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.”
