Czech Films 2004-2005 2005 / Žralok v hlavě / Czech Republic 2005
The hero of this story of encounters and passings-by is an unkempt oddball considered by those around him as an innocuous nut. He is a man longing for friendly communication with the hurried outer world, though his colourful inner life masks a shark, one that can turn on any of us at any moment.
A lonely, neglected man of middle years lives on the ground floor of an old Prague apartment building. He spends the entire day standing at the window or milling about on the sidewalk in front of it. He tries to strike up conversations with hurried passers-by but most of them think he?s just a nut and fearfully refuse to give him the time of day. Some pedestrians do react to his somewhat muddled addresses and perhaps even momentarily contemplate what he has to say. An exception are the man?s neighbours ? an elegant lady and a compassionate girl who are already an indivisible part of his life. But neither can prevent a ?rational? higher power from one day interfering with the harmless madman. This outwardly simple and unostentatious tragicomedy tells a story of meetings and missed encounters, and is as well a contemplation of the border between normality and insanity. Particularized using various artistic techniques (animation and special effects), the narrative suggests that each of us might at some point find a shark in our heads.
75 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Maria Procházková
/ Screenplay Maria Procházková
/ Dir. of Photography Martin Štěpánek
/ Music Jan P. Muchov
/ Editor Petr Mrkous
/ Producer Vratislav Šlajer
/ Production Bionaut Films koprodukce/co-production Metrostav, Verbascum, Barrandov Studio
/ Cast Oldřich Kaiser, Jana Krausová
/ Contact Bionaut, Bontonfilm, a.s.
www: www.zralok-film.cz
Maria Procházková (b. 1975,Prague) is the granddaughter of screenwriter and author Jan Procházka.In 1998 she graduated in animated filmmaking from Prague ’s Film Academy (FAMU), and while still at school she was successful with the short animated movie Bibliophile (1997). After finishing her studies (with the graduation film Mumps, 1998), she earned recognit ion as a screenwriter and director of short animated films, music videos and commercials, including In to the Heaven (1999), Burning Stars (1999), Pictographs (2000; Kristián Award for the best Czech animated film of 2001) and Boo (2002). Shark in the Head (2005), whose script she began writing five years
ago,is her feature debut.
Bionaut
Dělnická 47, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 777 035 401
E-mail: [email protected]
Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 257 415 111
E-mail: [email protected]
Vratislav Šlajer
Film Institution Rep., Producer, Service Company Rep.
Maria Procházková
Film Director, Film Director
Barbora Fabiánová
Producer
Petr Mrkous
Film Editor
Jan P. Muchow
Music Composer
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