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Current AffairsKarlovy Vary Festival hosts Forman and Huppert
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival opened at the weekend with a
star-studded audience at Friday’s gala event. Among those present were
the French director Patrice Chéreau and his compatriot, actress Isabelle
Huppert, who received the festival’s first award. Particularly poignant
though was the presence of Czech born director Miloš Forman, as it marked
the return of a famous son to his native home and native language.
Christian Falvey reports on the opening days of the 44th Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival. More
Current AffairsCzech film greats Forman and Švankmajer among special guests at Karlovy Vary festival this year
One of the highlights of the Czech cultural calendar, the Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival, gets underway in the west Bohemian spa town
on
July 3. While the list of special guests this year has not been completed,
some names were revealed – along with the programme highlights – at a
news conference in Prague on Tuesday morning. I spoke there to KVIFF’s
programme director Julietta Sichel. More
Czechs TodayZdeněk Mahler – part two
This is the second part of a special Czechs Today dedicated to the writer,
journalist and filmmaker Zdeněk Mahler. Over the years, Mahler, who is
80,
has worked at the Communist Ministry of Culture, Prague’s Laterna Magika
Theatre, and with his life-long friend Miloš Forman on the film
Amadeus. But what about more recently? Well, Mahler has spent the
last decade researching the life and work of Czechoslovakia’s founder,
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. He has made several TV documentaries about the
first Czech president, and has even been elected head of the Masaryk
Democratic Movement: More
Czechs TodayAuthor, playwright and journalist Zdeněk Mahler - part one
For this edition of Czechs Today I met octogenarian Zdeněk Mahler, born
and raised in Prague’s Industrial Vysočany district. Over the last
three
quarters of a century, Mahler has repeatedly found himself involved in
some
of the country’s best-known cultural exports. He helped prepare the
famous winning Czechoslovak exhibit at the Brussels Expo in 1958, and
lived
and worked with a certain Miloš Forman throughout the period of the Czech
New Wave. More
Current AffairsThe Ghost of Munich to be made into film by Miloš Forman
The launch has just taken place in Prague of the Czech version of a novel
looking at the Munich Agreement of 1938, when the UK and France gave the
Nazis free reign to annex parts of Czechoslovakia. Written by Georges-Marc
Benamou, The Ghost of Munich tells the story of the Munich conference from
the point of view of the then French prime minister. The book looks set to
be made into a film, directed by Miloš Forman and written by Václav
Havel.
More
One on OneIvan Passer: Czech new wave filmmaker at helm of Karlovy Vary jury
My guest for this edition of One on One is Ivan Passer, who this week
received a Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary for his lifelong contribution to
world cinema. The president of this year’s festival jury fled communist
Czechoslovakia in 1968, after directing what has been voted one of the best
Czech films ever made – ‘Intimate Lighting’ is a black-and-white new
wave classic telling the story of two friends reunited. In more recent
years, Passer has worked in Hollywood, producing movies such as
‘Cutter’s Way’ and ‘Stalin’ to much critical acclaim. He was back
in the Czech Republic last week some 40 years after going into exile. But,
as he told me in a quiet hotel bar in Karlovy Vary, this was far from his
first visit back to his homeland:
More
SpecialVojtěch Jasný – venerable film director and font of remarkable stories
The Czech film director Vojtěch Jasný is a fit and active 82-year-old who
clearly loves to tell a story. And what stories. After his father was
killed at Auschwitz, the teenage Vojtěch joined the resistance and, he
says, became a British spy. As a young filmmaker he was happy to serve
socialism and, despite becoming somewhat disillusioned, enjoyed good
relations with Communist leaders Antonín Novotný and Alexander Dubček.
Other significant acquaintances included Tito, the great German author
Heinrich Boll and Miloš Forman.
More
One on OneMilena Jelinek – member of golden generation of Czech filmmakers now teaching screenwriting at Columbia
Milena Jelinek teaches screenwriting at Columbia University. Half a century
ago she herself studied at Prague’s FAMU film school, and was surrounded
by many of the people who later created the Czech New Wave. She herself
had
a hit film while still a student, though her life soon became complicated
– after getting engaged to a “foreigner”, JFK no less intervened to
help her get married and leave Czechoslovakia. In recent years Milena
Jelinek has enjoyed success in her home country with the film Forgotten
Light and a theatre play about Adina Mandlová. More
Current AffairsPop singer to fight allegation he collaborated with StB
Well-known pop singer Vaclav Neckar, (who many will remember as the
ill-fated 'Milos' in the Czech film Closely Watched Trains), has indicated
he intends to fight an allegation he collaborated with the StB, communist
Czechoslovakia's secret police. Earlier this week the Czech newspaper
Lidove Noviny reported it had uncovered original documents allegedly
revealing that Mr Neckar met sixteen times with an StB agent over a period
of around nine years (from 1978 to 1987). According to Lidove Noviny, Mr
Neckar was listed as an StB "confidant", expected to report on
fellow colleagues including singer and close friend Marta Kubisova.
More
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