BRNO AND ITS SURROUDINGS IN FILM
Did you know that Hollywood star Carice Van Houten – who you’ve seen in Game of Thrones or the film Valkyrie playing opposite Tom Cruise – has filmed in Brno? Where did Bolek Polívka meet Karel Gott in the film The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday (Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntág), or which villa stood in for the home of Vlasta Burian in the series Bohéma? Did you know that Boredom in Brno was shot almost entirely outside the city? Or which spots in Brno are particular favourites with filmmakers? Places trod time and again by our most famous actors, names like Viktor Preiss, Jiří Langmajer, Martha Issová and Jana Plodková? Do you fancy like checking out these places yourself, comparing them with their appearances in films and popular serials? Then this tour is the perfect one for you!
Unlike the shopping paradise of New York City, you could never make a Sex in the City in Brno, nor does the South Moravian landscape boast mountain scenery that could entice Lord of the Rings away from its New Zealand grandeur, despite which, both Brno and the region do have a lot to offer. One of Brno’s popular locations is the functionalist home Villa Tugendhat and its modernist counterpart, the Stiassni Villa, also the Cejl Street Prison, a building with a troubled history and a powerful genius loci.
Brno’s public spaces are also often caught on film. Many of you will recall scenes from the film The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday, perhaps the one where Bohuš meets Karel Gott. The city and its surroundings are also used as filming locations for successful serials produced by Česká televize Brno, such as the crime thriller Labyrint or period comedy-drama Četnické humoresky.
Favourite locations in South Moravia also include the country piles at Lednice and Valtice, including their romantic parks. They serve as backdrops for many of the fairy tale films so popular in the Czech Republic (e.g. The Watchmaker’s Apprentice) or period dramas (Maria Theresia). Other top locations include Moravian Karst, where Alice Nellis filmed her fairy tale film Seven Ravens (Sedmero krkavců), and similarly romantic townscapes or landscapes (Mikulov and the nearby Pálava Hills, respectively).
A professional service for filmmakers is delivered by the Brno Film Office (Filmová kancelář Brno), which opens up Brno and its surroundings as attractive places for creating audio-visual productions and actively collaborates with filmmakers during the filming process. The South Moravian Film Fund also offers support for audio-visual works shot in the South Moravian Region (SMR), and together with the Film Office is working to create a ‘film friendly’ region.
Parts of tour
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Droneman (Modelář)
The newest film from Petr Zelenka tells the story of two friends who run a drone rental business in contemporary Prague.
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The Last Aristocrat (Poslední aristokratka)
A winter comedy about how a native New Yorker and descendent of a noble family gained a chateau as part of restitution in 1996.
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The Watchmaker’s Apprentice / Hodinářův učeň
The story of the watchmaker’s brave apprentice will enchant you in every detail down to its art direction.
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The Glass Room / Skleněný pokoj
Where else could you make a film based on a global bestseller of the same name than the Villa Tugendhat in Brno?
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The Painted Bird / Nabarvené ptáče
This black-and-white film about a young boy’s journey during World War II was filmed partly in Brno’s former prison (Káznice).
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Tonight the World / Svět dnešní noci
A short film inspired by the dream diary of the daughter of the Villa Stiassni’s owner.
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Maria Theresia / Marie Terezie
A film about two crucial moments in the life of a famous ruler and a monumental spectacle.
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Labyrinth III (Labyrint III)
For the third time, Brno detectives led by Major Remeš are on the hunt for a serial killer and kidnapper.
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Kaskadéři s.r.o.
The pilot of a series about Czech stunt performers, who rank among the world’s best.
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The Romanoffs / Romanovci
The third episode of this speculative series from the creators of Mad Men was filmed here.
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My Uncle Archimedes (Můj strýček Archimédes)
The tragicomic story of the friendship between the Greek Archimedes and the Czech Karel.
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Labyrint II (Labyrinth II)
A Brno detective investigates a series of murders connected to a secret mystical group.
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Bohéma
The fate of Vlasta Burian, Oldřich Nový, and others in a six-part series about two totalitarian regimes.
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Lída Baarová
A drama about a fateful love of a famous actress for the minister of fascist propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
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Labyrint (Labyrinth)
A Brno detective hunts a sadistic killer who arranges their victims into strange scenes.
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Seven Ravens (Sedmero krkavců)
The famous story by Božena Němcová adapted for the big screen by director Alice Nellis.
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Marguerite
Florence Foster Jenkins was an opera singer who couldn’t sing and no one knew how to tell her.
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Eights (Osmy)
The tragicomic story of a man who accidentally signed Charter 77 and so turned his life upside down.
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Mother-in-Law and Smoked Meat (Tchyně a uzený)
A TV film about everything a mother’s pathological love and the inability to share can lead to.
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Boredom in Brno (Nuda v Brně)
A cult Czech comedy about one night and several more or less successful attempts at sex.
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Policeman’s Humoresques (Četnické humoresky)
One of the most successful Czech TV series from a Brno gendarmerie station.
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Fuckoffguysgoodday (Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntág)
A feature film from Věra Chytilová about what can result from an unexpected inheritance.
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BRNO FILM OFFICE (Filmová kancelář Brno)
Provides film-makers a helping hand while filming in Brno and South Moravia
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South Moravian Film Fund (Jihomoravský filmový nadační fond)
Provides support for audiovisual works made in the South Moravian Region and endeavours to create a film-friendly region.
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Czech Television Brno (Česká televize Brno)
The most modern television production facility in the Czech Republic
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Victim (Oběť)
A gripping art drama
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Suspicion (Podezření)
About a mysterious death in a hospital and the first suspect.