The King of Šumava: The Phantom of the Dark Land

Origin and Year: Czechia, 2022	Director: David Ondříček
Runnning time: 1 x 45 min

World premiere presented by creators and actors.

It is spring 1948. The joy of peace has not yet subsided, and both East and West are already afraid of the Third World War. The two worlds are separated by the deep forests of the Bohemian Forest (Šumava in Czech). Josef Hasil, a twenty-four-year-old cook, serves in the kitchen of the National Security Corps in Zvonková. A wild boy. He has already been through the war in a German labour camp and as a liaison between partisans. Now he wants fun, adventure, freedom. The last thing he is interested in is politics. The three-part miniseries for the Voyo streaming service was directed by six-time Czech Lion award winner David Ondříček, based on David Jan Žák’s bestselling novel The Return of the King of the Bohemian Forest. It is based on the memories of Josef Hasil himself, testimonies of contemporary witnesses and archival documents.