The Prague Orgy, based on Roth´s own experiences, takes place in communist Czechoslovakia of the 1970´s. Roth used to visit Prague after the Soviet occupation in 1968 to help Czechoslovak authors, who were banned at the time. The story of the film depicts the 1976 journey of the famous US author, Nathan Zuckerman, to Prague. Apart from the help he offers to the writers, Zuckerman also wants to rescue a unique short story collection written in Yiddish and smuggle it across the border.
Irena Pavlasková, who gained the rights to the book directly from the author, wrote the screenplay. The film is coproduced by the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but the producer, Prague Movie company (Viktor Schwarcz and Irena Pavlásková), is still negotiating with a potential Canadian coproducer.
Shooting, mainly on locations in Prague, started at the end of September 2018 and will continue till the end of October. Pavlásková has cast foreign actors Jonas Chernick and Kseniya Rappoport for the main roles.
The film was supported by the Czech Film Fund in all its phases, by Creative Europe – MEDIA, the Prague Film Fund and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund.
Bioscop will release the film in Czech cinemas in the autumn of 2019.
Production information:
Producer:
Prague Movie Company (Czech Republic)
Coproducers:
Arina (Slovakia)
Czech TV (Czech Republic)
Credits:
Director: Irena Pavlásková
Scriptwriters: Irena Pavlásková
Cast: Jonas Chernick, Kseniya Rappoport, Pavel Kříž, Klára Issová, Jiří Havelka, Miroslav Táborský, Martin Stránský, Jan Hrušínský, Petr Vondráček
