That one morning… I was twenty-something and my friends were taking me to a palm reader. A fortune teller!! I laughed the whole way there. But she sat there and stared at me. Silent. And no one was laughing. Then she told me two things I'll never forget. First: "You'll never be rich… But you'll never be poor." So nice of her. And second: "Inside you lives a very, very old soul. A writer. He follows you everywhere. And he's right here, right now."
I'd never written a single word in my life! And that's how it all began…
But the writing would have to wait. Technology found its place instead. I worked in the IT field, safe and predictable. I founded and built an IT company, and a career.
But the memory of the fortune teller remained. Her voice gnawed at me.
Prague… I first came here in 1998 as a young man on a honeymoon, and with a certainty I couldn't explain, I realized I was home. I raised my children here, in this city with a thousand-year history and a thousand spires, where my current life and work unfolds.
We are working on a trilogy now. I say "we" because I'm not alone. I'm joined by friends and colleagues who share a love of art, a passion for storytelling, and that deep connection to Prague. David Kočár is a Prague-based filmmaker with twenty years of experience; and Pavel Kopp a cinematographer who has dedicated his life to telling stories through the lens.
Our current project, The Fortune Teller of the Golden Lane, is a family drama set across — medieval Bohemia, wartime Prague, and the present day. A story that poses fundamental questions about fate, loyalty, sacrifice, and the courage it costs a person to carry secrets across lifetimes.
If you are reading this, maybe there was a fortune teller who once whispered something in your ear, something you can't forget. Something has drawn you here. That much I believe. And maybe, it's something we can believe in together.
— Francisco Javier
Prague-based filmmaker with twenty years of experience across feature, commercial, and documentary production.
A career devoted to telling stories through the lens, working in Czech and international cinema.
Writer and director of The Fortune Teller of the Golden Lane, working between Prague and Los Angeles.
The Fortune Teller of the Golden Lane is a three-film trilogy set in Prague, accompanied by a twenty-one-piece spinoff constellation. The production builds around French and British cinema glass of the late 1950s and early 1960s, deployed on modern sensors, in service of a story the lenses were not, originally, made to tell.
We are working toward distribution agreements for the trilogy as we move through the development phase.
For actors, agents, programmers, and the genuinely curious: hello@roundbox.cz.
For producing inquiries directly to David: david@roundbox.cz.
We answer all serious inquiries personally.