Czech Dream

Colour, 35 mm
Czech Republic, 2004, 85 min
Section: Czech Films

Synopsis

In the last five years, over 125 hypermarkets have opened in the Czech Republic, and the social habits of the Czechs have changed radically. Shopping has ousted other private family activities. This first Czech reality show is a reaction to this. Its authors, Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda, commissioned, in the roles of top managers, a campaign from a well-known advertising agency for the gala opening of the fictional hypermarket, Czech Dream. The campaign included advertising spots on radio and television, 400 illuminated advertising sites, 200,000 fliers with their own production series, advertising jingles, and advertisements in the newspapers and on the internet... On 31 May 2003 several thousand eager citizens arrived at Letňany in Prague where, instead of the longed-for shopping centre with a wide assortment of goods and amazing reductions, they found only giant painted facade. The project even aroused interest abroad; it was reported by leading dailies, film magazines (including Screen International and Variety), radio stations, including the BBC, and internet servers. A opinion poll showed that 18% of consumers still think that the hypermarket Czech Dream exists.

About the director

Vít Klusák (1980) studied photography and is now completing his studies in documentary film at FAMU. Filmography (short films): The Beginning of the World (1999), Shivers Down Your Back (1999), Digestive (1999), Vinegar (2001), Vlast a Burian (2003). As a cameraman he has worked with Vít Janeček and Martin Mareček. He worked with Filip Remunda (1973) on the film A.B.C.D.T.O.P.O.L. Remunda studied electro-technology. He made his first film with an 8mm camera travelling to India and Iran. In 1997 he began to study documentary film at FAMU. As part of his studies he spent a period at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem and the Zellig Film School in Bolzano. He attracted attention with his short film Village B., which won awards at the IFF in Karlovy Vary 2002 and the FAMU Festival in 2003, and the Don Quixote Award at the Art Film festival in Trenčianské Teplice 2003. He is a co-founder of the Institute of Documentary Film. Filmography (short films): From Bohemia to St Helen (1999), New Names for Old Friends (1999), Hilary and Chris on a Journey (1999), Little Town of Angels (2001), The Collector of Pictures of Our World (2001), Village B. (2002).