés and passing the Bechdel test. I tend to focus on characters aged 20-30, as it’s a chaotic, transformative time. But the younger girls in The Other Side of Summer were there from the start, tied to themes like pop-culture pressure, body image, FOMO and perfectionism.

The magical portal in a summertime, all-girl, coming-of-age adventure movie comes as a strange element. What is the genesis of this decision?
The inspiration came from many sources. I was influenced by pop-culture depictions of water, movement and travel, the aesthetics and mechanics of anime, video games and vaporwave. Computer games, especially, shaped my thinking: switching PoVs, spawning, respawning, moving through worlds, teleporting and so on.

How would you describe the current landscape for independent, low-budget filmmaking in the Czech Republic?
After two low-budget films, I realised I needed more money. I can make it work with less, as everyone was paid, which is a must, but bigger budgets mean fairer pay, more time and safer, more humane conditions. I work with amazing people who work miracles under pressure, but that shouldn’t be the norm. As a writer-director, the biggest challenge is still getting paid adequately. That needs to change, not just for me, but for others in key creative roles. I’m grateful to the Czech Audiovisual Fund, Czech Television and my producers, but competition is tough and funding is limited. Looking ahead, I want to avoid years of waiting. I’m also thinking about smaller, faster projects with equal pay across the team; DOGMA 25 is a big inspiration [see the news]. But whatever the format, more money is essential.

At what stage is your next project, No Salvation Coming, a heist movie about the housing crisis?
We’re in development, and I’m deep in the script rewrites, which is always the most painful part for me, but it’s also exciting. This time, I’m leaning into an even more heightened genre, with a lot of violence and sensuality. We’ll apply for production funding as soon as possible. I’d love to shoot a film every year, so I’m already anxious to get going, but depending on co-production support, it might take a bit longer.