Czech Drag Film 'Chica Checa' Debuts at Karlovy Vary
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- Šimon Holý's 'Chica Checa' screens Saturday in the Crystal Globe Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, after 'seven or eight years' of development that began when Holý woke from a dream and wrote the story in his diary.
- The film follows Zdena (Pavla Tomicová), a small-town widow and mail carrier, and her Paris-based son Lukáš (Jan Cina), who secretly works as drag queen 'Chica Checa' and agrees to perform for his dying grandmother — only to find the bond with his mother deepening in the process.
- Holý and producer Alžběta Janáčková set out to address homophobia 'in a very gentle, warm way,' but came to see the film as political amid what Holý described as a 'resurgence of right-wing oppression of LGBTQ+ communities' in the Czech Republic, Europe, and the U.S., referencing Trump and Czech right-wing politicians.
- Holý, who also programs Prague Pride, warned that proposed funding cuts to Czech Television — reducing budgets to 2008 levels — would damage editorial independence and hurt Czech cinema, since Czech TV is the audio-visual industry's 'second-biggest financier.' Czech Television is a co-producer of the film.
- Tomicová persisted in pursuing the lead despite Holý's initial resistance; after a 10-second reading with Cina, Holý relented, and Tomicová reframed the story as 'about otherness and being othered' rather than a coming-out narrative.
- Cina overcame initial typecasting concerns — having previously dressed as Madonna on TV — by training with choreographer and drag queen Just Karen, and emerged from the process with his own drag persona, 'La Chica.'
- Pluto Film handles sales for the Silk Film production, with co-producers Arina Film, French Connection, and Czech Television.
Why it matters: The film arrives at Karlovy Vary as co-producer Czech Television faces proposed budget cuts to 2008 levels that Holý warns would hurt Czech cinema, given Czech TV's role as the audio-visual industry's second-biggest financier. A warm, crowd-pleasing queer story premiering at a major festival offers a rare distribution vehicle as anti-LGBTQ+ politics harden across the region.
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