Fair Play (film)

Fair Play is a 2014 Czech drama film directed by Andrea Sedláčková. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[2]

Fair Play
Film poster
Directed byAndrea Sedláčková
Produced byKateřina Černá
Pavel Strnad
Written byIrena Hejdová
Andrea Sedláčková
StarringAnna Geislerová
Judit Bárdos
Roman Luknár
Music byMiro Žbirka
David Solař
CinematographyJan Baset Střítežský
Edited byJakub Hejna
Distributed byFalcon
Release date
  • 6 March 2014 (2014-03-06)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryCzech Republic
Slovakia
LanguageCzech
Budget36 million Kč[1]

Plot

Set in Czechoslovakia in 1983, the film tells the story of Anna, a sprinter who is hoping to compete in the Olympics, and is selected into the national team. She is placed in a special state-run medical treatment where she is given anabolic steroids ("Stromba") by her trainer. Her performance increases but later discovers the negative effect of taking the steroids, causing her to stop using them.

Anna's father escaped Czechoslovakia for the West which takes a toll of her mother's career, as she is unable to find any decent job. Additionally, she is under frequent surveillance of the secret service. She sees her daughter's participation in the Olympic Games as the opportunity for Anna to emigrate, so she secretly continues to give her the injections of steroids. She also has contacts with her former love Marek, a political dissident for whom she types the essays which are considered hostile to the government, causing her more trouble with the secret service agents. Meanwhile, Anna falls in love and is more and more reluctant to emigrate.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in Prague, Bratislava, and Vysoké Tatry and in Germany.[3][4] The scenes in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) were filmed in today's Chemnitz (Karl Marx Monument) and in Dresden (the Heinz-Steyer-Stadion was used as the film set for the stadium in Karl-Marx-Stadt).[5] Judit Bárdos and Eva Josefíková went through athletic training for six months prior to filming, in order to be able to perform the running scenes realistically. Nonetheless, doubles replaced the main actors in certain scenes.[6]

The title song was recorded by Miro Žbirka in the London Abbey Road Studios.[7]

Accolades

Fair Play was submitted by the Czech Film and Television Academy as an Oscar candidate, but did not get nominated.

The film received four nominations for the Czech Film Critics Award, but won none.[8] It also received the largest number of nominations (15) for the 2014 Czech Lion Awards, but did not win any; however, it did receive the Film Fans Award and the non-statutory award for Best Film Poster.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Fair Play". Českénoviny.cz (in Czech). Czech News Agency. 3 February 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  2. "Oscars: Czechs Nominate Andrea Sedlackova's 'Fair Play' in Foreign-Language Category". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  3. "Andrea Sedláčková se kvůli Fair Play pustila do dopingového programu". ČT24 (in Czech). 1 March 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  4. "Film details for Fair Play (German Federal Archives)" (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  5. "Filming locations in Germany for Fair Play (Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung)" (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  6. "Judit Bárdos: "V herectví se dopovat nedá."". Kinobox.cz (in Czech). 4 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  7. Vedral, Honza (30 January 2014). "VIDEO: Miro Žbirka natočil v Abbey Road píseň k filmu o dopingu". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  8. "Nominace". Ceny české filmové kritiky (in Czech). Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  9. "ČFTA Awards / 2014 / Nominations". ČFTA. Czech Film and Television Academy. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
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