15-08-2007

Latest Jan Hrebejk film to premiere Sept. 6

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    Leading Czech director Jan Hrebejk will premiere the latest of his tragi-comedies, Teddy Bear (Medvidek), on Sept. 6. The film is co-produced by the Prague-based company Total HelpArt T.H.A., which has also produced five other Hrebejk films.

    Teddy Bear is the story of three married couples in Prague and Rome and deals with the different faces of love, friendship, infidelity and marital crisis.

    T.H.A. (www.tha.cz) is co-producing in cooperation with Czech TV channel Nova (www.nova.cz), HBO (www.hbo.com) and gas company RWE.

    T.H.A. was founded in 1992 by the actors of the legendary small Prague-based stage theater "Sklep" (Cellar). Trojan has produced the Hrebejk film Cozy Dens, Divided We Fall, Pupendo, Up and Down, Beauty in Trouble and now Teddy Bear.

    Hrebejk also worked again with his former collaborators, producer Ondrej Trojan and scriptwriter Petr Jarchovsky on his latest film.

    Trojan says he would like to see the film entered in important international festivals such as Sundance, Berlin or New York.

    Trojan has been one of the leading figures involved in the fight for a new film law to secure more financing for the domestic film sector. The government is expected to start working on legislation this fall or winter.

    "What the Czech film industry lacks is money," Trojan said in an interview with FNE. "Czech cinema has enough talented people, but we are the last in Europe when it comes to modern film legislation."