On another episode in the KVIFF Talk series, well-known Czech film critic Kamil Fila spoke about certain tendencies of Czech film. The main thesis of is talk was that the last three years have seen Czech cinematography begin to change.
In his opinion, genre films are attracting a smaller audience; conversely, arthouse works are seeing a rise in attendance rates. A new generation of filmmakers is taking over, and the number of Czech films at foreign festival is growing, as is the number of international co-productions. The reputation of documentaries has improved and the form of public funding has changed. “To speak about a new New Wave is absurd – the situation in the 1960s was completely different. What has been happening in the last few years has not been a revolution, but an evolution, a certain adaptation to European standards,” thinks Fila, who also discussed a number of recent distinct Czech films, such as I, Olga Hepnarova, We Are Never Alone, and The Snake Brothers, during his talk.
Producer Pavel Strnad was also a guest at KVIFF Talk. He agreed with Fila some of the time and took an opposing viewpoint at other times. “I don’t think that more people are going to see arthouse films. Due to the influence of digitalisation and the greater number of premieres in cinemas, all films are experiencing a drop in attendance rates,” said Strnad, for example. The co-founder of the production company Negativ agreed, however, that Czech film has began to resemble European film, at least when it comes to funding. “After a new, independent film fund being set up, we are finally nearing European standards after twenty-five years.”
