First Czech-Vietnamese Feature Heads to US Cinemas, Then Amazon

Summer School, 2001, billed as the first Czech-Vietnamese feature film, will reach American cinemas in December and then stream on Amazon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is the debut feature of writer-director Duzan Duong. It follows 17-year-old Kien, who comes back to his family's market stall in Cheb, a town in the Czech Republic, after ten years in Vietnam. The story turns on what it means to return to a place that has changed while you were away.

The film's path to the United States runs through Reel Citrus, a distributor based in Los Angeles that specialises in Asian and diaspora films. A distributor buys the rights to show a film to the public and sells it on to screens. Reel Citrus acquired North American rights across all media, along with worldwide streaming rights, from AZN kru, the company behind the film. "North American" covers the United States and Canada. "All media" means every way a film can be shown, from cinemas to home screens.

Reel Citrus will open the film in a limited theatrical release on December 11 at Cinemark cinemas. A limited release means a film opens on a small number of screens first, rather than in hundreds of cinemas at once. Streaming follows on Amazon from December 18, before the film rolls out to more countries.

The film had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. A world premiere is the first public screening anywhere. Festivals like this one are where sales agents and buyers see films and decide which ones travel. During its run in Czech cinemas, the film drew more than 20,000 moviegoers.

The schedule is short. A cinema run in early December, a streaming debut one week later, and a global rollout to follow. For a film that began at a Czech festival, it means audiences in the United States get a chance to see it on a big screen before it arrives at home.