Archive: Culture | Film Film
Documentary shows hard work behind legendary jockey’s success
A new documentary has just opened in Czech cinemas looking at the life of
the country’s greatest jockey: eight-time Pardubice Steeplechase winner
Josef Váňa. At 59, Váňa competed against riders more than half his age.
The film “Váňa – The Greatest Race is Life Itself” reveals not only
the racer’s success but the hard work behind all the victories. More
Legendary actor Radoslav Brzobohatý dies aged 79
The legendary Czech actor Radoslav Brzobohatý passed away suddenly on
Wednesday, a day before his eightieth birthday. Some of his most famous
film roles came in the 1960’s, but the prolific television, theatre and
movie star had dozens of roles to his name. More
Fresh Film Fest kicks off in Prague with Manipulation as its main theme
The 9th Fresh Film Fest opens in Prague on Wednesday celebrating new and
debut films from around the world. This year’s installment of the
festival features movies by British documentary maker Peter Watkins, Tom
Tykwer and other Czech and international artists. The main theme of the
Fresh Film Fest this year is Manipulation. Radio Prague spoke to the
festival’s programme director Michal Hogenauer, and asked him what
exactly this means. More
The 38th annual Summer Film School pulls crowds to Uherské Hradiště
The 38th annual Summer Film School festival, that took place in Uherské
Hradiště last week, attracted over 5000 visitors. This year’s program
was mainly focused on Hungarian film and the history of movies in general. More
Fireman’s Ball re-release highlights lag in Czech film restoration
Since the advent of the DVD video format in the late 1990s, many countries
around the world have been re-mastering and restoring their respective
movie archives. With the relatively recent advent of high resolution
Blu-ray home movie technology, such restoration efforts have increased
exponentially. But, perhaps surprisingly, the Czech Republic lags far
behind its neighbours in this effort. While the Slovaks have restored
around eighty feature films, animated films and documentaries, only two
Czech films, the aforementioned Fireman’s Ball – the restored version
of which was recently screened at the Karlovy Vary film festival – and
the 1967 movie Marketa Lazarová, have undergone such rejuvenation. Dominik
Jun spoke with the director of the Czech National Film Archive, Michal
Bregant, about this discrepancy and began by asking about the restoration
of Miloš Forman’s iconic and highly allegorical New Wave film. More
"A place where Czech artists can meet their German public” – director Monika Štěpánová about the Czech Center in Berlin
Since January 2012, the Czech Center in Berlin has a new director: Monika
Štěpánová, who previously headed the Czech Center in Bucharest and is a
passionate supporter of documentary film making. This year also brings some
other important changes for the center. In the fall, it will reopen its
gates in a different location. The new premises are in the building of
Berlin’s Czech embassy. It was just a few weeks after the death of late
president Václav Havel shook the entire Czech nation that Monika
Štěpánová started her new position. How did she experience this
emotional event? That was the first question I put to her on a recent visit
to Berlin. More
47th Karlovy Vary Film Festival gets underway
The 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicked off in the west
Bohemian spa town on Friday. At the opening ceremony, the British actress
Helen Mirren was honoured for her contribution to world cinema. The
festival, which this year again features a Czech film in the main
competition, will conclude next Sunday with the handing out of the Crystal
Globe awards. Radio Prague’s former reporter, Ian Willoughby is at the
festival, and we asked him for an account of the happenings so far. More
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
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