Czech Dream
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Czech Dream (Český sen in Czech) is a documentary film directed by two young Czech directors: Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda. The film was released in February 2004. It recorded a large-scale hoax perpetuated by Klusák and Remunda on the advertising industries and the Czech public, culminating in the "opening event" of a fake "hypermarket". The film was their final project for film school.
Remunda and Klusák invented the "Český sen" hypermarket and created a massive advertising campaign around it. Posing as businessmen, the two film students managed to persuade an ad agency and PR agency to create a campaign for them. Billboards appeared on Czech highways, and 200,000 pamphlets were distributed in Prague. A jingle was recorded and there was a series of television commercials. The advertising campaign slogans were "don't come" and "don't spend", etc.
Still, the filmmakers succeeded in attracting more than a thousand shoppers to an empty plain for their "grand opening" on May 31, 2003. What looked like a huge building from a distance was actually only a canvas facade backed by scaffolding.
The first customer arrived at about 7am for the 10am opening; she had risen to see the early morning partial solar eclipse, that the film shows being observed by Klusák and Remunda while they set up for the opening. [1].
As customers gathered trinkets and small gifts were available - key chains and flags - so that everyone would leave with something. A Master of Ceremonies kept up a commentary as people gathered, and finally asked Klusák and Remunda, the 'managers', to cut a ribbon. After this the barricades were removed and people could walk or run towards the facade.
When the "customers" finally realised that they had been deceived, they reacted in different ways. Some understood the filmmakers' message, some tried to take it optimistically ("At least we had some fresh air") but most were angry and many decided to blame the government.
The idea for the hoax came from a 2002 study by Incoma Research reporting that 30 percent of Czechs shop mainly at hypermarkets. There has been growing concern in the country about the growth of advertising and consumerism.
Other than holding a sort of a mirror up to consumer society the film also shows how advertising companies work, what methods and tricks they use.
How easily we can fool ourselves is perhaps summed up by a quote in the film. Somewhere in the middle of the advertising campaign, the employees of the advertising agency (BBDO) have some moral doubts about advertising untrue things. One of them says: "Maybe you filmmakers lie to people, but we advertisers don't!"
[edit] Prizes
The film has won some prizes at festivals in Kraków, Jihlava, Ljubljana and Århus; on 8th September 2006 it was broadcasted by the known TV ARTE, and on 26 September 2006 by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service TV.
