Sitges Pitchbox Interview: Robert Hloz, director of Restore Point

Robert Hloz presented his project, ‘Restore Point’, in Sitges Pitchbox 2017. It’s been a year since that moment, and we want to talk to him, to know more about the status of the project, and to know something more about him.

We want to know you better. Why did you choose this job? Where did you study? Where did you start your career?

It all started when I binge-watched the original ‘Star Wars’ episodes as a kid and felt very emotional. The ending titles of ‘Return of the Jedi’ was the moment I said to myself that that´s what I want to do in life, make other people as moved as I was.

Since then I started to make shorts with my friends and ended up studying film school in the Czech Republic and later in South Korea because I loved Park-Chan Wook´s films. I got signed up to a commercial production company Dawson during the studies which opened the gates to real filmmaking for me.

Tell us about your work. What have you done? Could we watch some of your more important works?

Sure, you can check it up on my Vimeo channel.

I suggest you watch ‘Numbers’, a futuristic love story I shot in South Korea. But I hope anything you find there is entertaining haha.

Let’s talk about ‘Restore Point’. How it all began? What is it about?

After I finished ‘Liars’ a black comedy short about a group of ten-year-olds who accidentally kill their friend, my fellow scriptwriter Tomislav Cecka went studying to Edinburgh. When he returned, he came to me with an idea of a realistic eastern European sci-fi, something I´ve never seen before.

It is set in close future about 20 years ahead, where the technology has advanced to a stage where if you die by an unnatural death, like a car accident or a terrorist attack, you would be resurrected, and you can continue your life as nothing has happened. It is an answer to the fear of migration and terrorism, and seems perfect from the outside but as you follow the main hero — a young female detective who gets her first murder case, it starts to be clear that maybe the society is not ready yet for such a great invention.

How long have you been working on this project?

I believe that it is has been almost four years since we first discussed the idea.

How did the team join? Have you ever worked together before?

Me and Tomislav applied for script development funding and we received it under the condition that we gonna find ourselves a great producer. So I thought about some good movies done lately and called their producers. Two of the three picked up the phone or responded to emails and both loved the concept. One day we had no producer and the next we could choose! So I met them and picked Jan Kallista for his vision of script development process which I find the most crucial part of the production.

After Sitges Pitchbox, how is everything going? How did the event help you? What do you need to develop ‘Restore Point’ right now?

The Pitchbox really helped us in honing the pitch to the best version. After Sitges, we went to Tallin Black Nights and won the Best Pitch Award haha. We are securing the funding and solving the co-production puzzle and working on concept-arts based on the script.

Any award or important recognition that you want to stand out?

‘Restore Point’ has several awards and recognitions. It was selected as the Best project of Midpoint Scriptlab in 2016, invited by Hong-Kong HAF, BIFAN-NAFF and Fantasia Frontières and it’s also supported by MEDIA.

How did it help to develop the project?

The stickers you can put on your script when you get those great selections open a lot of doors, especially when you are unknown and working on a genre title. But mainly each of the events give you an amount of contacts that you can use to make the project better. Also, just pitching the project in front of the worldwide audience gives you great feedback.

Why did you apply to Sitges Pitchbox?

Well, it is the oldest and biggest genre market, so we had to go for it!

What could you tell about your experience in Filmarket Hub and Sitges Pitchbox?

The Filmarket Hub review of the script was a great experience and Pitchbox´s Guillermo Del Toro opening speech gave me goosebumps.

How was the experience during the event and the networking?

The networking felt leisure, more relaxed than business oriented, which was nice. Still maybe the ratio could be a little better weighted, which I imagine is hard for hospitable Spanish culture haha.

Would you repeat the Pitchbox experience?

To truly appreciate it, I would come again with an English or Spanish language project. And that is the plan.

Do you think this kind of events are useful to you?

They are a necessity for any European filmmaker.

Any advice to future participating projects?

You can do it.

Quiz

Tell us your 3 favourite screenwriters: Jonathan Nolan, Coen brothers, Alex Garland.

3 favourite screenwriting books: Creating Character Arcs (K.M. Weiland), Script for the 21st century (Linda Aronson), Making Movies (Sydney Lumet).

3 favourite directors: Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan.

3 favourite films: Eyes Wide Shut, Star Wars, Whiplash.

Thank you!