Director Marek Najbrt started the 45-day shoot of the war psycho-thriller with budget of CZK 62 million (2.5 million euros) in early September.

The drama a Jewish actress Hana and her husband, radio reporter Emil Vrbata, who become a Nazi collaborator in Prague during the Nazi occupation in years 1939 - 1942, received a record grant of 630,000 euros from the Czech state fund for support and development of Czech cinematography.

"We shot the movie in various parts of Prague, but sometimes it was hard to find the right location for shooting of the story set in early 1940s," said Benjamin Tucek, who co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Geisler. According to him, the final version of the movie combines authentic Prague downtown exteriors with locations built at Barrandov studios.

Among the film's major co-producers are Czech television (www.ceskatelevize.cz), HBO (www.hbo.cz), and companies Soundsquare studio (www.soundsquare.cz) and UPP (www.upp.cz). Distribution company Falcon (www.falcon.cz) announced the world release of Protector for September 2009.