Expat filmmakers' latest movie is filmed in Ústí

As any foreigner in a strange land knows, cultural misunderstandings are great material for comedy. No one gets that better than Tony Laue, the director and writer of Aussig, a new independent film based on the cultural clash between an American and a Russian living in Ústí nad Labem.

The movie, which premiered in Prague Dec. 2 at Kino Atlas, is a dark comedy based on the relationship between two lecturers at a local university, an American and a Russian, who are forced to live together in a small dormitory room.

"It was based on stories a friend told me about living with this American guy, and about how they're completely different," Laue said. "[The American] thought he had all the answers for Czech people. Americans can be sort of evangelical that way, in that we feel like we have the responsibility [to impart wisdom]."

That friend, Laue said, is Nik Pitetsky, who actually plays the role of the Russian lecturer, a character with a love for ketchup on pizza who doesn't feel the need to shower all that regularly. This doesn't sit so well with the American, played by Laue, who is more "anal," in Laue's words.

"We used those stereotypes and played with them a little," he said.

The name of the film comes from the old German name of Ústí nad Labem, a city north of Prague that was previously home to many German speakers before most were forcefully moved out in the wake of World War II.

"Everyone wants to film in Prague because it's so interesting and pretty. ... Ústí has a weird reputation in the Czech Republic," he said. "That might be what really sets us apart."

Laue, an American who grew up in Los Angeles and has lived on and off in the Czech Republic since 1992, is most known on the Prague film scene for writing the 2007 film Rexpatriates, a mockumentary about expatriates living in Prague that touches on similar themes of the confusion associated with culture clash.

That film aired on Czech Television and made it into numerous film festivals - a warm reception that Laue said was an "impetus" to go forward with Aussig.

"It wasn't so much I needed to tell a specific story, I just wanted to keep active, to keep my creative outlet open," Laue said.

Whether Aussig will go as far as Rexpatriates is unknown, particularly because the team has decided not to market it directly to cinemas, as was done with Rexpatriates. Instead, Laue said, they will try to get it on television and into some festivals.

"It's similar to Rexpatriates in that it is indie, punk, sort of grassroots, because it was cobbled together from several sources and shot on a micro budget," said Jeffrey Brown, the producer of Rexpatriates and co-producer of Aussig.

Neither man would reveal a budget figure, but Laue said funding came exclusively from within Ústí nad Labem, where Laue has lived for the past eight years. He added that two premieres in the town had sold out.

Filming took four years, Laue said, largely because of an irregular schedule to fit other obligations of the cast, of which many are Czech actors and actresses.

"I still like making small films. It's a lot of fun because on one hand, it's so much more of an interesting experience" because less money and fewer people are involved, which makes for less ego on set, Brown said.

Laue said for now, he doesn't have any future projects in mind and is currently focused on marketing and advancing Aussig. The next scheduled screening of the film is Jan. 27, 2011, in the town of Litoměřice.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com