Andělská rapsodie

Name: Andělská rapsodie
Released: 2023
Duration: 20 min
Cast: Michal Pazderka, Elizabeth Kateřina McIntosh, Matěj Havelka, Jiří Ployhar, Josef Hervert

2023

Petr Hanousek

Genre

psychologický horor

Runtime

20 minut

Shooting days

About the film

Theodore sees his life as a musical work of which he is the creator. Everything he does is his passion. Including his darkest passion - the cruel killing of people for their falsity and dissimulation. In his imagination, he sees the figure of the conductor with his face, who determines whom he should eliminate when, even when it is those closest to him...

Film facts

Considering my personal life, I decided to conclude my bachelor studies at FAMO in Písek with a film that absolutely deviates from my typical genre manuscript, so instead of a comedy theme I chose an artistic psychological horror. The film was stylized in every way (acting, cinematography, costumes, editing, sound) and the main narrative role was, as the title suggests, the music. My reference for this style was legendary film Spalovač mrtvol, which I recognize as one of the highlights of Czechoslovak cinema, and perhaps I have quoted it with dignity in some nuances. The psychological introspection of a schizophrenic seizure killer intrigued me greatly, and I cast my friend Michal Pazderka in the lead role, who, with his face and expressive blue eyes, perfectly embodied my idea of a closet psychopath. Two writers and three dramaturgs worked with me on the script, including the director Zdeňek Zelenka, who consulted and supported the project throughout its creation, and the project was therefore selected by our school to participate in the Accelerator in ČT. Unfortunately, did not impress the approval committee, so my staff and I first raised funds through the school's endowment fund, where we raised a very respectable amount. Our crew consisted of several talented and passionate people, and we even spoke English, French and Ukrainian on set at times, as the crew members were also foreign filmmakers. We had to inflate the shooting schedule a lot due to finances, but even though the realization was quite complicated from a production point of view, thanks to admirable performance, responsiveness, awareness of our work, tenacity and professionalism, we finished the film, the brilliant Jaroslav Pelikan composed breathtaking angelic music and the film was rated with the best marks during the graduation screenings , with the challenge and wish to submit the film to festivals.

Two premiere screenings took place in September at the MAT cinema and the film was also screened with three other graduate films at the FAMORAMA event at the Dlabačov cinema. In both cases the film had a great audience response, was selected for the Best Short Film competition at the 31st Czech Lion (2024), competed for the Magnesia Award, entered the IFF Berlinale, and was ranked 29th out of 110 audiovisual projects of 2023 in the ČSFD Audience Competition. It was accepted into the 51st American Academy Student Oscar competition (2024), was nominated in all the student categories (Best Sound, Editing, Cinematography, Directing) at the 3rd Třeboň Film Festival, of which the Best Sound (Jiří Skořepa, Jaroslav Pelikán) a Best Director (Matěj František Preisler) and at the children's festival in Ostrov nad Ohří he won the 1st prize for the Best Student Production with a cash prize of CZK 15,000.