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PRODUCTION Slovakia

Fifth Boat will sail under Iveta Grófová’s flag

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- The second feature by Slovak filmmaker Iveta Grófová will be an adaptation of a novel

Fifth Boat will sail under Iveta Grófová’s flag
Iveta Grófová

Talented Slovak filmmaker Iveta Grófová is working on her second feature, which will be adapted from a novel. Grófová made her debut with the unconventional social-realist drama Made in Ash [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iveta Grófóva
interview: Jiří Konečný
film profile
]
, which combined live-action, animation and documentary aspects to create an authentic re-enactment of a young girl’s sad fate. The film started out as a documentary but developed into a fiction feature over the course of the shoot. The Slovak Film and Television Academy chose the film as its 2012 Oscar candidate.

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Grófová is now developing her next film, Fifth Boat, based on the book of the same name by Slovak writer Monika Kompaníková. Revealing her fascination with story, Grófová explains, “The book Fifth Boat tells the story of 11-year-old Jarka, who desperately misses motherly love and family. Yet Kompaníková did not keep the story focused on a bleak situation or depressive spaces, but rather she tells it through the child’s play of the main protagonist in an abandoned garden. Jarka ends up stealing two toddlers whose mother has left them, and she brings them to her favourite garden, where she plays ‘family’ with her friend Kristián – which is what they both want so much. The story enthralled me to such a degree that I have decided to adapt it into a feature film.”

On the question of whether Fifth Boat will be similar in form to her debut, Grófová says it will be a live-action title. Screenwriter Marek Leščák is adapting the book into a script along with Grófová, while Denisa Buranová will be lensing the movie. The actors are rumoured to be non-professionals, as in her debut, on which the director comments: “The casting process is not finished yet; I am trying to cast the lead roles to best reflect the nature of the characters from the book, so that they can be played convincingly. I have no other criteria.” Principal photography is scheduled for summer 2015.

Fifth Boat is being produced by Jiří Konečný (Endorfilm), with Grófová (Hulapa Film) acting as co-producer. The film should be released in 2016 at the earliest.

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