Parents Igor (Karel Roden) and Irena (Vanda Hybnerová) set sail, island hopping across the Indian Ocean with the family dog Otto, and leaving their teenage children Anna (Jenovéfa Boková) and Erik (Daniel Kadlec) at home alone. No sooner have they left than the teens invite their best friends to the house. Meanwhile, the parents’ boat capsizes at sea, and the dog soon becomes an important player in their survival. When the teens lose contact with their parents, unexpected dramas begin to rapidly unfold. Inspired in part by a news story of a dog surviving on an abandoned island for weeks after a bad storm, the film is unforgettable for its original ending and exquisite camera work. The film was co-produced by the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Slovenia, and Slovakia.     

Family Film | Rodinný Film
2015, 95 min., in Czech with English subtitles
Directed by: Olmo Omerzu    

“This veritable canine ‘cast away’ saga will delight some viewers and bemuse others — but like all the film’s seemingly arbitrary digressions, held deceptively in check by Janka Vlčková’s sly editing, it builds to a cutting punchline.” ~ Guy Lodge, Variety

Awards: The film has extensively toured the festival circuit receiving a number of nominations for Best Film. The film won the Award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Tokyo IFF 2015. Karel Roden garnered the award for Outstanding Actor at the Film Festival Cottbus 2015.    
    
About the Director: Olmo Omerzu was born in Slovenia and studied filmmaking at FAMU in Prague, where he directed several short films and a 40-minute film The Second Act (2008), screened and awarded prizes at several European festivals. For his debut feature film A Night Too Young (2012), he was awarded the Czech Film Critics’ prize for the discovery of the year. Growing up, Omerzu enjoyed the short films of Jan Švankmajer as well as the Czech New Wave films of the 1960s.    

Event Details:

Date: December 14, 2016, 8 pm

Location: Avalon Theater 
5612 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20015

Tickets are available at the box office or online at  www.theavalon.org.

About the Lions of Czech Film Series:   
This marks the tenth year of collaboration with the Avalon Theatre to present the Lions of Czech Film Series. This film series gives the Washington, DC, community an opportunity to view Czech films that are popular hits in Europe and have received numerous honors and awards at film festivals. Most of the films have received the prestigious Czech Lion Award, the Czech equivalent of an Academy Award. All of the films have limited distribution in the United States. The Lions of Czech Film Series offers an invaluable opportunity to see the best of Czech cinema in the nation’s capital.