28-04-2017

FNE AV Innovation: Stream.cz Moves into New Genres

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    Pěstírna by Andy Fehu Pěstírna by Andy Fehu

    PRAGUE: The Czech internet TV station Stream.cz has launched a new series, Pěstírna directed by Andy Fehu.

    After attracting growing audiences and media attention with comedies and satiric series, Stream.cz is now betting on a very different genre: an internet thriller. Nine episodes of the 15-minute series are set in the environment of the illegal growing of cannabis. The series was written, directed and edited by Andy Fehu, who made his feature debut in 2015 with a sci-fi horror, Greedy Tiffany /Nenasytná Tyffany (produced by Company F). The cast includes Vojtěch Johanik, Leoš Noha, Karel Hung, Hany-Huong Thanh Duong, Martin Bao and also Slovak actress Judith Bárdoš. Jakub Ševčík was the DoP. The series has already reached almost 5,000 subscribers and 1.147 m views.

    Stream.cz understood that internet is a conducive environment for creativity when it started with its own original production in 2013, focusing on three main pillars: internet series, infotaimnent and programmes for children. In 2014, Stream.cz started to stream its hit mockumentary series Blanik Office / Kancelář Blaník, loosely inspired by the British series The Thick of It and directed by Marek Najbrt. This political satire reflecting the real topical political development in the country benefits from the flexibility of internet broadcasting, which is inconceivable for a classic television series. The series is now in its 5th season. In 2016, it won a Czech Lion for the best move of the year in the audiovisual category. The series has 34,000 subscribers and 39.3 m views.

    Stream.cz has also had great success with Semester / Semester. The six-part series about Amalia and her boyfriend, who leave to study in Berlin for a semester, plays out exclusively on computer and smart phone monitors. The series protagonists represent the generation, which studies, works and dates online. Semester, directed by Adam Sedlák, was nominated for the Czech Lion for the best move in the audiovisual area this year and was in competition at the national film festival Finale Plzen, where it won the student award for the best internet or TV non-cyclic project.