Film To Debut Theatrically at Film Forum in New York City
Concurrently Making Its Streaming Debut on Fandor
Check out the Trailer HERE
Online/Streaming Preview Screening Available on Fandor.com
(San Francisco, CA | May 30, 2014) Fandor is proud to announce the U.S. streaming debut ofBURNING BUSH to take place day-and-date with the film’s theatrical debut on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014. BURNING BUSH is an ambitious cinematic recreation of widespread student protests (and their aftermath) against Soviet military occupation in the late 60s in Czechoslovakia. The film will play theatrically at Film Forum (New York City) with streaming available on Fandor throughout the U.S., excepting the NY metropolitan area.
“Connecting the world’s greatest filmmakers and their art with the audiences that crave to see them is Fandor’s mission,” said Fandor CEO, Ted Hope. “We are thrilled to bring this film to a wide, national audience.”
With a focus on a young man’s ultimate sacrifice (history student Jan Palach committed suicide by self-immolation, as a form of political protest) and on the state’s attempt to defame him, BURNING BUSH offers a stirring and multi-faceted picture of a pivotal moment in Eastern European history; these events ultimately set the stage for the defeat of Communism 20 years later.
Through the story of the brave defense attorney Dagmar Burešová, who defended Palach’s legacy in a doomed lawsuit, the film examines the transformations taking place in Czechoslovak society after the invasion of the armies of the Warsaw Pact in August of 1968 – and the installation of a hardline Communist government. It depicts the beginnings of Czech and Slovak resistance against the occupation, which reached its apex with the mass protests during Palach’s funeral – also showing the nation’s gradual resignation under the pressure of fear and harsher persecution.
Directed by acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA, EUROPA), who was a student at the FAMU film school in Prague during this tumultuous period.BURNING BUSH initially broadcast on television in the Czech Republic and later screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Telluride Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival where it was received to both audience and critical acclaim.
"Agnieszka Holland is an extraordinarily gifted and versatile filmmaker," stated Jonathan Marlow, Fandor's Chief Content Officer. "Though the events depicted in BURNING BUSH occurred forty-five years ago, the issues it explores are entirely relevant today."
Long commended for her politically engaged work as a director and screenwriter, Agnieszka Holland emerged from the Polish New Wave of the 1970s and ’80s after working on scripts with fellow Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Her films have been nominated for three Academy Awards: EUROPA, EUROPA (1990) was nominated for Best Screenplay (and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film), and ANGRY HARVEST (1985) and IN DARKNESS (2011) were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. She has directed episodes of the acclaimed television series THE KILLING, TREME, and THE WIRE, making her a natural choice for the Czech production and writing team for their HBO Europe production of BURNING BUSH. She recently completed the NBC miniseries, ROSEMARY’S BABY.
BURNING BUSH will become available on Wednesday, June 11th. For information about Fandor please visit www.Fandor.com.
The deal for the film was negotiated between Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber and Fandor’s CCO Jonathan Marlow and CEO Ted Hope.
