Culture | Topic Archive

One of the world's most famous film directors, Roman Polanski, was in Prague this weekend to attend the premiere of his latest movie Oliver Twist, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel of life on the streets of Victorian London. Oliver Twist is the latest major movie to be filmed in Prague, mostly at the city's Barrandov studios. So is it any good? Theo Schwinke, editorial director of Monitor CE, publishers of the Prague Daily Monitor, was at the premiere.

"Something Like Happiness", a new film by Czech director Bohdan Slama, won its first major success on the international stage at the weekend, clinching the Best Film award at the prestigious San Sebastian film festival. To add to the film's success, Ana Geislerova won Best Actress for her portrayal of a woman suffering from severe mental problems in the film, about ordinary people trying to survive the trials and tribulations of life. Tomas Baldynsky is a film critic for the magazine Reflex.

Prima ballerina Daria Klimentova is undoubtedly one of the most popular Czech dancers ever, with an impressive career in the Prague National Theatre Ballet, the Cape Ballet Company in Cape Town, the Scottish Ballet in Glasgow, and since 1996 the English National Ballet. On Tuesday, an exhibition of 60 photographs opened to the public in the foyer of the Albert Hall that depicts her career both on and off stage.

Many of you are probably familiar with the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual contest in which European countries compete for the best pop song. It has been taking place since 1956, and hundreds of millions of people all around the world now tune into it each year. But those hundreds of millions do not include the Czechs.

The "Salvage of Cultural Heritage" is a project whose main objective is to seek and preserve significant works by our famous predecessors which are important for our time as well as for future generations. The project includes some of the original scores by great Czech composers from the 19th century, but also the renovation of other cultural sites, such as Charles Bridge in Prague, the Baroque theatre in Cesky Krumlov or the house where Gustav Mahler was born at Kaliste near Humpolec.