''Il Boemo'' () is a 2022 feature film about the life and career of the Czech composer

Josef Mysliveček Josef Mysliveček (9 March 1737 – 4 February 1781) was a Czech composer who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with significant com ...

(1737–1781), directed by

Petr Václav Petr Václav (born 11 June 1967) is a Czech film director and screenwriter whose films have received many awards, both in the Czech Republic and internationally. He has lived in Paris since 2003 and holds both French and Czech citizenship. Li ...

. Mysliveček was one of the most acclaimed and prolific composers of opera seria in Italy in the second half of the eighteenth century, and mentor and friend to

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. The film stars

Vojtěch Dyk Vojtěch Dyk (born 23 July 1985, in Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3&n ...

Elena Radonicich Elena Radonicich (born February 5, 1985 in Moncalieri, Piedmont) is an Italian actress. Early life and career Born in Moncalieri to an Italian father of Slavic-German origins and an Italian mother, she graduated in 2009 at the Centro Sperimen ...

, Barbara Ronchi, and Lana Vlady. The music for the film has been recorded by the Czech ensemble

Collegium 1704 Collegium 1704 is a Czech early music orchestra and choir founded in 2005 by the Czech conductor, harpsichordist, and horn player Václav Luks. The Collegium Vocale 1704 is the affiliated vocal ensemble. Since 2007, the ensemble has been making re ...

led by

Václav Luks Václav Luks (born 14 November 1970) is a Czech harpsichordist, horn player, conductor, musicologist and pedagogue, founder and artistic director of the Prague baroque orchestra Collegium 1704 and of the vocal ensemble Collegium Vocale 1704. He ...

, featuring international soloists such as

Philippe Jaroussky Philippe Jaroussky (born 13 February 1978) is a French countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory, and then took up the piano before turning to singing. Unusually for a countertenor ...

, Emöke Baráth, Raffaella Milanesi, and Simona Šaturová. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

95th Academy Awards The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will honor films released in 2022, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 12, 2023. Comed ...

. It premiered at

70th San Sebastián International Film Festival The 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 16 to 24 September 2022 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The awards were announced on 24 September 2022, with '' The Kings of the World'' winning the Golden Shell. Backgroun ...

on September 19, 2022.

Plot

The son of a

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

miller, who expected him to follow in his footsteps, Mysliveček as a young man flees to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

to realize his dream of becoming a composer. Against all odds he manages, becomes known as "Il Boemo" (i.e. "Czech"), and his success surpasses even his own expectations. During the 1770s, he is at his most prolific, composing numerous works in the genre of Italian '' opera seria''.

Cast

Production

The film is co-produced by the Czech Republic, Italy, and Slovakia, and was supported, among others, by the Czech Film Fund, the Italian Ministry of Culture, and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund; the producer is Jan Macola and Mimesis Film, the co-producers are Marco Alessio (Dugong Film) in Italy, Marek Urban (sentimentalfilm) in Slovakia, and

Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...

and MagicLab in the Czech Republic. Petr Václav has singled out Stanley Kubrick’s '' Barry Lyndon'', in relation to camera work, lighting, and narrative style, and Miloš Forman’s ''

Amadeus Amadeus may refer to: *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), prolific and influential composer of classical music *Amadeus (name), a given name and people with the name * ''Amadeus'' (play), 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer * ''Amadeus'' (film), ...

'', in terms of working with opera and music, as particular cinematic references.

Shooting locations

Shooting locations in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

included the

Estates Theatre The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo is a historic theater in Prague, Czech Republic. The Estates Theatre was annexed to the National Theatre in 1948 and currently draws on three artistic ensembles, opera, ballet, and drama, which perform a ...

, the Martinic Palace and the Colloredo–Mansfeld Palace in Prague, the château at Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, the Doksany Convent and the Cistercian monastery in

Plasy Plasy (; german: Plass) is a town in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. It is known for its former monastery. Administrative parts Villages of Babina, Horní Hradiště, Lomnička, Neb ...

, and the Mahen Theater in Brno.

Music

The music for the film has been recorded by the Czech ensemble

, founder and conductor

also served as musical advisor for the film. The soundtrack will be released by

Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records, Teldec Records and NVC Arts labels. Based in France, ...

on their Erato label. Another advisor was the American musicologist Daniel E. Freeman, author of the first modern monograph on Mysliveček.

Release

The film was selected for screening at the

's main competition on 19 September 2022.

Reception

Box office

''Il Boemo'' grossed $546,351 worldwide against a production budget of about $5.7 million.

References

External links

* * *
''Il Boemo'' at FilmItalia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boemo, Il 2020s Czech-language films 2020s German-language films 2020s Italian-language films Cultural depictions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Films about classical music and musicians Films about composers Films set in the 1760s Films set in the 1770s Films set in the 1780s Films set in Venice Films set in Naples Films set in Prague Films shot in Prague Czech historical films Italian historical films Slovak historical films Italian-language Czech films German-language Czech films Czech multilingual films 2020s Italian films 2022 multilingual films Czech Lion Awards winners (films)