Presenting parenthood

Mamas and Papas, the title of director Alice Nellis' new feature film, is a clear indication that procreation is at least one element at play in her story. What else the heavily publicized follow-up to Nellis' award-winning Little Girl Blue (2007) is about is less easily apprehensible.

For many, the prospect of a 90-minute meditation on having, raising and losing children is about as sexy as a snow suit.

"I mention the subject of parenthood," said Jeff Brown, an expat American and the film's producer, "and people just start yawning." But there's nothing soporific about either Nellis' scenario or her and Brown's unusual approach to filmmaking.

Brown, possibly the only American producer working consistently in the Czech film industry today, explains that shooting for the film took place in some exotic locales outside the country, a rare occurrence for independent Czech movies.

"It may be the only Czech movie ever made that features underwater footage of actors swimming with whales," he conjectured. Apart from the Czech Republic, shooting took place in the Dominican Republic, Egypt and Tunisia.   

Originally hailing from Dallas, Brown has been working in the movie business here for more than eight years. When asked what project he'll focus on next, he quickly named two productions: Punk in Africa, a history of the punk scene, and Listopad, a film that will examine, among other things, events that sparked the Velvet Revolution.

Brown's involvement in Mamas and Papas took him somewhat by surprise. Based on her previous successes, Nellis has become a hot commodity. Nonetheless, she settled on Brown and the relatively small U.F.O. Pictures to see her vision to fruition.

"We're not tiny," said Brown, explaining his surprise, "but we're not massive either."

U.F.O. threw their full weight behind Mamas and Papas, promoting it heavily and organizing a well-attended premier.

Featuring four interweaving narratives ("The Pregnancy," "The Abortion," "The Adoption," and "The Ocean"), Nellis' film employs inventive cinematic techniques to examine how complicated things have become for what Nellis describes as "one of the most natural things imaginable."

Nellis has worked consistently since studying at Charles University, and, later, scriptwriting at FAMU, where she had success even before graduation. The director brought in the cast to work on a film with absolutely no scripted dialogue. Instead, they prepared by delving into their characters' respective motivations and personalities and making note of specific information that needed to be conveyed in each scene.

In an attempt to generate a high level of realism, Nellis often guided her cast into scenes, where they had little or no idea what was going to happen. For this reason, much of the footage that made the final cut of the film was captured without the endless retakes that typify modern moviemaking.

"I'd say 60 to 70 percent of what we used was from the first take," Nellis says.

Viewers will judge the effectiveness of such techniques for themselves, but, in any event, the techniques demonstrate Nellis' commitment to her craft and Brown's willingness to gamble on her talent.

James Walling can be reached at
jwalling@praguepost.com