Boredom in Brno (Nuda v Brně)

ABOUT FILM

Boredom in Brno is a Czech comedy about the unexpected course of a single night and a first sexual experience. It won five Czech Lion awards, including best film, best director, best male actor in a leading role and best editing. Although the title implies otherwise, the majority of footage was shot in Hradec Králové. The main hero, a young man with an unspecified learning difficulty is getting ready to spend the first night with his girlfriend from Brno, after a year spent writing to one another. Both are carefully preparing for the occasion, and despite being complete novices in this regard, everything goes well. Besides the two leads, that same night other couples too are trying to have sex in the same building, and their stories offer a counterpoint to the main plot. It should be noted, however, that these other couples enjoy mixed success in their endeavours.

• live action feature film
• Czech Republic / 2003
• Filmed on location in Brno: Freedom Square, Malinovsky Square
• screenplay: Jan Budař and Vladimír Morávek
• direction: Vladimír Morávek
• starring: Jan Budař, Kateřina Holánová, Miroslav Donutil, Pavel Liška, Martin Pechlát, Jaroslava Pokorná, Pavla Tomicová, Marek Daniel, Simona Peková and others

FILMING LOCATIONS

Freedom Square (náměstí Svobody)

The central Freedom Square (náměstí Svobody), also known in the past as Dolní trh and Velké náměstí, is the biggest square in Brno, and locals refer to it as ‘Svoboďák’. During the year it hosts numerous events – from the Easter market and the opening of St Martin’s wines (nouveau wines) through to the Brno Christmas. It’s triangular in shape, and besides the plague column and the plan outline of a church that once stood here, you’ll find Brno’s famous Časostroj or Clock Machine – a town clock that can bemuse even the brightest who want to know the time, and Skácel’s Fountain – a water feature inscribed with a poem by the Brno poet Jan Skácel. Of the many buildings that line the square, two to look out for are the functionalist Komerční bank and the Palác Omega, with its illuminated facade.

Malinovsky Square (Malinovského náměstí)

Malinovsky Square is named after Marshal Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky, commander of the Russian forces that helped liberate Brno. The square sits on the Brno ring road and natives refer to it as ‘Maliňák’. Facing the square is the Mahen Theatre, the first fully electrified theatre on the continent, a fact which is referenced by the nearby sculpture ‘Tribute to Edison’, comprising an arrangement of large intertwined light bulbs. On the square you’ll also see the Brno House of Arts, originally an Art Nouveau, now a functionalist building, and the Centrum department store, Europe’s first skyscraper.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT FILMING

Despite a title that perpetually ties it to Brno, this cult movie was in fact largely shot in Hradec Králové, where the director Vladimír Morávek was working at the time as artistic director of the municipal theatre Klicperovo divadlo. Of the approximate 20 days of filming, only two or three took place in Brno – primarily spent shooting exteriors: besides Freedom Square and Malinovsky Square, other locations included in front of the Velký Špalíček shopping centre and at the Zvonařka bus station.