Tenkrát v Argentině
2025
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Genre
dark comedy, thriller
Runtime
20 minutes
Shooting days
6
About the film
Can you imagine Hitler and Stalin as two old geezers meeting in Argentina? At an exhibition of paintings by a naive artist, the main character, Wilhelm, a German art historian, reveals that the author of the paintings is A. Hitler, who survived his death, and also discovers that the mysterious guest on the trolley is J. V. Stalin for a change! Therefore Wilhlem decides to take justice into his own hands and punish the evil that is immortal and can reappear among us at any time.
Film facts
I wanted to complete my five-year study of directing at FAMO in Písek with a film in my favourite genre. That's why I started looking for the perfect idea for a comedy. When I saw the performance At Hitlers Kitchen, directed by Miroslav Hanus, at the DISK Theatre on 22 October 2023, I immediately noted in my "suitor" that I would like to film this play one day. Not long after that, I asked the author Arnošt Goldflam to send me the text for possible staging and adaptation, and at the end of my fourth year, I confidently submitted this absurd black comedy to the school as a subject for my graduation film.
However, the play was very demanding to realise - firstly because of the number of images and characters, and also because it was a period story. For a long time, I thought and was persuaded by teachers to make a cheaper film in the genre of psychological relationship drama, because they said I could tell such stories. Although I had prepared a theme partly based on personal experiences, I did not wish to graduate to a film "about myself". My dream was to surpass myself and make the best film I have made so far - because it is with this film that I will be entering the professional world.
However, the teachers and the school management had justified concerns about the implementation. Because of the complexity of obtaining copyright, I decided to take inspiration from the basic idea - the meeting of the two greatest dictators of the 20th century and the idea that the leader of Nazi Germany survived the war and lives carefree as a painter of paintings in Argentina - and wrote a completely new script with my own title.
The period of preparation was very complicated, mainly because of fundraising. If the theme had been approved a year earlier and the project had a producer assigned from the beginning, the financial strategy could have been better prepared. So we had to improvise at the last minute. First of all, I approached the Argentine Embassy in Prague for the title and the location, and they connected me with a FAMU International student from Buenos Aires. We agreed to collaborate on the exterior shots.
At a meeting of regional film offices, we agreed with the Film Office of the Olomouc Region that we would shoot in Olomouc and Prostějov, which could lead to financial support. In the end, we scouted the locations, but the decision on the grant was to come after the planned shooting date - which we could not afford. Thanks to the purposeful dramaturgy, the tenacity, focus and ambition of all involved, the creativity of the creative team and above all the support of the partners - especially the photographer Miloše Schmiedbergera ↗who financially guaranteed the project and became the official co-producer of the film - we finally convinced the school. And it approved the project for production, albeit with misgivings, but also with confidence.
The challenging filming, involving a stylized setting, a multitude of characters, period costumes, sets and props, was managed thanks to a great crew and actors who joined the project with enthusiasm, love and professionalism. My mentor and close friend contributed to the script Zdeněk Zelenka ↗, the set design was done by the renowned architect of Czech Television Petr Zeman ↗, návrhy a realizaci kostýmů výborně zvládla Jaroslava Pecharová Brabcová ↗, the costume design and realization was excellently handled Soňa Ticháčková ↗, the musical dramaturgy was supervised by Zdeněk Barták ↗, and the masks and props were prepared by experts with whom I have already worked on the FTV Prima series.
Most of the scenes were filmed in the Automotoklub in Prague, exteriors in front of the State Opera House, at the Vršovice Chateau and also in Buenos Aires.
