Czech Films 2001 / Cesta z města / Czech Republic 2000
A divorced programmer named Honza, who is working on a central citizens’ registry database, spends most of his time at the computer. When he gets permission from his boss to have a weekend off in the country with his son, he automatically packs his indispensable cell phone, laptop and digital camera. During the weekend, however, nature gradually enchants this notorious workaholic, as does the ethereal Markéta, a girl he meets picking apples in a village. The trip turns into a sojourn of several days duration, and Honza, having spent the most beautiful moments of his life there, decides that he and his son will stay. He gets to know the character and harmony of village life, including Markéta’s down-to-earth grandmother and many other local figures. Before winter sets in, however, Honza receives a visit from his boss, his fellow-colleagues and the company psychologist. The law of business is flexing its muscles and our hero must get back to work, and to his hectic life in the big city. Vorel’s comedy about civilisation is one of the Czech Republic’s biggest box office successes.
107 min / Black & white, 35 mm
Director Tomáš Vorel
/ Screenplay Tomáš Vorel
/ Dir. of Photography Marek Jícha
/ Music Michal Vích
/ Editor Vladimír Barák
/ Producer Ondřej Trojan, Pavel Borovan, Tomáš Vorel
/ Production Česká televize, Vorel Film, Total HelpArt
/ Cast Tomáš Hanák, Barbora Nimcová, Ljuba Skořepová, Boleslav Polívka, Eva Holubová, Michal Vorel, Leoš Suchařípa, Radomil Uhlíř, Milan Šteindler, Petr Čtvrtníček
Tomáš Vorel (b. 1957, Prague) started out as an amateur and then graduated in direction from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU), where he had quickly gained a reputation as an exceptional talent. His school films won at student festivals and were broadcast by Czech Television after 1989. After FAMU, he shot the experimental The Prague Five (1988) which introduced five Prague theatre groups. Next came the stylised Smoke (1990), and in 1996 he established Vorel Film in order to make the cynical comedy Stone Bridge. With the satirical Sklep Theatre and the Mimoza pantomime group he’s been writer, actor and director, and also helped get the reconstruction of the Akropolis Theatre underway. The comedy Out of the City (2000) is his latest film to date.
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