Archive of films Wrong Side Up / Příběhy obyčejného šílenství

Czech Republic
2004, 107 min

Section: Czech Films 2004-2005
Year: 2005

The tragicomic story of former navigator Petr who works reloading freight at Prague airport, a tale about men and women who have lost their direction in life. Wouldn’t it be better just to be shoved and prodded through life like a parcel?

Synopsis

Former navigator Petr works reloading freight at Prague airport. He is resigned to this dead-end job, but he would like to get his fiancée Jana back; she left him for Aleš, a man with better prospects. Petr also has problems with his parents — mainly with his energetic mother who fights for world peace as her own family disintegrates around her. Petr’s increasingly cheerless father David, who spends most of his time staring at the bubbles rising from his bottle of beer, meets the young sculptress Sylvie. But this new elationship isn’t perfect, even though the girl convinces him to take advantage of his former job narrating socialist newsreels by rereading them as artistic performances. Even being paid to watch his neighbours’ amorous frolics doesn’t provide the satisfaction Petr is looking for.... Petr Zelenka has adapted his own successful stage play to create an intelligent, bittersweet comedy about people whose behaviour is determined by attempts to rid themselves of any kind of normal form of loneliness.

About the director

Petr Zelenka (b. 1967, Prague) is one of the highest award-winning Czech screenwriters and directors of the young generation. He graduated in script editing and screenwriting from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) in 1991, and then worked as a script consultant for Barrandov Film Studios. He wrote the screenplay for Jan
Hřebejk’s short film Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Experience, (1999) and for David Ondříček’s equally successful feature Loners (2000). He has also written a number of successful documentary films and TV programmes. He began to establish himself in a big way in 1993 with the fictional feature-length doc Padlock 1982-2007, which was followed by the similarly conceived Mňága — Happy End (1996). He then made his feature debut Buttoners (1997; Czech Lion for Best Czech Film), followed by Year of the Devil (2002; Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary) and an adaptation of his own stage play Wrong Side Up (2005).

Contacts

Negativ
Ostrovní 30, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 777 697 543, +420 224 933 755
Fax: +420 224 933 472
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.negativ.cz

CP 2000 World Sales
Kříženeckého nám. 322/5, 152 52, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 233 100 180
Fax: +420 233 100 181
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.nova.cz

Bioscop (Magicbox a.s.)
Na Klikovce 7, 140 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 221 436 100
Fax: +420 221 436 305
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.bioscop.cz

Pegasos Film Verleih
Ebertplath 21, 506 68, Köln
Germany
Tel: +221 97 266 16
E-mail: [email protected]

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Czech Films 2004-2005

Director:	Petr Zelenka
Screenplay:	Petr Zelenka
Dir. of Photography:	Miro Gabor
Music:	Karel Holas
Editor:	David Charap
Producer:	Pavel Strnad
Production:	Negativ s.r.o. koprodukce/co-production Pegasos Film Verleih
Cast:	Ivan Trojan, Zuzana Šulajová, Nina Divíšková, Miroslav Krobot, Jiří Bábek, Jana Hubinská, Jiří Bartoška, Karel Heřmánek
Contact:	Negativ, CP 2000 World Sales, Bioscop (Magicbox a.s.), Pegasos Film Verleih

www:	www.silenstvi.cz

Guests

Miroslav Gábor

Director of Photography, Film Director, Producer

Petr Zelenka

Film Director

Ivan Trojan

Actor

Petra Lustigová

Actor

Pavel Strnad

Producer

Karel Holas

Music Composer