Being the first online thriller isn’t the only unique attribute by which Growroom stretches the boundaries of original domestic online productions. In the tradition of popular foreign series, the show is also a local example of the global trend of mixing the worlds of film and television: The exciting final of the first Czech online thriller will premiere at 6:30pm on 1 July at the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which will also screen all nine episodes as part of its official programme.
After showing a special episode of Blaník Office (Selfie with Gere) at the festival two years ago, Stream.cz returns to the most prestigious Central and East European film festival with another original show.
Ten years ago, few people would have predicted that a domestic provider of online user videos would be creating its own positively reviewed series on a level comparable to expensive productions by the world’s leading streaming services, or that it would be screening its shows at the largest film festival in the Czech Republic. But for the online television station Stream.cz, this list of previously unimaginable achievements is now reality.
In fact, Stream.cz is making its second appearance at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it will be presenting an original series that, as the first Czech online thriller, was far from a sure thing at the outset. The final two-hour episode of the nine-part series Growroom will premiere exclusively for festival audiences at two separate screenings.
“Andy Fehu is an outstanding filmmaker with a distinctive style who is capable of absolutely captivating his audiences through both film and online television. There are few people like him in our country, and we have been his die-hard fans ever since his debut, The Greedy Tiffany,” says KVIFF’s artistic director Karel Och.
“We are happy that our online series has made it among the two hundred carefully selected films from all over the world, and we are curious about what festival audiences will think about it,” adds Stream.cz’s creative producer Milan Kuchynka. But even long-time fans who have been watching this claustrophobic thriller in regularly weekly intervals will be treated to a special experience. Before they find out what happens with the four imprisoned Czech-Vietnamese marijuana growers, they can see what it’s like to experience Growroom up close and personal: eight selected fans will get a chance to try out running a large-scale growing operation right in front of the cameras. And they will spend the next several weeks sharing the fact that getting walled in is just the beginning.
