Archive: Culture | Film Film
Actor Jiří Mádl – the teenage heartthrob grows up
In 2004, Jiří Mádl, who at the time was all about playing hockey and had
little ambitions to become an actor, shot to fame overnight with his lead
role in the box-office hit Snowboarďáci, or Snowboarders. While he was
mostly cast for teen comedies following his first big success, his more
recent films show a shift towards serious roles. In his latest movie, Four
Suns or Čtyři Slunce, directed by the acclaimed Bohdan Sláma, Mádl
plays bad-boy Jerry. The film also happens to be the Czech Republic’s
first submission to the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. I spoke to
Mádl, about his work, his love for foreign languages and asked him if he
still has a passion for ice-hockey. More
A Night Too Young: a successful start for Slovenian director Omerzu
It’s not every film student that gets his premiere at the International
film festival in Berlin, to be sure, but such was the fortune of Olmo
Omerzu, a FAMU graduate from Ljubljana, Slovenia, and our guest in this
week’s Arts. His graduate film called A Night Too Young (Příliš mladá
noc) had its world premiere in the Forum section of the Berlinale, which
generally selects highly original, highly provocative works. A Night Too
Young is both of those things: a story of a party of three consternated
adults, shared by two twelve-year-old boys, who have no idea that they are
about to grow up fast. We met with Olmo Omerzu this week, on the occasion
of the film’s domestic premiere, and asked him first of all about his
Czech connection came to be. More
Petr Lom – an academic who left his job to pursue his dream of working as a documentary film maker
Independent documentary director and producer Petr Lom was born in
Czechoslovakia but spent most of his life abroad – in Canada and the U.S.
His latest film, “Back to the Square” was selected as the opening film
at this year’s edition of the One World International Film Festival,
where he is also on the jury. Before becoming a film maker, Petr Lom was
actually an academic – until one day he quit his job and never looked
back. I asked him about his films, which focus on countries such as Iran
and Egypt, his connection to One World and his big career change. More
Bohdan Sláma's Four Suns opens in Czech cinemas
Bohdan Sláma, born in 1967, has long been described as one of the most
important up & coming directors in the Czech Republic. The filmmaker
received early recognition and acclaim for work like Wild Bees, Something
Like Happiness and Country Teacher and has become known for a naturalistic
social dramas with elements of comedy – a trademark he upholds in his
latest movie Čtyri slunce (Four Suns), which had its US premiere earlier
this year at Sundance and its European premiere at Rotterdam. On Thursday,
after much anticipation, Four Suns opened in Czech cinemas. More
Protest, rebellion, revolt – Arab Spring takes center stage at the One World International Human Rights Film Festival 2012
The One World International Human Rights Film Festival has just started in
Prague. This year’s edition brings over a hundred films from 72 countries
to the Czech capital, where documentary lovers can visit special festival
screenings until March 15. With such an abundance of interesting
documentaries, it’s something difficult to determine what to see first
– we asked program director Kateřina Bartošová about her highlights
and about the theme of this year’s main category. More
Jiří Trnka: 100th anniversary of the birth of a great Czech animator.
This February marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the Czech
Republic’s greatest animators, puppeteers and illustrators, Jiří Trnka.
This milestone is being marked in the Czech Republic by the country’s
National Film Archive; its Prague-based Ponrepo cinema screening a
collection of Trnka’s films and documentaries about the artist until
March 16th. Czech Centres around the globe – which exist to promote the
Czech Republic - are also marking the anniversary heralding an exhibition
called “Jiří Trnka: In the Service of the Imagination” which kicked
off in Munich and also runs until March. More
Hana Kulhánková – the director of the One World International Human Rights Film Festival
Film has played an important role in Hana Kulhanková’s life ever since
she was a teenager. Later, she studied film and worked at the Mezipatra
Queer Film Festival, which showcases gay and lesbian filmmakers. Now, Hana
Kulhánková is the director of one of Prague’s most colorful and
interesting film festivals, One World, which focuses on human rights
documentaries. Ahead of the start of this year’s edition, I spoke to her
about the festival program, human rights and what initially piqued her
interest in film. More
Ambitious exhibition project “Other Air” brings surrealist art to Prague
Something is in the air in Prague’s Old Town Hall: An exhibition titled
“Other Air” gives the public a chance to see both a retrospective of
Czech and Slovak surrealist art from the last two decades, as well as
surrealist works from renowned international artists. In addition, the
exhibition features a rich accompanying program with surrealist films and
readings and a bilingual catalogue with surrealists texts. The ambitious
project kicked off in February and will be running in the Czech capital
until April. We spoke to artist and member of the Czech surrealists,
Kateřina Piňosová, about the exciting and unusual project. More
Director Miloš Forman turns 80
Director Miloš Forman celebrates his 80th birthday on Saturday, and
newspapers in his native country are full of tributes. In the small
category of Czech artists who have conquered the world, Forman has a seat
among the likes of Antonín Dvořák and Milan Kundera and Czechs are
dulely proud of him for his success. But his approach to filmmaking and
style of direction also permanently altered the course of cinematography in
the Czech Republic and elsewhere, a fact we discussed earlier with Karel
Och, the artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film
Festival. More
A very private universe – Helena Třeštíková’s latest documentary “Soukromý vesmír”
Helena Třeštíková, the country’s leading documentary maker, has
released her latest project – a feature-length film titled
"Soukromý vesmír”, which chronicles the life of one Czech family
over a remarkable time span of 37 years. By adding archive TV footage and
putting the family’s story into a wider context, the director was able to
paint not just a family portrait, but also the portrait of a country. More
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