Director Marhoul is filming scenes from an orphanage in the Brno prison

Brno - The gloomy orphanage turned into a prison for four days in front of the cameras. Director Václav Marhoul's crew chose the dilapidated building between Bratislavská and Cejl for filming the movie drama The Painted Bird based on Jerzy Kosinski's work.

The book and the film take place during World War II somewhere in the Eastern European countryside, depicting a world full of cruelty and prejudice through the eyes of a child. The prison, with its troubled history, captivated Marhoul.

"The space is incredibly interesting, yet very sad, which fits perfectly into this film," Marhoul told ČTK. He later discovered that the site was indeed a refuge for orphans in the 18th century.

Today is the third of four days that the crew will spend filming in Brno. The filmmakers had already been modifying and decorating the space beforehand, said Ivana Košuličová from the Brno Film Office. The film will require a total of one hundred shooting days at various locations, including foreign ones. The final clap will fall at the beginning of July in Kácov near Kutná Hora.

From the actors, the filming in Brno features the lead child role played by Petr Kotlár and his on-screen father Petr Vaněk. Kotlár has become a seasoned actor during the long filming. "Working with him after a year and a half is very nice. He can concentrate on the shot, he has matured, and he knows exactly how things go in front of the camera and what is expected of him," Marhoul described. According to Marhoul, the boy may not even realize how drastic and depressing the material the film is processing is - he lives in his own childlike world.

Marhoul has spent ten years working on The Painted Bird, including preparations, but the original material has neither tired him nor bored him. He has fallen in love with the story. "And when someone is in love, they can endure anything - and happily!" he told ČTK.

The film has a budget of 166 million crowns. It should reach Czech cinemas next September. Marhoul currently estimates the film's length at three hours. There will be minimal dialogue, mostly in New Slavic, an artificial language understandable to most Slavic nations.

Kosinski states in the book that it takes place somewhere in Eastern Europe, where people speak a strange dialect. Therefore, Marhoul did not choose any existing languages, but an artificial "Slavic Esperanto," which even the famous American actor Harvey Keitel had to grapple with.

Besides The Painted Bird, another film called The Glass Room is also being created in Brno this year. The source material is loosely inspired by the Tugendhat villa, which the film crew of Julia Ševčík has logically focused on as well.