D.N.A. Productions
SLOVAKIA
Company Hightlighs
D.N.A. has been operating since 2001. Receiving valuable experience in television and commercial production, the company started producing independent arthouse short films (VOICES, DARKROOM), which not only received attention and critical acclaim, but also were successful at the international festival circuit. Since 2007, the company produces artistically challenging feature films and has since established strong relationships with young filmmaking talents, who are willing to cross the borders of genre and explore new narrative structures. With director Peter Bebjak, the company produced APRICOT ISLAND (2011), a melodrama, EVIL (2012), the first Slovak horror and THE CLEANER (2015), a psychological drama, all of which were presented at international film festivals world-wide and received awards.
The TV series THE JUSTICE won in 2018 Czech Lion Awars- The Best Television Film or Miniseries.
Commercial success came with the feature movie The RIFT, released in January 2019. The movie set the box office record - the most theatrical admissions in its first weekend by any Slovak film. A total of almost 270,000 admissions.
The company currently finishes one of the most ambitious Slovak films of recent years - THE AUSCHWITZ REPORT. Slovak - Czech - German coproduction. Theatrical premiere will take place in January 2021.
D.N.A. also has high expectations of forthcoming TV mini series THE ACTOR. Releasing in November 2020.
Rastislav Sestak established D.N.A. together with Peter Bebjak in 2001. Since the beginning, he wanted to support and scout new directorial and scriptwriter talents and to create a strong production platform for them to explore new genres and sub-genres. He has produced a number of popular television series and feature films, mainly directed by Peter Bebjak and Róbert Šveda.
Rasto Sestak
Company Hightlighs
THE AUSCHWITZ REPORT 2021
Format: Feature film
Genre: Drama, based on true events
Director: Peter Bebjak
Screenplay: Jozef Paštéka, Tomáš Bombík, Peter Bebjak
Cast: Noel Czuczor, Peter Ondrejička, John Hannah, Jan Nedbal, Florian Panzner, Ondřej Malý, Michal Režný, Jacek Beller
After more than a year of meticulous planning, Auschwitz prisoners Alfred and Rudolf set forth an escape plan in hopes of sharing precious evidence with anti-Nazi forces. With the resilient aid of their fellow inmates, the pair embarks on a treacherous journey, making their way through underground tunnels and the perilous Slovakian mountains. Emaciated and hurt, they endure numerous obstacles along their way, but none greater than the realization their voices may go on unheard.
The movie is based on the novel by Alfréd Wetzler Escape from Hell. The detailed 32 page report about the structure and functioning of the camp helped to save lives of more than 120 thousand people.
The Auschwitz Report was selected the Slovak nomination for the Oscars.
Cleveland International Film Festival, USA
ACK award - Best Feature Film
Sun in Net – Best sound
MATHEMATICS OF CRIME 2023
Format: TV Mini Series
Genre: Crime, based on true events
Director: Peter Bebjak
Screenplay: Tomáš Bombík
Cast: Lucie Štěpánková, Ján Nedbal, Zuzana Bydžovská, Kristýna Boková, Tomáš Maštalír, Miloslav Pecháček, Jiří Bartoška, Adrian Jastraban, Michal Režný
The story begins with the message the journalist Magdalena Sodomková (Lucie Štěpánková) received from Tomáš Toman (Jan Nedbal), a young man wrongfully convicted of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death and sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison. The court judgement was based on a mathematically incorrect expert report written by Kraus (Jiří Bartoška), a renowned expert witness in the field of biomechanics. Following the sentence Toman flees to Indonesia fighting to reopen his case with the help of his family (Zuzana Bydžovská, Kristýna Boková), media and the prominent Prague lawyer (Tomáš Maštalír). Sodomková gradually realizes that the issue does not only lie in one inaccurate expert report, but it is a problem is deeper than just one wrong sentence.
Czech Lion - award for best TV series
Sun in the Net – award for best TV series
IGRIC – award for best direction
THE WHIRLWIND 2024
Format: Feature Film
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Director: Peter Bebjak
Screenplay: Peter Balko based on the novel by Jozef Karika
Cast: Tomáš Maštalír, Anna Geislerová, Michal Režný, Marek Geišberg, Éva Bandor, Adrian Jastraban, Ivan Letko, Eva Máziková
The forensic psychologist Martin Lang and his Polish wife Pawla, a social anthropologist arrive at a spa deep in the mountains. The spouses are plagued by a relationship crisis, stemming from a deep-seated trauma, and the spa is an ultimatum for them - either they stay together, or both will go their own way. The routine cycle of their days is disrupted by a delivery of a mysterious parcel - a package with evidence. The sender is Lang's fellow-psychologist Hanus, who needs his help in a case known as the "Death Ride", which involved four deaths. Lang refuses - he's taking time off and has enough problems of his own - but what prevails in the end is professional curiosity, boredom and some unknown force that draws him to the case.
DUCHOŇ 2025
Format: Feature Film
Genre: Biographical Drama
Director: Peter Bebjak
Screenplay: Jiří Havelka, Róbert Mankovecký
Cast: Vladislav Plevčík, Anna Jakab Rakovská, Alena Pajtinková, Anna Gajdziková, Gregor Hološka, Agáta Spišáková, Adrian Jastraban, Vojtěch Kotek, Daniel Žulčák, Daniel Fischer, Tomáš Maštalír
He was the greatest talent of his generation. The story of a man who lived too intensely.
Karol Duchoň's film story begins during the filming of a New Year's Eve television program in 1984, and the man, who until recently had the world at his feet, sees his entire life flash before his eyes in a single night. We see how a boy from a rural band got the opportunity to play in clubs in the West and how, after his return, he became a true pop icon of his time overnight thanks to a single song. The most renowned composers and lyricists in Slovakia wrote for him, he won awards at the most prestigious competitions, and many foreign tours followed. However, his enormous success also begins to awaken his insecurities... And we will be able to observe all of this accompanied by his greatest hits.