DURACFILM (Prague based) is dedicated to high-end international creative documentaries, fiction films and series that combine an artistic approach with a passion for the subject and personal commitment to the protagonists.
PROJECTS
ARCHA ÚMLUVY (The Arch of the Covenant)
(DOCUMENTARY, expected 2025)
Thought-provoking exploration of the potential of Citizens´ Assemblies to foster inclusive and meaningful decision-making in modern demokratic societies.
People feel they are not being heard and represented, not having any say on the agenda and law. Frustration is rocketing, and so is division and radicalization of society. Citizens' trust in politicians and public administrations is at its lowest point. Democracy is under pressure. Who will take over? Is there any hope left? The complexity of social problems is growing. So, too, is the complexity of their solutions. There is a desperate need for democratic renewal.
Jak prekonat krizi demokracie? Celovecerní dokumentární film Archa úmluvy je napínavou jízdou vlakem po celé Evrope. Prinesou obcanská shromázdení nadeji na dobrá resení dlouhodobe zablokovaných spolecenských problémů? Anatomie nástroje participativní demokracie v soucasné Evrope ve filmu Andrey Culkové. Film vzniká v koprodukci s Českou televizí.
GRIEF (Žal žen)
(documentary, 2020)
Grief deals with climate change – not through statistics and degrees Celsius, but through emotions. Film shows how environmental crisis-induced anxiety produces new rebels. The emotional film therapy of Extinction Rebellion.
Thirty years ago, Czechoslovak grief over a devastated landscape and lack of care for the environment was one of the propelling forces of the Velvet Revolution. Soon the country took a deep breath of not only freedom, but also cleaner air. Three decades later, however, grief over the climate situation is growing, clashing with ignorance and again becoming a rebellion. Various movements have recently changed the climate game by sending out strong emotions. And suddenly, things were set into motion.
THE FRAGILE BEAUTY OF MASCULINITY
(in development, drama, Fiction feature film, dir. Andrea Culkova)
Adam wants to have it all, a square dose of adrenalin that boosts his testosterone as well as an easy life in a tuneful marriage with a loving wife and two daughters. But life is simple. No one has it all.
Adam and Iva are together for over 20 years, married with two girls. Everything in their lives would have been just stereotypically ordinary if Adam wasn’t craving to satisfy his thirst for testosterone demonstration more often than it is sustainable. Over the course of their marriage Iva has learned to swim in this pool of aimless risks and macho gestures. Often neglected as a woman she remains in this relationship because Adam is simply the love of her life, or because it’s just too late to question the choice she’s once made. Iva forgives him everything. Even a nasty accident on a motorbike, that costs him one leg. But despite of the ordinary appearances something is cooking deep inside. Iva cleverly manipulates Adam so the family moves into a big house in spite they can barely afford it. This is when he starts to feel the midlife crisis, that forces him to take part in a Primus Winter Rally in Norway where he has yet another stupid and unnecessary almost deadly accident. After a couple of months when he is finally capable of transport Adam finds himself in a rehabilitation facility where Iva works as a nurse. Unable to move and barely able to speak he sees his wife for the first time as someone who clearly is an object of every patient’s liquid dream. While slowly loosing hope that he will ever be able to walk again Adam starts to fall in love with Iva again, whereas Iva slowly starts to see herself differently and realizes that her inner change is inevitable. When Adam’s shit hits the fan one more time in a scale that is more damaging than ever, Iva with her newly gained freedom, different perspective and the house she has always dreamed of at stake, decides not to take any more chances…
ATAVISM
(in development, TV series)
The European Union has just imposed a new regulation on the number of inhabitants allowed on Atava Island. This mirrors a similar debacle that occurred there in the past when the shaman introduced a rule that only 49 members of the tribe could live on the island. The story of two families living in totally different timelines: the ATAVA TRIBE, set in the primitive timeline, and the ATAVA FAMILY (a prominent wealthy family), set in the present timeline; connected by the place where they live.
TEPICH - The Magic Carpet
About the biggest handmade dream under the sun…
(in development, creative documentary, dir. Andrea Culkova)
Collector and art enthusiast Rudolf Hulka (64) has a vision: to reinstate the Ginzkey factory for the production of famous hand-made carpets. This is a factory on the Czech/German border in Vratislavice/Maffersdorf, where history was woven, weaving carpets for all the major players of the 19th and 20th centuries. How does a particular period, historical context, or political situation make us dream and go after that dream or beat us down and cut off our wings instead?
TESTOSTERONE STORY
(in development, documentary, dir. Andrea Culkova)
There’s a pool in the heart of Europe. But you won’t see fast moves, pushed-to-the-limit paces, or flips. Here the water is almost stagnant, afloat with the clumsy limbs of those dancing with death. Kladruby is a unique overflow chamber and incubator where those who inhabit it are given a lucky hard five months to reassess their goals and relationships. Five months to accept the fact that, though the world will never be as fast and full of tension as before the kiss of death, it is still a victory. Five months to come to terms with the fact that joy is just being able to open your eyes and find yourself having arrived at the next day.
H*ART ON
(2016, creative documentary, dir. Andrea Culkova)
A playful, provocative, and visually opulent film about the hardships of the modern artist. H*ART ON is a pun combining “hard on”, “heart”, and “art”. As the title suggests, the viewer finds themselves at points under the crossfire of spurts of breasts and penises. The frequent sexual motifs in the work of the featured artists intentionally elicit thoughts about the nature and meaning of contemporary art.
CHILDREN
(co-production, 2015, fiction film, dir. Jaro Vojtek)
An authentic picture of damaged family relations, while illustrating that we are indeed closest with our closest ones, although the relationship may sometimes be too much to handle.
SUNRISE
(2015, animated short, dir. Vít Pancíř)
An animated comeback from Czech director Vít Pancíř, who has long focused on experimental films combining animation with live action, and now offers this entirely animated film full of absurd situations. Sunrise is a metaphor for the diversity, complexity and fragility of life projected onto a white circle covered by the sun in its orbit.
TRIPOINT
The Tripoint is a documentary feature, a social-poetic portrait of the easternmost village in the Czech Republic. The topic of the film are the destinies of people who live in the borderlands of Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In an era of open borders in the framework of the European Union and a globalized world the question of nationality, identity and roots is very pertinent. In the border towns and elsewhere imaginary borders within people often still persist.
CONTACTS
Andrea Culková - is a film director, creative artist, pedagogue and mother of three. She received a degree in art education from Prague’s Charles University and later in documentary direction from the Film Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). Her feature film Sugar Blues had its international premiere at CPH:DOX in 2014 and was screened at numerous festivals and sold worldwide. The meta-art project H*Art On was made in cooperation with the National Gallery in Prague and the Dok.Incubator Workshop 2015, and premiered at Dok Leipzig 2016 - Next Masters competition. Alongside The Brainwashing Experiment it was included in the 2016 Camp4science programme. Andrea Culkova’s background in fine arts is evident in the original style she brings to her audiovisual work and the unique interpretation she finds in each of her projects. She is currently working on a feature cross-genre doc/fiction film Testosterone Story with the support of HBO. Until recently, Andrea was only producing her own films. Since joining Duracfilm in 2018 as a shareholder and producer, she is scouting for new talents and international projects seeking co-production partners.
Miroslav Novák - gained valuable experience over the course of the filming of Sugar Blues, a challenging, international project which took form over the course of several years. In 2017 he completed his second full-length film as a producer, H*Art On (VZRUŠENÍ in Czech). Miroslav attended the Doc Incubator Workshop 2015 with H*Art On. Here he had the opportunity to meet and work with many experts in today's documentary world - mainly producers, distributors, PR strategists and other industry professionals. Following the film’s release, Miroslav coordinated the film’s distribution in theatres. He is also the producer of Andrea Culkova’s most recent endeavour The Fragile Beauty of Masculinity, which is still in pre-production phases and was together with Andrea Culkova part of MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2020.
Viktória is a freelance producer and fixer. Graduated from Film School Zlin in Production Management. During her studies, she was involved in several feature films and began her cooperation with Czech TV where she worked on many documentary series. From 2009 to 2013, Viktoria worked as a production manager and coordinator of the Ex Oriente Film workshop & the East European Forum at the Institute of Documentary Film. She is a former head of documentaries at Pink Productions where she co-produced CINEMA, MON AMOUR (d. Alexandru Belc) premiered in the 2015 DOK Leipzig Next Master Competition. Viktória is a co-founder of ENVOI FILMS. She is a member and Czech info provider of the EDN.