Útěk

Everyone has encountered it in their life. The earlier, the more it hurts. Injustice leaves the deepest wounds on a child's soul. Ten-year-old Saša and Ruda, who are a few years older, know their part in this, so they decide to run away. Chance brings them together, and so they set off on a journey full of adventure and pitfalls, during which they discover true friendship and an irreplaceable sense of security. It was the timeless story and universally valid values that inspired David Laňka to return to the book by Ota Hofman, the author of the legendary Visitors, Mr. Tau, and Octopuses from the 2nd Floor. In addition, with Runaway, the director continues his previous successful collaboration with Štěpán Kozub, to whom he entrusted the role of an autistic boy in the drama Spolu, and who was once again faced with a difficult acting task. He cast him in the role of a despotic father. The Escape was first released in 1967, when it also won awards at prestigious film festivals in Venice and Cannes. However, it fell into oblivion during the period of normalization due to the person of director Štěpán Skalský. Roman Skamene was chosen as the ten-year-old Saša, for whom it was his first acting opportunity, while the older Ruda was played by Ivan Vyskočil. Both actors will also appear in the new adaptation. Kanwar Šulc, who himself grew up in an orphanage and was a newcomer in front of the camera, and experienced child actor Jakub Barták will appear in "their" roles as the boys. Kristýna Kociánová, Marta Dancingerová, Štěpán Kozub and Miloš Vávra also starred in the film. The plot of the original story from the 1960s was transferred by David Laňka to a smaller town at the foot of the Orlické Mountains, the camera was by Václav Tlapák, and the music was composed by Oscar winner Markéta Irglová. Ten-year-old Saša ran away from home when he was suspected of setting fire to a barn with his friends. Ruda, who attacked a teacher at a correctional institution, is also on the run. They first run into each other in Saša's grandfather's garden house and everyone would probably go their separate ways if it hadn't turned out that Ruda was responsible for the fire. Saša decides to force him to confess so that he and his friends won't be unjustly punished. But Ruda has no intention of coming out with the truth. He wants to get away. Away from this country, far from his previous life in children's homes and institutions. And so that Saša doesn't thwart this plan, he takes him as a "hostage"... The journey together of two boys who don't have it easy in life only lasts two days, but it changes both of them once and for all. "Ota Hofman's story won me over mainly because of its depth. On the one hand, it is an adventurous story of two boys on the run, who are first united by fear, which gradually turns into friendship, and then the extremely topical topic of a certain difference, because of which the two are rejected by their close circle. Neither of them can be themselves, because society expects something from them that they are not, and they have to deal with it. Today we live in a very liberal era, but at the same time, definition and rejection are becoming its synonym. Instead of tolerance winning, intolerance is growing," says David Laňka, who believes that thanks to the current treatment, Escape will receive due attention and will continue to be part of the recommended reading for elementary school students, where it undoubtedly belongs. After all, the book has been translated into 19 languages. The first audience responses are more than promising; in the fall, the film was screened at the Ota Hofman Children's Film and Television Festival, where it won the award for best feature film for children under 12 and awards for acting performances for Kanwar Šulc and Jakub Barták.