Don Carmody and DCTV producing partner David Cormican are in production on their first feature film project in more than five years.

Finally, We Have a Republic is a Slovakia-Canada treaty coproduction and is the feature film debut for Slovak director Michal Kunes-Kováč (pictured lower right). The screenplay is written by producer Maroš Hečko, Tomáš Dušicka, and Cormican, based on a story by Hečko.

The film is produced by Toronto-based Carmody and Cormican, as well as Bratislava-based producers Tibor Búza of B Production and Hečko and Peter Veverka of Azyl Production.

Ctibora Lenko Bley (Známi Neznámi), and Toronto’s Jane Beaubien (Death of a Ladies Man) are executive producers.

Finally, We Have a Republic is a historical drama set on New Year’s Eve in 1992, when the nation formerly known as Czechoslovakia was officially dissolved. It follows a Slovakian man and his Canadian girlfriend arriving in Banská Bystrica to find his family in chaos.

The film will be shot entirely in Slovakia, with production commencing Thursday (Feb. 9) in Bratislava. Principal photography will also take place in Banská Bystrica. It will feature multiple languages, including Slovak, Czech, English and French.

Finally, We Have a Republic stars Slovakia’s Ady Hajdu (The Magic Stone) and Czech actors Eva Holubová (Requiem for a Maiden) and Bolek Polívka (Calamity). Additional cast members are Slovak actors Judit Bárdos (The House) and Daniel Fischer (Let There Be Light), and Dávid Hartl (Jozef Mak), and Czech actor Jana Kovalčíková (Fathers).

Financial support has been provided by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS), Toronto’s Screen Wizards Pictures and Czech distributor Bontonfilm. The film was developed in association with Ontario Creates.

Bontonfilm holds theatrical rights for the film in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, while RTVS holds TV rights in Slovakia, according to the film’s producers. Distribution rights for other territories, including Canada, remain open. The budget for the film was not disclosed.

Carmody and Cormican’s previous feature was another treaty copro, Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle, which was directed by Mike van Diem and had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017. Carmody has been a prolific producer in Canada since the 1970s, with credits such as Porky’s, Goon and Silent Hill. He launched Don Carmody Television with Cormican in 2013.

Photo courtesy of DCTV