To promote a unique exhibition celebrating 70 years of the most popular Czech bicycle brand, we filmed a true story that illustrates just how strong a rider’s relationship with his bike can be. The story of retired professional cyclist (and Czechoslovak immigrant) Róbert Hutyra.

The main objective for the direction of this film was to bring the Czechoslovak communist era to life in an authentic way. Instead of making the story of Robert Hutyra glossy and heroic, we wanted to make it intimate and raw, taking the “New wave of Czechoslovak film” from the 60s represented by Milos Forman, Jan Nemec or Ivan Passer as a reference. Actors were carefully selected to resemble the real heroes and act very naturally, almost like amateurs (a technique Milos Forman used in many of his films). The wardrobe, props and locations were carefully selected based on studying the personal archive of Robert Hutyra. To make the narrative voiceover sound authentic, we recorded 3 hours of interviews with Mr. Hutyra and closely mirrored the imperfections in his English with our actor. The idea behind the music was go smoothly with the film, without overpowering it but gradually developing with the story.