REMAKE pulls back the Iron Curtain to reveal how “the West” really sounded in communist Czechoslovakia – familiar melodies, never the whole truth. In a system where freedom sneaks onto the airwaves disguised as cover versions, three young musicians – Janek, Josef and Cyril – cling to rock-’n’-roll hopes while the grey machinery of Normalisation grinds on around them. A lucky break, reckless courage, and wild improvisation land the trio in front of formidable label boss Šmídová, who hires them as lyricists in a brand-new “translation department” tasked with rewriting Western hits into sanitized Czech. An absurdly timely story of how music moulds society – and how effortlessly it can be weaponized.
Kateřina Letáková, a graduate of drama directing at DAMU, has worked with CED Brno, the Drama Club (Činoherní klub), the JEDL Ensemble, and the Czech National Theatre, and she is now part of the creative team of Dejvice Theatre. In 2022, she won an award for her play The Worm in the Human Heart at the Jannus International Festival in Hungary, and in 2023 she received the Encounter Festival Prize for her original adaptation of The Beggar’s Opera.
An indispensable collaborator on Letáková’s projects is drama director Adéla Čermáková, a DAMU dramaturgy graduate.
Daniel Bleha, a graduate of FAMU’s Production Department, has produced short fiction and documentary films, organised festivals, and founded the VOD platform FAMU FILMS. Since 2021, he has been working with the production company FILM KOLEKTIV.