Czech Dream - Seattle Premiere September 7, 2007

(Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda, Czech Republic, 2005, 35mm, 90 min)
Hey, Prague-- you got Punk'd! This smash international documentary hit, a darling of festival-goers and critics alike, has a set-up so wickedly delicious it's easy to forget we are witnessing real events as they unfold. Vit and Filip are two smart and wryly humorous Czech film students who decide to create an elaborate ad campaign for an imaginary new "hyper" market. One part prank, two parts sly wink at their post-communist consumerist society, the scheme is so clever that we're on the side of the filmmakers before we know it. Enlisting the aid of the best in the advertising industry, they saturate Prague with brilliant print, radio and TV spots that work the population into a frenzy. The much-hyped opening day finds thousands of people standing at a gate looking across an expansive field at a giant, convincing facade. Besides organizing a deception that attracted international media coverage, they also constructed an impressive and logical analysis of a world in which consumption and shopping have become ends in themselves.
"The Comedy of Capitalism" -Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"Plays like JACKASS directed by Lars Von Trier." -BBC

Official Website: http://nwfilmforum.org