And Then the Mania Began. Czech Teen Comedies as a Peculiar Film Cycle of the 2000s

Shortly after its theatrical release on November 4, 2004, the Czech teen comedy Snowboarďáci (The Snowboarders) became a sensation. The success of Karel Janák's full-length debut was remarkable in two respects. On the one hand, the comedy aimed at a teenage audience, that is, an audience that domestic cinema neglected for some time. At the same time, The Snowboarders stimulated the production of thematically related films. This study explores whether it is possible to consider this small group of teen comedies produced during the 2000s as a film cycle. For this purpose, the article uses a model of film cycle development proposed by Richard Nowell. The scheme helps us to capture the uniqueness of the teenage cycle at a given time. However, its application to the Czech film industry shows certain limits. That is why the production practices of each film are considered. For the first time, the study reveals details on how individual producers aimed for profit and how they worked with the concept of genre and film cycle while producing their films. In sum, the study questions the causal development of the cycle and shows how several factors contributed to its formation and demise.

Keywords: Czech cinema, teen comedies, genre theory, film cycle, film production