- Occupation
Producer - Country
Czech Republic
Stojáková Karla
Never Been Better
People know very little about present-day situation of Bosnia and Herzegovina even though it has almost all model examples for various social and political problems. Never Been Better is a satirical and personal insight into a suffering country whose destiny has deeply influenced the lives of its citizens as well as the film's director. Department of documentary film, FAMU - graduate film.
Ladies in White
Damas de Blanco is a film about an unofficial social movement of Cuban women who are under strict surveillance by Castro's regime. Those women are wives, mothers and sisters of political prisoners. Their husbands, fathers or brothers have been imprisoned for years because they in some way expressed their doubts about political leaders and the system in Cuba. In most cases, they signed a petition for more freedom and multi-party system in Cuba, wrote critical newspaper articles etc. At the moment, the movement has some 60 active women members. Regular Sunday mass is the only activity they manage to do together. They organize protest marches on the Avenue in Miramar (a district in La Habana), all dressed in white and carrying pink flowers in their hands. The film depicts 12 most important Damas: their dreams, their fight, their everyday life, their families and their political activities.
CERN or the Factory for the Absolute
This film is about the Largest Hadron Collider in the world (LHC) which is located near the French - Swiss border. By means of the accelerator, the scientists want to simulate the situation shortly after the Big Bang. As a result, they hope to acquire basic information about the structure of mass and reveal the last secrets of the universe. Our observational documentary deals with several serious questions, such as the introduction of the CERN institution, explanation of the experiments and their expected results as well as the introduction of the technological complexity of the project. Last but not least, the possible risks of the human hybris are discussed.
Life and Film: The Labyrinthine Biographies of Vojtěch Jasný
One of the most successful moviemakers in the Europe of the sixties, Vojtech Jasny (Czech Republic, 1925) now lives in a small New York apartment. In Jasny’s case, life and film are inseparable concepts. By visiting friends who are still alive, in Life and Film, Jasny narrates in first person his own story and a series of specific episodes in his life: the Nazi invasion and subsequent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, exile and his arrival to New York years later. Furthermore, due to his constant social and political commitment, the KGB made several attempts on his life. Though forgotten by many, Jasny continues to make movies: “Films are my message and I’ll make them until I die.”
People know very little about present-day situation of Bosnia and Herzegovina even though it has almost all model examples for various social and political problems. Never Been Better is a satirical and personal insight into a suffering country whose destiny has deeply influenced the lives of its citizens as well as the film's director. Department of documentary film, FAMU - graduate film.
Ladies in White
Damas de Blanco is a film about an unofficial social movement of Cuban women who are under strict surveillance by Castro's regime. Those women are wives, mothers and sisters of political prisoners. Their husbands, fathers or brothers have been imprisoned for years because they in some way expressed their doubts about political leaders and the system in Cuba. In most cases, they signed a petition for more freedom and multi-party system in Cuba, wrote critical newspaper articles etc. At the moment, the movement has some 60 active women members. Regular Sunday mass is the only activity they manage to do together. They organize protest marches on the Avenue in Miramar (a district in La Habana), all dressed in white and carrying pink flowers in their hands. The film depicts 12 most important Damas: their dreams, their fight, their everyday life, their families and their political activities.
CERN or the Factory for the Absolute
This film is about the Largest Hadron Collider in the world (LHC) which is located near the French - Swiss border. By means of the accelerator, the scientists want to simulate the situation shortly after the Big Bang. As a result, they hope to acquire basic information about the structure of mass and reveal the last secrets of the universe. Our observational documentary deals with several serious questions, such as the introduction of the CERN institution, explanation of the experiments and their expected results as well as the introduction of the technological complexity of the project. Last but not least, the possible risks of the human hybris are discussed.
Life and Film: The Labyrinthine Biographies of Vojtěch Jasný
One of the most successful moviemakers in the Europe of the sixties, Vojtech Jasny (Czech Republic, 1925) now lives in a small New York apartment. In Jasny’s case, life and film are inseparable concepts. By visiting friends who are still alive, in Life and Film, Jasny narrates in first person his own story and a series of specific episodes in his life: the Nazi invasion and subsequent Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, exile and his arrival to New York years later. Furthermore, due to his constant social and political commitment, the KGB made several attempts on his life. Though forgotten by many, Jasny continues to make movies: “Films are my message and I’ll make them until I die.”
Concrete Stories
Both a capitalist invention and a Soviet symbol, the concrete slab buildings link a whole destiny of people. A film about a shared reality. In Concrete Stories, people from different countries who live in concrete buildings tell their stories as they relate to industrial housing in the time of clashing ideologies between East and West. The film puts forward a European story of standardization that has ruled the lives of entire generations. We compare spaces and public interests of the time, the tenants in different countries become virtual neighbours. The documentary aims to connect various stories from all around Europe to erase the stigma concrete panel buildings often have, by relating their historical and European meaning.
Both a capitalist invention and a Soviet symbol, the concrete slab buildings link a whole destiny of people. A film about a shared reality. In Concrete Stories, people from different countries who live in concrete buildings tell their stories as they relate to industrial housing in the time of clashing ideologies between East and West. The film puts forward a European story of standardization that has ruled the lives of entire generations. We compare spaces and public interests of the time, the tenants in different countries become virtual neighbours. The documentary aims to connect various stories from all around Europe to erase the stigma concrete panel buildings often have, by relating their historical and European meaning.
Film producer Karla Stojáková was born 1978 in the Czech Republic. In 2000 she co-founded AXMAN PRODUCTIONS – independent film production company. She graduated from production dept. at FAMU in Prague. Karla is the founder of FILMASIA – first film festival on Asian cinema in the Czech Republic. She was selected Producer on the Move in Cannes IFF 2006 and is member of Ateliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE) and Czech Producer ́s Association (APA) - member of board. Projects Karla produced can be found at www.axmanproduction.com
SELECTED FILMS
• 2013 Producer – feature film LOUSY BASTARDS in postproduction
• 2013 Co-producer – feature film CORN ISLAND in production
• 2012 Co-producer – documentary CAFÉ LOUVRE DIARIES
• 2012 Co-producer – feature film FROST
• 2010 Producer - documentary CERN or the Factory for the Absolute
• 2009 Producer - feature film NORMAL the Dusseldorf Ripper – Shanghai IFF/ Best Director Award
• 2009 Co-producer - documentary LIFE&FILM: The Labyrinthine Biographies of Vojtech Jasny – Montreal IFF, San Sebastian IFF, IDFF Jihlava…
• 2008 Producer - documentary DAMAS DE BLANCO - One World IDFF
• 2007 Co-producer - fiction film ORLOJ (with Switzerland) - IFF Locarno
• 2006 Producer - documentary NEVER BEEN BETTER - IDFF HotDocs Toronto
• 2005 Producer - feature film RESTART - competition IFF Moscow, Taipei, Mannheim
• 2004 Producer - fiction film SLAVEK THE SHIT (with Iceland, Estonia) – Cannes IFF
• 2004 Producer - short film FASHION STATEMENT - Pusan IFF
• 2002 Producer - fiction film OBLIVION (with Norway) - Asiana IFF, Haugesund
• 2001 Producer - documentary film A WILL TO DANCE
Axman Production
Rybná 17/683
110 00 Prague 1
Rybná 17/683
110 00 Prague 1
ČFK - Czech Film Chamber
Národní 28
110 00 Praha 1
Národní 28
110 00 Praha 1