One of this year’s debuts out of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Broken Voices, is getting ready for its wide release. But before everyone can see it, director Ondřej Provazník went more vocal about his inspiration for the film. 

Provazník served as both writer and director on the film, basing it on real-world events. Broken Voices follows a young girl who gets the chance of a lifetime when she enters a highly regarded girls’ choir alongside her sister. However, she’s unable to fully realize her own desires before the choirmaster threatens to ruin what she’s always dreamt of. 

As Hollywood Reporter notes, who also got the chance to discuss the project extensively with Provazník, the film mirrors the unfortunate history of the Bambini di Praga girls’ choir, a group based out of the Czech Republic. Once the group got a new choirmaster, there were nearly 50 cases of sexual assault against minors who were a part of the group, landing him in prison for it. 

Between both the Hollywood Reporter and the KVIFF website, Provazník detailed his very delicate and meticulous approach to bringing the story to the screen. Given the age of the girls affected, the filmmakers opted to cast younger girls, with Provazník stressing that they went to great lengths to make it more safe for them. 

When speaking about it, he said, “We were really focusing on the safety and environment for all the actresses and for all the parents, and making sure they understood what the script was about.” 

Also highlighted was the perspective that Provazník experimented with at the start of scriptwriting. Initially, while the younger sister was meant to be the focus, the story’s perspective was that of the older sister, stating that there were elements of jealousy but love as well, to add a layer of drama. However, when he shifted the point of view, adapting ideas of the younger sister being among strangers, “the story developed more smoothly.” 

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