Archive: Culture | Media Media
Exhibition highlights work of 20th century photographer Gerti Deutsch
The Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague has a new exhibition showcasing the
work of Viennese-born photographer Gerti Deutsch. She grew up in Vienna and
also resided in Paris and Salzburg, but it was in London, that she began to
be taken more seriously as a professional woman. She began working as a
freelance photojournalist for the then-newly founded ‘Picture Post’. More
First-time mums star in new docusoap series
Public broadcaster Czech TV this week will launch the first of several new
documentary series that fall under the heading of docusoap. The format,
well-known to audiences in Great Britain, for example, but less familiar
here, focuses on real and personal stories as drama and entertainment.
Entitled Čtyři v tom (which could be loosely translated as Four Buns in
the Oven) the series was co-directed by filmmaker Linda Kallistová
Jablonská (whose previous films includes a documentary about young
communists and conservatives) and Zuzana Špidlová (recognised for her own
film Bába). More
Mark Baker – Prague-based travel writer and journalist
Mark Baker is a travel writer and journalist. He first visited Prague as a
student in 1984 and began living here, after a stint in Vienna, in the
early 1990s. Since then he has written or co-written a number of guidebooks
to the Czech Republic and other countries in the region. More
Journalist and writer Aleš Březina
Aleš Březina, is a journalist, author and also editor and publisher of
the Canadian-based Czech and Slovak bi-weekly newsletter “Satellite
1-416”. Mr Březina was born in Prague in 1948 and left Czechoslovakia in
1980 after spending more than two years in jail as a conscientious
objector, rejecting mandatory conscription in the army. Since then, he has
lived in Canada and has just published a new book called Řetěz Bláznů
– or Chain of Fools – filled with short stories written between the
1960s and early 1980s, reflecting on life in communist Czechoslovakia and
the author’s subsequent move to Canada. When I met up with him in Canada
for this edition of One on One I asked him to recall his early years in
Czechoslovakia. More
Celebrating some of the greatest Czechs abroad
There are more than two million Czechs and their Czech-speaking descendants
living outside their homeland, or working abroad indefinitely, and Czech
Radio and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs undertakes a number of
activities – partly through Radio Prague – to support those
communities, to keep their connections with this country strong and to
help
them spread knowledge about the Czech Republic. More
Psycho for Kids and Baby Punk: Czech children’s writing since 1989
Czech parents may well be relieved to know that, if the latest studies are
anything to go by, their children are still keen readers. And what are they
reading? Well, how about Psycho for Kids and Baby Punk…? Such is the rich
new world of Czech children’s writing and publishing, post-1989. It’s a
world where poetry, music and visual art have come to overlap with some
surprising results. In reaction to four decades of censorship, just about
anything goes and there is little nostalgia for the old days. The
journalist Kateřina Kadlecová has taken a close interest in contemporary
Czech writing for children and teenagers, and she is my guest in this
week’s Czech Books. More
Lubomír Dorůžka: Legendary music journalist and translator of Western literature
Lubomír Dorůžka first began writing about music seven decades ago when,
during WWII, he produced a clandestine magazine on his greatest passion,
jazz. The quintessential American art form was frowned upon by the
Communists after their 1948 takeover of Czechoslovakia. However, in the
relatively liberal 1960s Mr. Dorůžka was able to edit music magazines and
play a very active role in international jazz organisations. As well as
being a music journalist, he is also a renowned translator of American and
British writers – and as a young man did many translations with his
lifelong friend, the novelist Josef Škvorecký. More
Tomáš Zilvar – magazine publisher focused on future media
Back in the mid 1990s Tomáš Zilvar quickly moved from putting together
DIY fanzines to publishing glossy titles like Tripmag and XMAG, magazines
that were focused on electronic music at a time when that genre was really
taking off among young Czechs. Today Zilvar, who is still in his early 30s,
has two jobs: running the Prague office of the hip New York-based magazine
and website Vice; and offering digitalisation services to Czech media
outlets and authors keen to enter the age of e-readers. More
Egon Erwin Kisch – the Raging Reporter
One of Prague’s best known German-language authors was Egon Erwin Kisch,
who was born in the Czech capital 125 years ago this Thursday. His
excellent style and original choice of stories, together with his dramatic
life, earned him a reputation of the ‘Raging Reporter’ that is still
very much alive today. More
Edna Fainaru – member of the main competition jury at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
On Saturday evening, the 46th edition of the Karlovy Vary International
Film Festival wrapped up and this year’s winners were announced – among
them the Israeli movie Restoration, directed by Joseph Madmony. As a member
of this year’s main competition jury, seasoned Israeli journalist Edna
Fainaru was one of those who picked the winning submission.We spoke to her
in the west Bohemian spa town and asked her about her experiences at film
festivals all over the world, her take on the Karlovy Vary festival and if
she still finds time to visit the theater, a subject which she studied in
Tel Aviv, after devoting her life to film. More
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