See an ultra-futuristic Prague in new teaser for Czech 'Blade Runner'

A teaser has dropped for an upcoming Czech sci-film that has already been compared to “Blade Runner.” The noir-style futuristic detective film “Restore Point” (Bod obnovy) is set to hit Czech cinemas on Sept. 21.

In the near future in the year of 2041, people living in the Free European Federation are guaranteed the right to a complete life. If they die an unnatural death, they can be brought back with new technology to a saved restore point, something like recovering a computer system after a crash or a virus.

After one person is murdered, though, a detective starts to uncover some concerning details about the system.

The film is the first feature by director Robert Hloz, who studied filmmaking in Zlín and South Korea. While the film was in production last year, he said that he was fascinated by a world that is almost within our reach. “Beneath its genre shell, ‘Restore Point’ is a story about the moral dilemmas of society," Hloz told Czech Television.

“People lose their freedom but perhaps gain a sense of security. And what is actually more important?” he said.

Filming took place in Czechia as well as Poland and Slovakia. Producer Jan Kallista said that socialist-era brutalist-style buildings were used for the basic look and then digitally modified with futuristic elements.

In Prague, scenes were reportedly shot in the Žižkov neighborhood and Kotva department store.

The teaser doesn’t give away much of the story, but it does show the dark look of what seems to be a grim view of the future.

Some of the visual effects will be done by the Czech company Magiclab, which for example did work on the recent “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre.”

The film stars Andrea Mohylová as the detective with Matěj Hádek, Milan Ondrik, Václav Neužil, and Karel Dobrý in supporting roles.

Science fiction has not been a very common genre for Czech filmmakers, who tend to do contemporary family comedies, historical pieces, or fairy tales.

There are a few exceptions, like the 1963 space drama “Ikarie XB 1,” which many people say had an influence on both the “Star Trek” TV series and Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Some people know “Ikarie XB 1” from a dubbed and re-edited version called “Voyage to the End of the Universe” that often played on TV in the U.S.

But Czech sci-fi is often played for comedy, with entries like “Accumulator 1” (Akumulátor 1) a 1994 film by Jan Svěrák. There have also been campy films like “Ferat Vampire” (Upír z Feratu), a 1982 film about a race car that runs on blood.