Eleven years ago, I was driving to a cottage at the end of a summer holiday and on the radio I first heard about the strange deaths of two Czech women, a mother and daughter, in a hotel complex in Egypt. The story, told in two or three sentences, immediately captivated me with its strangeness and couldn't get out of my head, even though I'm not a true crime lover. After all, thousands of Czech families go to hotel resorts in the summer to enjoy the sun, water, food and drink, not to die. What could have happened to them in that hotel? Did they get poisoned? Did someone kill them? Of course, I wasn't the only one fascinated at the time, and so the very next day the details of the mysterious case began filling the newspaper pages and television screens.
So I was thrilled when Petr Hátle, author of, among other things, the Truecrim podcast "Missing," came to me a year and a half ago and said he'd like to do a documentary series on the case of the Kramná family. It was clear to me that the combination of such an interesting case and this particular director could bring the highest quality to Voyo viewers. Not only in the filmmaking craft, but also in the ethical approach that such a complex case requires.
The story of the family is told in a non-obtrusive, yet interesting way. We do not question Kramny's guilt, Petr Kramny is a convicted murderer, but in the series we point out the "white" spots in the investigation and give space to the side that claims Petr Kramny did not kill anyone. First and foremost are the people whose lives have been changed by the case on both sides of the conflict.
After some complicated peripetias, as is the way of filmmaking, the Kramný Case series is complete. Thanks to the incredible energy of screenwriter Kristina Májová, editor Mariana Kozáková, dramaturge Ivo Trajkov and director Petr Hátle, a documentary series has been created that is also about other topics than the case itself.
And that is why I believe that not only true crime genre lovers will love the documentary series, but also all viewers who remember the case.
Source and photo: TV Nova Ltd.
