Tichy is at Karlovy Vary IFF ( www.kviff.com ) to award 10,000 in in-kind services to the winner of the 2013 Works in Progress presentation of film projects from CEE.
Tichy, who was appointed CEO of Barrandov in February 2013, said the studio will provide some 25 percent of the 8 m EUR budget for the historical epic Zizka, a US/German/Slovak/Czech coproduction.

The studio is also providing 30,000 EUR in cash toward the film, which is scheduled to shoot at the end of 2014. He said there are two more foreign projects, one Polish and one German, where “Barrandov is willing to come in as a coproducer with in-kind services.” He envisions the studio participating in a maximum of three foreign coproductions per year.
For Czech films, the bar is much lower. “Almost every Czech film that comes to Barrandov gets at least a discount, or Barrandov comes on as a coproducer,” Tichy told FNE.

After several weak years, when international film production was headed to other CEE territories, Barrandov is once again bustling with activity. The studio is currently looking at 75 percent capacity for the remainder of 2013, but still has some smaller stages open. Tichy, who made the deliberate choice to be a more actively engaged presence with the film industry than the previous studio chief, said that Barrandov’s decisions on whether to participate as a coproducer will depend on the type of film. With the studio’s extensive costume and property collection, especially suited to historical films, Zizka is a natural choice for Barrandov’s re-emergence as a film producer.