Czech Films 2006-2007 2007 / ... a bude hůř / Czech Republic 2007
Their world means a grimy smoky pub, music by the band DG 307, drugs and alcohol… The underground bestseller by Jiří Pelc inspired this raw black-and-white retro-film, in which director Petr Nikolaev returns to the dreadful years of Communist totality during the 1980s.
North Bohemia, mid-1980s. Olin is 21 years old and he’s just been let out of the asylum. He feels at home in grimy smoky pubs and, like his long-haired friends, he dreams of a world where no-one orders them about or stops them doing what they want to do. He sees sitting around with no work or hope, yet in the reliable company of drugs and alcohol, as legitimate opposition to the totalitarian regime. One day, however, Olin and his friends realise that dreaming isn’t enough: they decide to emigrate… Ten years after the comedy Wonderful Years That Sucked (1997) Petr Nikolaev returns to the era of President Husák and presents it in quite a different way: with hard-hitting images, in black-and-white and using “natural” amateurs or little known actors. The film also features episodic appearances from the underground figures of the day (Vratislav Brabenec, Pavel Zajíček) and the unique sound of the band DG 307. Inspiration for the film, which was screened in the International Forum of Young Cinema at this year’s Berlin IFF, came from the underground bestseller of the same name by Jan Pelc.
84 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Petr Nikolaev
/ Screenplay Jan Pelc, Petr Nikolaev
/ Dir. of Photography Diviš Marek
/ Music DG 307, Plastic People of the Universe
/ Editor Jiří Brožek
/ Producer Čestmír Kopecký
/ Production První veřejnoprávní
/ Cast Karel Žídek, Radomil Uhlíř, Filip Kaňkovský, Tereza Hofová, Mirek Škultéty, Perla Kotmelová
/ Contact CinemArt, a.s., První veřejnoprávní, Cinepol International
/ Distributor CinemArt, a.s.
www: www.filmabudehur.cz
Petr Nikolaev (b. 1957, Prague) studied documentary film at Prague’s FAMU (1978–84). He was already acquiring a name for himself with his student films Fit for Service (1979) and Praga caput regni (1980). After graduating he worked in France where he made several educational films and the short La surface (1990). He returned to his native country in 1992 and five years later debuted with his adaptation of Michal Viewegh’s novel Wonderful Years That Sucked (1997). His highly regarded romantic drama from the 1950s A Little Piece of Heaven (2005) is also set in the Communist era. He also made video clips for the band Stromboli (1988), the documentary The Royal Way (1992) from the TV series OKO, an episode from the collection of film stories Moon Valley (1994), the TV doc. The Prague Five (1995), the TV films Wolves in Town (2001) and Black Miss Miss Black (2002), three episodes from the series Eden (2006–07) and part of the series Why Shouldn’t We Drown? (2007).
CinemArt, a.s.
Národní 60/28, 111 21, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 949 110
E-mail: [email protected]
První veřejnoprávní
U Havlíčkových sadů 7, 120 00, Praha 2
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 602 666 676
E-mail: [email protected]
Cinepol International
Osadni 5, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 606 659 725
E-mail: [email protected]
Čestmír Kopecký
Producer
Petr Nikolaev
Film Director
Petr Koza
Film Crew, Producer
John Riley
Producer, Sales Agent
Vladimír Škultéty
Actor
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