When a fire breaks out in his music club in Prague, Eugen (Dominique Jann, 45) is in complete despair because the damage is not covered. He is forced to return to Switzerland to raise money from his Czechoslovakian father and relatives.
Fiona Ziegler (39) from Bern writes film history with the recently launched “Lost in Paradise”. Her first feature film is also the very first Czech-Swiss co-production. Ziegler, who grew up in Basel and Muri-Gümligen BE, studied at the famous Famu Film Academy in Prague from 2012 to 2020. “To get Czech money for such a production is a great honor for a foreigner, especially because it’s not a purely Czech story,” she told Blick.
A car for all occasions
The talking car KITT from the 1980s TV series “Knight Rider” with David Hasselhoff (69) has an important part. The car helps Eugen solve his financial problems as well as his amorous difficulties. «When the Berlin Wall came down, I was allowed to watch television longer as a child for the first time. That’s why I remembered Hasselhoff’s New Year’s Eve appearance at the Berlin Wall with the song ‘Looking for Freedom’, and I really wanted the car in the film,” says Ziegler.
The initially planned transfer of a Czech replica to Switzerland proved to be too expensive. Then Ziegler came across Nic Megert (52) from Ostermundigen BE, who owns and rents out one of the two original models. “The fact that I grew up only about five kilometers from KITT makes the story even crazier,” says Ziegler.
Shooting in the night bus from Prague to Bern
The film was first shot in Prague, then the crew moved to Bern on the night bus that also appears in the film. “We shot the scene below with Uwe Schönbeck and his crocodile Karlchen, who suffers from a toothache. And the crew members slept on the top floor.” In hot August 2019, the last flap fell.
The post-production was also unforgettable. «After more than three months of editing in Bern, I realized that a linear narrative form would destroy the playfulness. The last flight before lockdown brought me back to Prague, where I gave birth to the film with editor Luka Djikanovic in the makeshift editing room of my bedroom.” Then came the long wait. Due to corona, the premiere in Prague did not take place until the end of 2021, in Switzerland “Lost in Paradise” was shown for the first time at the end of January this year at the Solothurn Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Prix du Public.
Source-www.blick.ch