IL BOEMO

Sceneggiatura / Screenplay: Petr Václav. Fotografia / Photography: Diego Romero Suarez Llanos. Montaggio / Editing: Paolo Cottignola, Florent Vassault, Florent Mangeot. Musica / Music: Václav Luks, Collegium 1704. Suono / Sound: Daniel Němec, Francesco Liotard. Scenografia / Art Director: Irena Hradecká, Luca Servino. Costumi / Costume Designer: Andrea Cavalletto. Interpreti / Cast: Vojtěch Dyk, Barbara Ronchi, Elena Radonicich, Lana Vlady. Produzione / Produced by: Mimesis Film. Coproduzione / Co-produced by: Czech Television, Dugong Films, sentimentalfilm, Libor Winkler, Magiclab, Daniel Bergmann, Jan Menclík. Distribuzione internazionale / World Sales: Loco Films. Distribuzione per l’Italia / Distributed in Italy by: Cloud9

ITALIAN PREMIERE

In the second half of the 18^th century, when Prague is devastated by the recent Seven Years’ War, the young Josef Mysliveček leaves for Italy. Despite being the son of a miller, he wants to follow his dream and establish himself as an opera composer in this centre of European music. Thanks to his talent, but also his charisma and luck, he manages to assert himself in a few years among the great competition of Italian composers. An unknown musician from the north becomes one of the most successful opera composers of his time. As a highly prestigious servant of the ruling class, he lives close to the aristocracy, but the favour of the noblewoman he loves is of course forbidden to him. He channels his feelings into his music. Without the opportunity to live with the woman he loves, he must settle for other pleasures, and they take their roll. The ailing Mysliveček, gradually deserted by former fans and supporters, eventually dies poor and forgotten shortly before his forty-fourth birthday. Il Boemo premiered at San Sebastian IFF 2022. It’s the Czech Republic’s official entry for the Academy Awards.

“I wanted to tell the story of a man who followed a vital urge to live his life, to become somebody, to achieve self-fulfillment. I also endeavoured to incorporate some of his best arias in the film, representing different aspects of his skills as a composer. The entire film is about how his career grows, and how he loses it.” (P. Václav)

Petr Václav
Petr Václav is a screenwriter and director. He was born in Prague in 1967. He is a graduate of the Film and TV School at the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. The Trieste FF presented his feature films Parallel Worlds in 2002 and The Way Out in 2015.

filmografia scelta / selected filmography
1993 Paní Le Murie (Madame Le Murie) 1996 Marian; Premi / Awards: Locarno – Pardo d’argento / Silver Leopard 2001 Paralelní světy (Mondi paralleli / Parallel Worlds) 2014 Cesta ven (La via d’uscita / The Way Out) 2016 Zpověď zapomenutého (Confession of the Vanished) doc. 2017 Nikdy nejsme sami (We Are Never Alone); Premi / Awards: Berlinale – Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award; Cairo IFF – Premio per il contributo artistico / Prize for artistic contribution 2017 Skokan (The Jumper)  2022 Il Boemo