\n\tUp Again is the feature debut of Czech director and composer Eli\u0161ka Andr\u0161ov\u00e1 C\u00edlkov\u00e1. The time-lapse portrait of Barbora Vr\u00e1nkov\u00e1, a three-time Czech figure skating champion, captures a pivotal period in her life between the ages of 15 and 18. <\/p>\n
\n\tGetting its world premiere at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival<\/a> on Oct. 24 in both the fest\u2019s First Lights and Czech Joy Competition, the film will be released in Czech cinemas on Oct. 29 by Pilot Film and nutprodukce. Up Again will then become available on HBO Max<\/a> in all European territories from Dec. 4.<\/p>\n \n\tThe doc, debuting in the Czech city of Jihlava, sees Vr\u00e1nkov\u00e1 training every day among Europe\u2019s figure skating elite in Italy, pursuing her dream: to become European \u2013 perhaps even world \u2013 champion. \u201cBarbora is growing up in a world where a person\u2019s worth is measured by performance, scores and rankings,\u201d highlights a film synopsis. \u201cAs the pressure rises, a crisis follows, and shortly before her first European Championships \u2013 the event she has prepared for her whole life, she withdraws.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe observational film promises \u201ca fragile, intimate look behind the curtain of elite figure skating,\u201d a world rarely seen up close. Andr\u0161ov\u00e1 C\u00edlkov\u00e1 (short films From Close-Up to Wide Shot, Pripyat Piano), directed Up Again and also composed its score.<\/p>\n \u201cSpinning \u2013 pirouette \u2013 loop. From the stands, figure skating looks effortless,\u201d the filmmaker says. \u201cUp close, though, it is full of heavy breathing, blades scraping the ice and the sounds of a body fighting gravity with every jump.\u201d<\/p>\n And she shares: \u201cFigure skating has been part of my life since I was thirteen. I started at an age when it was already too late to think about an elite career, so the sport could remain, above all, a joy I keep coming back to. My own experience on the ice also shaped the way the film was made. More than Barbora\u2019s results, we were interested in what the world of elite sport looks like from the inside. We captured its daily rhythm, its beauty and its pressure \u2013 and what happens to a person who grows up within it.\u201d<\/p>\n Andr\u0161ov\u00e1 C\u00edlkov\u00e1 also explains: \u201cDuring some training sessions we were allowed on the ice together with Barbora, so we shot part of the film directly on skates, to set ourselves apart, visually and sonically, as much as possible from conventional sports<\/a> broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n