Danny’s Partners in Czech: Slovak Dialect Training for New Film

The creators refer to the heist comedy called Poberta as a covid western, as it takes place during the coronavirus pandemic. The new film will not be distributed nationwide until March 5, but already this Wednesday, 70 Czech cinemas will preview it as part of the Tady Vary show. It is organized by the Karlovy Vary Festival.

It was his artistic director Karel Och who chose the picture. Och ranks the director’s Furiant from 2015 among the best Czech works of the last two decades. “One of the reasons why I value this short film so much is that In it Ondřej presented how elegantly and cleverly he mixes film genres. And this director’s ability also adorns Poberta,” says Och.

Poberta shows that every crisis is an opportunity and an opportunity that sometimes makes thieves, but also that money can’t buy love. The story takes place in the director’s hometown, Strážnica, Slovakia. The thief Lupyn, played by Matyáš Řezníček, returns from prison and immediately starts planning another event with his cronies.

The protagonist needs money to live with his love Tamara, played by Denisa Barešová. However, a moneylender, played by Stanislav Majer, and a corrupt policeman, played by Václav Neužil, get in Lupine’s way.

The situation, when the current rules suddenly do not apply due to a pandemic in society, plays into the hands of the protagonists. “The government can declare absolutely anything. And you know why? Because our national talent is f*cking,” says Majer’s loan shark to the cop in the trailer.

Some characters, situations and realities can refer to a western – a small town, a state of emergency, a bandit returning from prison, a crooked lawman. But according to the distribution company Bontonfilm, the film deviates from the genre anyway. In addition to being a western, it is also a satire and crime fiction.

“Heist comedies like Logan’s or Danny’s sidekicks are practically not made in our country. That’s why it was necessary to find a way to transfer this purely American genre to the Czech environment, so that it looks believable and at the same time does not lose its exaggeration,” said director Ondřej Hudeček.

Well-known actors also appear in episodic roles, which were given to Jiří Vyorálek, Anna Fialová or Jiří Štrébl, among others. Everyone had to learn the Slovakian dialect for filming.

An overview is provided by the narrator in the voice of Pavel Zedníček. “He has a specific voice that gives the whole story a framework. In Pobert, we tell a story that might or might not have happened,” hints Hudeček. He participated in the film as screenwriter, director, cameraman and editor.

Poberta is the second film this year involved in the Tady Vary show, which once a month transforms cinemas into a series of imaginary festival evenings. In January, this is how the organizers presented the film Minor Accident by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, which was awarded in Cannes, France. It will be followed on March 4 by the dark reinterpretation of Frankenstein called The Bride!, directed by actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, and on April 1 by the romantic comedy Drama with popular young actors Zendaya and Robert Pattinson.

As the next to last, the Icelandic Oscar candidate What’s Left of Love by Hlynur Pálmason will be presented on May 6. The series will be closed by the June title, which the organizers have yet to announce. In July, the Karlovy Vary Festival takes place.

“The spring part of Tady Vary’s season brings together the best of Czech film talent, original European cinematography and daring novelties from the United States,” sums up the artistic director of the festival, Karel Och. According to the organizers, almost half as many viewers went to each screening of Tady Vary last year than in 2024.