Marlene Film Production

The production company Marlene Film Production was founded in 2013 and its first produced film was Storyteller by director Vladimír Michálek (4 nominations for the Czech Lion and 1 nomination for the Czech Film Critics Award). Another successful project of the company was Jiří Strach's fairy tale Angel of the Lord 2, (6 nominations for the Czech Lion). The Angel of the Lord was the highest-grossing distribution film of 2016, which, in addition to 1.3 million viewers in cinemas, was seen on TV by 3 million people at Christmas 2017, 2.5 million viewers at Christmas 2018 and 2.1 million during the 2019 holidays. In 2019, Marlene Film Production produced the drama The Charlatan, inspired by the real-life fate of healer Jan Mikolaszek and directed by world-renowned Polish director Agnieszka Holland and starring Ivan Trojan and Juraj Loj. The world premiere took place in February at the Berlinale in the prestigious Special Gala section. Its Czech premiere was scheduled for 26 March 2020, but due to a worldwide viral pandemic it was postponed to 20 August 2020. More than 250,000 people saw the film in Czech cinemas. It scored points not only with Czech audiences and film critics, but also at the world's most prestigious film festivals, where it won numerous awards. It was shortlisted for the 15 best non-English language films in the world nominated for the Oscar 2021, won the Czech Lion for the best film of 2020 and 3 more Czech Lions out of 14 nominations. It also won 2 Czech Film Critics Awards from 5 nominations and 9 nominations for the Orly Film Awards in Poland, including one win for Costume Design.

Collaboration with Agnieszka Holland continued with Green Border, released in 2023. The international co-production, focusing on the situation at the Polish-Belarusian border, received the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated by the European Film Academy for Best European Film, Best Director, and Best Screenwriter. Agnieszka Holland and Šárka Cimbalová also received the Czech Lion Award for an Extraordinary Contribution to Czech Audiovisual Arts. In 2025, they presented their next joint project, Franz, a Czech-German-Polish co-production inspired by the life of Franz Kafka. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and its European premiere in the main competition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. At the Gdynia Film Festival, it received the Silver Lion for Best Film as well as three additional awards. It was also selected as Poland’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Franz received European Film Award nominations for actor Idan Weiss, costume designer Michaela Horáčková Hořejší, and make-up artist Gabriela Poláková. Of its fifteen Czech Lion nominations, the film won four awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Make-up and Hairstyling. Marlene Film Production is currently developing Berlinweh – Longing for Home, a film about the life of Marlene Dietrich, together with producer Mike Downey and X Filme Creative Pool. Written by Ingo Rasper, the film will once again be directed by Agnieszka Holland, continuing their collaboration on Charlatan, Green Border, and Franz. Its international theatrical release is expected in 2028. Marlene FIlm Production projects also include a new instalment in the successful Angel of the Lord fairy-tale film series, which will once again be directed by Jiří Strach, marking his third film in the franchise.