Archive of films Koza / Koza

Slovak Republic / Czech Republic
2015, 75 min

Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition
Year: 2015

A para-documentary road movie by Ivan Ostrochovský about a former boxer who puts on the gloves one final time to earn the money for his girlfriend’s abortion.


Synopsis

Peter “Koza” Baláž once boxed at the Olympics. Today he lives in a Romany ghetto in Eastern Europe. When his girlfriend Miša discovers she’s pregnant, Koza is happy at the prospect of a child. But Miša already has a daughter and now she wants to have an abortion. Koza needs to get hold of some money and his only chance is by returning to the ring, even after so many years. So he sets out on a relentless fighting tour with his manager Zvonko, who is more concerned about himself than with naïve Koza’s success or welfare. Documentarist Ivan Ostrochovský first shot a short documentary about Koza but when the boxer expressed an interest in getting paid he decided to expand the project into his feature debut. The film is exceptional for the credible performance of its nonactors, which include Koza and another Olympic boxer, Ján Franek. The script dispenses with social stereotypes, balancing the story with long shots of the inhospitable winter landscape in which the protagonists contend for their place in the sun. The film premiered at the Berlinale.

Šimon Šafránek

About the director

Ivan Ostrochovský

Ivan Ostrochovský (b. 1972, Žilina, Czechoslovakia) graduated from the department of audiovisual studies and documentary filmmaking at Bratislava’s Academy of Performing Arts. His documentary work includes Lesser Evil (2004) and Ilja (2009). He codirected his feature-length documentary debut Velvet Terrorists, which screened at the Karlovy Vary IFF, winning the FEDEORA Award; at the festival in Berlin it received the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Prize. Ostrochovský coproduced the films Matchmaking Mayor (Nesvatbov, 2010, dir. Erika Hníková) and Made in Ash (Až do mesta Aš, 2010, dir. Iveta Grófová). Koza is his first dramatic feature.

Contacts

Pluto Film
Schliemann Strasse 5, 10437, Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 030 219 182 20
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.plutofilm.de

Asociace českých filmových klubů
Stonky 860, 686 01, Uherské Hradiště
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 572 501 989
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.acfk.cz

About the film

Color, DCP

Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition
   
Director: Ivan Ostrochovský
Screenplay: Marek Leščák, Ivan Ostrochovský
Dir. of Photography: Martin Kollár
Editor: Viera Čákanyová, Maroš Šlapeta, Matej Beneš, Peter Morávek
Producer: Marek Urban, Ivan Ostrochovský, Jiří Konečný
Production: sentimentalfilm, endorfilm
Coproduction: Česká televize, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska, Punkchart films
Cast: Peter Baláž, Zvonko Lakčević, Ján Franek
Sales: Pluto Film
Distributor: Asociace českých filmových klubů

Guests

Ivan Ostrochovský

Patricie Frehse

Sales Agent


Jan Jílek

Distributor, Festival Organizer

Jiří Konečný

Producer


Marek Urban

Producer

Peter Baláž

Protagonist


Martin Kollar

Director of Photography, Film Director

Marek Leščák

Screenwriter


Ján Franek

Protagonist

Zvonko Lakčević

Actor


Albert Malinovský

Producer

Radana Korená

Distributor, Festival Organizer


Eva Blažková

Festival Organizer, PR & Marketing

Radka Piskačová

PR & Marketing


Iva Hejlíčková

Festival Organizer

Michal Surma

Distributor, Festival Organizer


Jana Wolff

Sales Agent

YouTube

© 2024 FILM SERVIS FESTIVAL KARLOVY VARY, a.s. [email protected] +420 221 411 011 All contacts

AccommodationsAccommodations Festival Pass, tickets, reservationsFestival Pass, tickets
HistoryHistory ContactsContacts
Archive of filmsArchive of films KVIFF TalksKVIFF Talks
Industry Days Programme 2021Industry Days Programme KVIFF Eastern PromisesKVIFF Eastern Promises
VideogalleryVideogallery PhotogalleryPhotogallery
ContactsContacts Posters of the 57th KV IFFPosters of the 57th KV IFF
HistoryHistory Festival GuideFestival Guide