I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1. 1. - 31. 12.
The travelling festival entitled Czech Modernism, which opened on 1. 12. 2006 in New York (USA), continued on its tour of the USA and Canada. In collaboration with the National Film Archive in Prague the following films were among those screened The Kreutzer Sonata (Kreutzerova sonáta, dir. Gustav Machatý, 1926), Such Is Life (Takový je život, dir. Carl Junghans, 1929), The River (Řeka, dir. Josef Rovenský, 1933), Marijka the Unfaithful (Marijka nevěrnice, dir. Vladislav Vančura, 1934), The Strike (Siréna, dir. Karel Steklý, 1947) and The Long Journey (Daleká cesta, dir. Alfréd Radok, 1949).
2. 1. - 7. 2.
The cafe at the Lucerna cinema in Prague (Czech Republic) hosted an exhibition of Czech feature film posters that were shown in cinemas in 2006 and competed for a Czech Lion award. The exhibition featured posters to the films Lunacy (Šílení, dir. Jan Švankmajer, 2005, CR – SR), Taming Crocodiles (Jak se krotí krokodýli, dir. Marie Poledňáková, 2006), The Rafters (Rafťáci, 2006) and The Ro(c)k of Pariahs (Ro(c)k podvraťáků, 2006) by director Karel Janák, Experts (Experti, dir. Karel Coma, 2006), Grandhotel (dir. David Ondříček, 2006) and Pleasant Moments (Hezké chvilky bez záruky, Věra Chytilová, 2006).
5. 1.
UNESCO awarded in Pretoria (South Africa) to the International Festival of Documentary Films on Human Rights One World, organized by Člověk v tísni, o. p. s. (People in Need), Honourable Mention for Peace Education for the cultivation of human rights. The jury awarded the festival's innovative approach "utilising the language of art to cultivate a respect for human dignity and human rights for all indiscriminately". Former Czech president Václav Havel proposed the festival's candidature to the UNESCO jury.
5. - 6. 1.
Aero cinema in Prague (Czech Republic) organized a mini-profile of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, in which it presented the films Átame! (1989), Todo sobre mi madre (1999, Spain – France), Hable con ella (2002), La mala educación (2004) and Volver (2005).
8. 1.
The Czech Mint in Jablonec (Czech Republic) created a silver commemorative medal to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of professor Josef Skupa (16. 1. 1892 – 8. 1. 1957), puppeteer and founder of the Spejbl and Hurvínek theatre. On the front of the medal is the portrait of Josef Skupa and the puppets Spejbl and Hurvínek are on the back. It’s the first time puppets have ever appeared on the medal which until now has been reserved exclusively for human portraits. The academician sculptor Jaroslav Bejvl designed the medal.
9. 1.
Film director and documentary filmmaker Helena Třeštíková became the minister of the Czech Ministry of Culture. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek appointed her after President Václav Klaus named his second government.
9. 1.
The MOVIE & TV STUDIO MAT cinema in Prague (Czech Republic) hosted a screening of the new documentary film Unspeakable (Nesdělitelné, 2007) from the series Memory of the Twentieth Century (Paměť 20. století) with the participation of the director and the Czech Minister of Culture Helena Třeštíková.
10. 1.
A special screening of the feature film I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále, dir. Jiří Menzel, 2006, CR – SR) was held in ten of the screening halls of the Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům multiplex in Prague (Czech Republic) with the participation of the film's creators and starring actors including Bulgarian actor Ivan Barnev, German actress Julia Jentsch and Hungarian director István Szabó.
11. 1. - 31. 5.
Prague and other cities in the Czech Republic hosted the 13th festival Project 100 – 2007. The event was launched with a screening of British director Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange (1971) as well as with a recording of an interview with Malcolm McDowell, who played the lead role in the film. McDowell provided the interview to the Association of Czech Film Clubs. The festival's programme featured Zerkalo (dir. Andrei Tarkovski, 1975, USSR), The Third Man (dir. Carol Reed, 1949, Great Britain), North by Northwest (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1959, USA) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (dir. Sam Peckinpah, 1973, USA), Cléo de 5 a 7 (dir. AgnèsVarda, 1961, France – Italy), Wo de fu qin mu qin/The Road Home (dir. Chang I-mou, 1999, China), Tsotsi (dir. Gavin Hood, 2005, South Africa), Taxidermia (dir. György Pálfi, 2006, Hungary – Austria – France) and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (dir. Ken Loach, 2006, Ireland – Great Britain – Germany – Italy – Spain). 14. 9. – 14. 12. The screening continued in the Slovak Republic.
12. 1.
Director and artist Michaela Pavlátová was elected spokesperson of the Film Council. She took over this role from director Helena Třeštíková, current Czech Minister of Culture. The Film Council, which was established in November 2006, is represented by Michaela Pavlátová together with president of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Jiří Bartoška and the rector of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Ivo Mathé.
14. - 24. 1.
The French-American film crew shot in Ostrava (Czech Republic) Babylon A. D. (dir. Mathieau Kassovitz, 2008), based on the book Babylon Babies by French writer Maurice G. Dantec. The leading role was played by Hollywood actor Vin Diesel. The shooting began on Ostrava's Main street in the Poruba district and in a historically preserved industrial zone in Vítkovice. 14. 3. – 27. 4. The film was then shot in the Barrandov studio in Prague and in Milovice. The company OKKO Productions carried out the Czech production.
15. 1.
Ostravian singer Vladiovojna La Chia and conductor Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer with the Okamžitý filmový orchestr (Immediate Film Orchestra) performed a concert entitled Decadence at the Palace Akropolis in Prague (Czech Republic). The concert took place as part of the accompanying programmes to the exhibition In Morbid Colours: The idea of decadence and art in the Czech lands 1880 – 1914 that took place in Prague's Municipal House (15. 11. 2006 – 18. 2. 2007). The composer and conductor Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer wrote and recorded music for numerous advertisements and films; director Miloš Forman offered to work with him on the film Goya’s Ghost/Los fantasmas de Goya (2006, Spain – USA)
15. 1.
A screening of Venezuelan documentary film from the collection of the Film Archive Bolívar Films opened at the Cervantes Institute in Prague (Czech Republic). The institute and the Venezuelan Embassy in Prague organized the screening of 16 films over the course of 8 evenings. The Film Archive Bolívar Films has preserved films from 1918. The screening began with the hour-long documentary Caracas, crónica del siglo XX (dir. Carlos Oteyza) from 1999 devoted to the most significant moments of the twentieth century for Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Another film entitled Luis Guillermo Villegas Blanco, un hombre de película (dir. Oscar Lucién, 2001) is devoted to the founder of the Venezuelan film archive.
16. 1. - 7. 3.
The Czech Embassy in Helsinki (Finland) in collaboration with the National Film Archive, Prague organized in Tampere the festival A Month of Czech Films which featured the films Black Peter (Černý Petr, dir. Miloš Forman, 1963), Pearls at the Bottom (Perličky na dně, dir. Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Evald Schorm, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, 1965), Daisies (Sedmikrásky, dir. Věra Chytilová, 1966), The Cremator (Spalovač mrtvol, dir. Juraj Herz, 1968) and The Joke (Žert, dir. Jaromil Jireš, 1968).
17. 1.
The Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům multiplex in Prague (Czech Republic) hosted the opening ceremony of the documentary film Champions of Shutka/Kniha rekordů Šutky/Šutka grad šampiona (dir. Aleksandar Manić, 2005, CR – Serbia and Montenegro – Finland).
17. 1.
General Major Stanislav Chromec from the Association of Officers and Officer Cadets of the Army of the Czech Republic presented to teachers of Prague schools a new teaching aid for history – a handbook to Czech history 1914 – 2004, which features 12 hours of video and five and a half hours of audio and photographs on DVD. According to historian Petr Kvaček, who took part in preparing the material for teaching 20th century history, the manual covers all areas of human activity. Experts consider documentary film to be the most effective method, they therefore included part of various documentaries and even entire films. They divided the ninety-year history into ten historical periods. The first stage featured World War I and the inception of Czechoslovakia, the final stage discusses the break-up of Czechoslovakia and the admittance of the Czech Republic into a united Europe. Teachers will find in each period a timeline, an overview of the political and economic situations, of the army, art, sports and even a sample of everyday life. The project was financed by the European Social Fund, the budget of the Czech Republic and the City of Prague.
18. 1.
The first Czech interactive horror film The Gardener/Zahradník (dir. Marcel Bystroň, 2007) was shown in digital cinemas.
18. 1.
The National Film Archive's Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt in Prague (Czech Republic) held a meeting of colleagues and friends of cinematographer Josef Vaniš (6. 1. 1927) on the occasion of his 80th birthday. The programme featured the screening of the film Vertigo (Závrať, dir. Karel Kachyňa, 1962).
23. 1.
The ceremonial opening of the puppet film One Night, One City (Jedné noci v jednom městě, dir. Jan Balej, 2007), which consists of the stories Shells (Ulity, 2004), Mr Twigg and Mr Fin (Větvička a Ploutvička, 2006) and One Night, One City (Jedné noci v jednom městě, 2000) took place at Světozor cinema in Prague (Czech Republic).
24. 1.
Director Helena Třeštíková, Czech Minister of Culture, resigned after two weeks in office. Her reason for resignation was the political pressure in naming deputy ministers.
24. 1.
Viola theatre in Prague (Czech Republic) the commemorated anniversary of the birth of the late actor, teacher and member of the National Theatre in Prague Boris Rösner (25. 1. 1951 – 31. 5. 2006) with a programme entitled Is Human Life a Beautiful Dream. Rösner worked for many years with this chamber stage. Along with Jiří Štěpnička, Rösner's student Miroslav Hrabě and pianist Emil Viklický, the programme was prepared by director Viktor Polesný, in whose television staging Boris Rösner often performed.
24. 1.
A series of experimental films by director and teacher Petr Skala was shown at the National Film Archive's Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt in Prague (Czech Republic). Bohdana Kerbachová gave the screening. The National Film Archive issued the film works of Petr Skala on DVD in 2005.
25. 1.
The Czech feature DVD Wanderers (Tuláci, dir. Vít Olmer, 2001) was introduced into cinema distribution at the cinema in Velešín (Czech Republic).
25. 1. - 4. 2.
The 14th annual Days of European Film was held at Světozor and Aero cinemas in Prague (Czech Republic). Embassies and cultural institutions of current and future EU member countries took part in organizing it with the financial support of the City of Prague and Czech Ministry of Culture. The director of the festival was Eva Kačerová. The Days of European Film opened with a screening of the co-production film by director Ken Loach entitled The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006, Ireland – Great Britain – Germany – Italy – Spain) at Světozor cinema and closed with Sergio Rubini's La Terra (Italy, 2006). Films by students of film schools from Prague and Písek were included in the programme as was the feature-length documentary by director Linda Jablonská entitled Left, Right, Forward (Kupředu levá, kupředu pravá, 2006). Slovak cinematography was represented by the film version of Stanislav Štepka's Terminal Station (Konečná stanica, 2004) by Czech director Jiří Chlumský. Filmmakers and journalists met at a roundtable discussion (29. 1.) devoted to the systems of economic stimuli for the film industry in various European countries. The Days of European Film continued on 5. – 13. 2. in Brno (Czech Republic). The festival’s "echoes" were also simultaneously held in Olomouc, Uherské Hradiště, České Budějovice and for the first time ever in Boskovice (Czech Republic).
26. 1.
Václav Jehlička was named the Czech Minister of Culture.
27. 1.
Beroun (Czech Republic) hosted the Czech Film and Television Union's awards ceremony FITES – TRILOBIT BEROUN 2006. Awards went to Kristina Vlachová for the documentaries The Devil's Harvest (Dračí setba, 2006) and The Cause of Uherské Hradiště (Kauza Uherské Hradiště, 2007); Tomáš Kudrna for the documentary Troublemaking Genius (Wichterle, 2006); Jan Šikl for the documentary A Low Level (Nízký let, 2007) from the Private Century series; Jana Hádková for the documentary The Legend about Kisch (Legenda o Kischovi, 2006); Luděk Navara, Ján Novák and Lenka Poláková for the television documentary Stories Behind the Iron Curtain (Příběhy železné opony, 2006). The Special award of the jury went to Erika Hníková for the documentary I Guess We'll Meet at the Eurocamp (Sejdeme se v Eurocampu, 2006), Honourable mention went to director Aleš Kisil and cinematographer Diviš Marek for the documentary I'm Crazy in My Town (Blázen jsem ve své vsi, 2006), to Linda Jablonská for the documentary Left, Right, Forward (Kupředu levá, kupředu pravá, 2006), to Petr Jančárek for the film Zenta... The Fate of the Austro-Hungarian Cruiser (Zenta… osud rakousko-uherského křižníku (2006), to director Martin Suchánek, to screenplay writer Zdeněk Mahler and cinematographer Richard Špůr for the documentary film Adieu Mozart (2005) and to Aurel Klimt, Vlasta Pospíšilová, Břetislav Pojar and Jan Balej for the animated film Fimfarum 2 (Fimfárum 2). The Vladislav Vančura award was given in memoriam to documentary film director Pavel Koutecký (10. 6. 1956 – 13. 4. 2006).
29. 1.
The Austrian film Museum (Österreichisches Filmmuseum) in Vienna (Austria) held an event entitled Italian Neorealism on which the National Film Archive in Prague collaborated in the screening of the film Anni difficili (dir. Luigi Zampa, 1947).
31. 1.
The premiere of the feature film by American director of Czech origin Miloš Forman Goya’s Ghost/Los fantasmas de Goya (2006, Spain – USA) was held in Prague (Czech Republic). The premiere was personally attended by the film's director together with the leading actors – Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Javier Bardem and the screenplay's author Jean-Claude Carrier. The film's music was composed by Czech composer and conductor Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer.