Have Ondra and the rest succeeded to escape from the underground cannabis growroom? The first to learn the answer was the Karlovy Vary Festival audience, followed by the spectators of the internet television Stream.cz, who learned the answer in the last sequel of the new TV series called Growroom. The series was prepared and presented in Karlovy Vary by Andy Fehu and his dedicated team. They came to the film introduction wearing pesticide-resistent protective suits. For the closing debate after the screening of the whole series, the filmmakers turned up in formal clothing but were not lacking a sense of humour.
Growroom is said to be the first Czech internet thriller. “I do not define the genre beforehand, I prefer to specify it after having finished the film. But we did want to make something depressive,” said Fehu, who is a big fan of the internet. „At least people can watch films and series on the internet without feeling bad for having stolen something.”
While the film makers praised Stream for “not having messed with” their work too much, the Stream representatives praised the director as a talented, responsible and competent professional who is able to work under punk conditions. Growroom’s claustrophobic underground scenes show places full of mould, although they were shot in the very centre of Prague. „Cannabis was growing very well and fast there, so it wasn’t possible to reshoot later on. But it was all technical cannabis,” stressed the authors.
The series can be viewed on the internet since April, and the filmmakers understood from the online comments of the public, that growing cannabis is something quite common in the Czech Republic. „Many people wrote us their tips on how weed is supposed to be grown.
Their advice differed but they all agreed on the fact that we were showing it wrong,” said Fehu, who had previously introduced himself in Karlovy Vary with his horror Greedy Tiffany.
