The Festival follows the trend of presenting big TV projects on the screen and has introduced the first two episodes of the new HBO Europe miniseries Wasteland in the world premiere. „After I saw them, I felt the frustration of the viewer who knows that he will have to wait until the next episodes are released. You will have to wait until October for the complete Wasteland,” said Karel Och, the artistic director of the festival, and informed the audience in the Great Hall about the date of the premiere of the entire 8 part-series.
On behalf of a numerous delegation composed of both directors Ivan Zachariáš and Alice Nellis and actresses Zuzana Stivínová and Petra Špalková spoke the producer Tereza Polachová and screenwriter Štěpán Hulík, who has already written the miniseries Burning Bush for HBO.
“Thank you for coming without knowing what you are going to see, even though you may have suspected that it is not going to be pleasant. I hope you will not regret it.” the young screenwriter teased the audience before the screening of the drama from the disquieting Czech-Polish border region where inhabitants are fighting over whether to permit coal mining to continue and where an adolescent daughter of the mayor suddenly disappears. “The path to Wasteland was fraught by a number of dead ends and doubts so I could hardly imagine that we will make it all the way here. However, as Jarda Jágr would say, that is a sign that one should not give up.” Hulík confessed.
