The Festival half-time belongs to new filmmakers, specifically ten students or graduates of European film academies, who present their short films in the “Future Frames” section at the KVIFF. Czech Republic is represented by Damián Vondrášek, a student of the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, under the auspices of the Czech Film Center. He presents a 30-minute long drama Imprisoned, telling the story of a man contemplating to accept a job in a prison. “I do not really remember where the idea came from,” the young filmmaker told the audience. “Several topics had joint together and created a comprehensive feature.”
However, it was certainly not easy for a student crew to get access to real prisons and shoot their film there. “Our executive producer exchanged correspondence with virtually all Czech prisons. A breakthrough came only when I realised that my roommates’ father was a superintendent of a prison. Once the prison staff understood that we did not intend to make an “action movie” about escaping a prison, they became more collaborative,” the director revealed. He is currently preparing his graduation film.
