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LA-based distribution company Myriad Pictures has picked up international rights to Zátopek, the Czech Republic’s 2021 Oscar Entry. The film has also sold in the US to Gravitas Ventures.

The deal was negotiated between John McGrath of UTA, on behalf of the producers, and Scott Bedno, Senior Vice President of Sales & Acquisitions at Myriad Pictures

Zátopek follows the story of four-time Olympic champion Emil Zátopek. It is the seventh film by prolific Czech director David Ondříček.

The film stars Václav Neužil (Dabing Street), Martha Issová (Dukla 61), and Australian James Frecheville. Zátopek dominated the 2022 Czech film awards with eight wins, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Director David Ondříček said: “When we premiered Zátopek at Karlovy Vary Festival in 2021, the response from audiences and international critics was so strong that we knew we had a film that...

Myriad Pictures has acquired the international rights to “Zátopek,” Czech Republic’s 94th Academy Award Best International Feature Film submission. Gravitas Ventures has North American rights to the feature.

The deal was negotiated between John McGrath of UTA, on behalf of the producers, and Scott Bedno, senior vice president of sales and acquisitions at Myriad Pictures.

“Zátopek” is about the greatest Czech athlete of all time, four-time Olympic champion Emil Zátopek. It is the seventh film by prolific Czech director David Ondříček. His film “In the Shadow” was the Czech Oscar submission in 2012.

“Zátopek” stars Václav Neužil (“Dabing Street”), Martha Issová (“Dukla 61”), and Australian James Frecheville.

The film dominated the most prestigious Czech film awards, Czech Lions, with eight wins including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. It was nominated for 13 Czech Lions.

Ondříček said: “When we premiered ‘Zátopek’ at Karlovy Vary Festival in 2021, the...

“Zátopek,” director David Ondříček’s biopic about Olympic champion Emil Zátopek, dominated the 29th annual Czech Lion Awards, winning in eight categories across 13 nominations.

The Czech Lion Awards were held on Saturday evening at Dvořák Hall in Prague’s Rudolfinum. The awards, which are voted on by a 350-person jury of members from the Czech Film and Television Academy, are considered the highest film honors in the Czech Republic.

During the ceremony, “Zátopek” won awards for best film, director, actor in a leading role, cinematography, editing, sound, production design and makeup and hairstyling. Prior to the ceremony, it was also announced that the film had previously won the fan vote category at the awards, as well as an award for its poster design.

“We deeply appreciate that the members of the Czech Film and Television Academy awarded the film ‘Zátopek,’ not only as best film, but also in so many other categories,...

Mediawan takes ‘For The Record’ rights

Exclusive: French distributor Mediawan has taken worldwide distribution and European/LatAm format rights for For The Record, CBC Gem’s shortform comedy from Suits actor Julian De Zotti. Mediawan will take the comedy, which stars De Zotti alongside The Expanses’ Anna Hopkins, on the road following this week’s Mipcom. The show had its international premiere earlier this year at SXSW and features an interconnected cast of characters who are brought together in each episode by a song from Universal Music’s back catalogue. Mediawan’s move is “part of a larger effort of Canadian content and its creators to cross borders and find success abroad,” according to De Zotti, who was speaking exclusively to Deadline and cited the success of Schitt’s Creek. Mediawan VP content, Charles Touboul, said: “For The Record is a timeless love story with universal themes and unforgettable music, perfect for a global market.

So the world is on fire and a global pandemic well into its “my God, is this still happening?” phase rages on. Among the slightly less critical consequences is another level of intricacy added to the Academy Awards’ most byzantine and unpredictable category — best international feature film. Any other year, we’d have a much clearer picture of actual submissions by now, but once the deadline moved back a month to Nov. 1, most countries delayed their selection processes accordingly. Considering local release dates — a factor in a film’s eligibility — are hard to guarantee right now, take this highly speculative, partial and at times proudly agenda-driven rundown of the current contenders with a pinch of salt: best international feature film remains a fascinatingly flawed category because it is subject to politics and strategies that are, to anyone not actually on a national selection committee, mystifying.

From Europe, however — the continent...

Exclusive: Zátopek, a biopic about four-time Olympic champion Emil Zátopek, has become a box office champ in Czech Republic as it continues to dominate turnstiles after two weeks in release.

From director David Ondricek, the movie originally debuted on August 26, scoring over 17M crowns ($791.5K) in its first frame to record the biggest opening weekend in the market since the start of the pandemic. It also was one of the five highest-grossing opening weekends of all time for a Czech title. In its second session, the film held the top spot (despite the arrival of Shang-Chi) and reached more than 200K admissions and about $1.4M. Scroll down for the trailer.

Produced by Kryštof Mucha and Ondříček, Zátopek had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it was the opening-night film and went on to win the Kviff Audience Award among 109 competing titles in the official selection.

Migration drama “As Far as I Can Walk,” directed by Stefan Arsenijevic, won the top prize at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday, commended by the critics for its nuanced portrayal of the realities of refugees’ lives.

The joint Serbia/France/Luxembourg/Bulgaria/Lithuania production, starring Ibrahim Koma and Nancy Mensah-Offei and inspired by a Serbian medieval epic poem, also won the $25,000 Crystal Globe prize, best actor award for Koma, special jury mention for its lyrical cinematography by Jelena Stankovic, the Ecumenical Jury award and the Europa Cinemas Label jury prize.

“I want to make a hundred movies with you,” Koma told the Hotel Thermal gala audience, praising Arsenijevic as a director who can “see everything” in an actor.

The gala at the signature 1970s structure rounded out a fest edition somewhat subdued as Covid restrictions on travel limited the usual number of foreign guests and rain...

“As Far as I Can Walk,” a drama about African immigrants deported from Germany to Serbia, won the Grand Prize at the 2021 Karlovy International Film Festival on Saturday evening in the Czech Republic. The film by director Stefan Arsenijević, which was inspired by a medieval poem, dominated in a main competition of 12 films at the oldest film festival in Central Europe.

The audience award went to “Zatopek,” director David Ondricek’s biopic about famed Czech runner Emil Zatopek.

Dietrich Brüggemann was named best director in the main competition for “No,” while acting awards went to Ibrahim Koma for “As Far as I Can Walk” and Eleonore Loiselle for “Wars.”

For the first time, documentaries were placed in the competition sections rather than being restricted to their own section, with “Every Single Minute” winning a Special Jury Prize.

Special Jury Mentions went to “The Staffroom,” actress Vinette Robinson for “The Boiling...

At the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, 29-year-old Czech runner Emil Zátopek achieved the seemingly impossible, winning three gold medals in the 5,000-meter, 10,000-meter and (following an unexpected last-minute entry) marathon races: a hat-trick that remains unmatched. He’d already won two medals at the previous Olympics, and repeatedly broken his own speed records in assorted categories. Two years later, he broke the 29-minute barrier in the 10,000 meters.

Most of these achievements are dramatized, in suitably hearty and rousing form, in director David Ondříček’s polished, engaging biopic “Zátopek,” and certainly, it’s a life that could forgivably merit the most bombastically flattering sort of sports-drama treatment. Yet the emotional peaks in Ondříček’s film lie, unexpectedly, elsewhere. Ambitiously attempting both an interior character study as well as a broad historical overview, “Zátopek” appears to sincerely grasp the soul of a man for whom winning wasn’t everything, even if he always won.

The festival has conducted over 3,000 tests so far.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has reported zero positive Covid-19 tests on its opening weekend, from over 3,000 tests conducted at the event.

The figures cover the period from Friday August 20 when the festival opened through to the end of Sunday August 22.

The festival also reported that more than 20,000 of the ‘Covid-free’ wristbands all attendees must wear have been distributed, with the figures providing validation so far of this process.

All those wishing to attend the event have to provide a Qr code from an EU Covid-19 certificate. The certificate can be...

David Ondricek’s epic account of Olympic gold medalist and multiple record holder Emil Zatopek, who attained legendary status in the darkest days of the Czechoslovak communist regime, makes for a powerful opening film at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

The director of “Whisper” and “In the Shadow,” who co-wrote the biopic with Alice Nellis and Jan P. Muchow, says the ambitious shoot, with detailed period depictions of five Olympic competitions for the star runner and the role of his gold medalist wife Dana, took 14 years to materialize and presented the challenge of capturing the gut-wrenching conflicts of a champion’s life under a system that forced upon him the role of socialist success symbol.

What was it about the life of Zatopek that drove your ideas while developing this story and how did you feel you finally found a way to crack the story?

It’s nearly...

The official selection of the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) has been revealed, featuring 32 premieres. Scroll down for the full list of titles.

The fest will open with Zatopek, David Ondříček’s feature about four-time Olympic gold medalist, the runner Emil Zátopek, who is widely regarded as the most popular athlete in Czech Republic’s history. The film will premiere on August 20, 2021 in the Hotel Thermal Grand Hall at the opening night gala. Also screening is Boiling Point, the drama about a restaurant chef starring Stephen Graham.

A retrospective will take place dedicated to the work of The Film Foundation, Martin Scorsese’s non-profit organization established in 1990 dedicated to protecting and preserving motion picture history, restoring to date more than 900 classic works of cinema. A total of 10 films will be screened at the fest.

In addition to today’s program announcement, a selection of non-competitive strands, featuring notable...