Synopsis
Ofka (Martha Issová) has fallen into a strange lethargy: while most of her high school classmates continue their studies, she refuses to leave the fake comfort of childhood that, however, starts to turn into a stuffy trap very soon. She works as a cashier in her brother-in-law Eda’s (David Novotný) non-stop shop, and fragments of the wasted life stories of the regular and casual customers, as well as those old friends, who, like her, only live at night, flutter around her. Sometimes she meets a group drinking in the Vltava port, she wanders around the streets with the eccentric Ubr (Jiří Mádl), who is fascinated by hunting discarded items from the trash bins and is hopelessly in love with her, and she avoids Míra (Jan Dolanský) who, by contrast, has stopped loving her.
It is becoming clearer to her that one day, she will have to say goodbye to childhood, cross the borders of her part of the town and start living her life… In her second feature-length project, the Oscar-nominated director Michaela Pavlátová bet on authenticity and the interesting environment of Prague’s Karlín. The film also stars Kristýna Nováková, Lenka Termerová, Václav Helšus, Igor Chmela, Simona Babčáková.
Country
Czech Republic
Producers
KATEŘINA ČERNÁ
PETR OUKROPEC
Genre
DRAMA
Co-producers
WITH THE SUPPORT OF CZECH FILM FUND
Release Date
25. 09. 2008
Screening Formats
35 MM
Runtime
80 MIN
Trailer & Photogallery
Cast & Crew
Director
MICHAELA PAVLÁTOVÁ
Writer
IRENA HEJDOVÁ
Cinematography
MARTIN ŠTRBA
Editor
TONIČKA JANKOVÁ
Dramaturgist
KRISTIÁN SUDA
CAST
Martha Issová, Jiří Mádl, Jan Dolanský, Kristýna Nováková, Lenka Termerová, Václav Helšus, Simona Babčáková, David Novotný, Jana Hubinská, Igor Chmela
MUSIC
!DELADAP
Sound Designer
DANIEL NĚMEC
Production Designer
JAN NOVOTNÝ
About the film
The screenplay for the film Night Owls was written by the author, Irena Hejdová, as her diploma screenplay at FAMU. Shortly after, it was awarded the Sazka award at the Czech Lion Awards in 2006. When writing the script, the screenwriter was inspired by scenes from the night streets of Prague. She also tried working at a night bar – this is how the main theme of the film, “night owls”, came to be. She then placed the story plot in perhaps the most rapidly developing Prague’s district – Karlín. “When I was writing the script, there were floods in Karlín. I went on a walk through the district – renovations and demolitions were being carried out feverishly, the ultra-modern buildings were being built on the waterfront, everything was changing and every time I went there, it looked different,” says Irena Hejdová and adds: “I was fascinated by the volatility and spontaneity of Karlín.”
The film Night Owls was shot from October 30th to December 12th, 2007, mainly in Prague districts Karlín, Holešovice, and Florenc. “We were cold, we were tired by constant night shifts and by a demanding filming schedule, we were crying from hunger – oh, no, we weren’t crying, on the contrary, we gained weight, the food was great,” recalls director Michaela Pavlátová about the filming and adds: “For me, the whole filming was extremely interesting, exciting, I was sadly counting down the days till the end, I didn’t want to go back to regular life.”