I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2. - 12. 9.
The world premiere of the feature film debut of Slovak director Mira Fornay’s Foxes (Lištičky/Líštičky, 2009, CR – SR – Ireland) was held at the 66th International Film Festival in Venice. The film was selected to the competition section of the 24th International Film Critics’ Week. The section with a maximum number of 7 film debuts from the entire Critics’ Week was established 24 years ago as an independent section of the International Film Festival in Venice in the same tradition as the Critics’ Week in Cannes or at Berlin.
3. 9.
Czech president Václav Klaus received theatre and film actress Jana Štěpánková (6. 9. 1934). He congratulated her on her birthday and presented her with an honourable gold plaque of the president of the republic.
4. - 13. 9.
At the 25th International Festival Festroia in Set ú bal (Portugal) the Slovak actor Samuel Spišák, who starred in Jiří Chlumský’s Slovak-Czech co-production Broken Promise (Nedodržený slib/Nedodržený sľub, 2009), received the award for best actor. Karel Fairaisl, cinematographer of Czech film Guard No. 47 received the award for camera. The programme In Honour of Czech Film included a screening of the film Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, dir. Jiří Menzel, 1966). Jiří Menzel received three years before the Crystal Dolphin main prize for lifelong work.
5. - 11. 9.
The Škoda Auto Museum in Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic) hosted the 7th Festival of European Film Smiles 2009. The Festival’s main prize – the ŠKODA AUTO prize went to film British director Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, Great Britain – USA), the award for best Czech film went to Marie Poledňáková for You Kiss Like God (Líbáš jako Bůh, 2009), the award of the festival’s director to For All Film Laughs to director Václav Vorlíček, the special award for the development of Czechoslovak film – the Award of the Commissioner of the Central Bohemian region went to director Juraj Herz and the viewers’ choice award – the Award of the KOVO ŠKODA AUTO unions went to the film Veni, Vidi, Vici (dir. Pavel Göbl, 2009, CR).
7. 9.
The documentary film The Circle – a Portrait of a Demonstration (KRUH – Portrét demonstrace, 2009), shot by FAMU student Tereza Reichová had its premiere at Prague’s NoD club. This was a commemorative event at Litvínov’s Janov housing development (Czech Republic) where mainly Romanies reside. On 17 November 2008 there was held here a demonstration of the Worker’s Party and a march of Autonomous Nationalists to the Janov housing development joined it. Radicals clashed with police at the roundabout near the housing development. The incident was rare in that a large number of local inhabitants joined the ultra-right demonstrators. The film’s creator shot footage right at the scene of the incident and a few months later invited to the roundabout those who took part in the demonstration in various ways and confronted them with footage of this incident.
8. 9.
The Film Foundation RWE & Barrandov Studio, a. s., announced a public tender for an original literary work in two categories: the literary preparation of feature films and the literary preparation of a television dramatic work up to 50 minutes long. The deadline was September 2009. The tender winners were to be announced in January 2010. The entered literary projects were judged by a committee of five independent experts.
10. 9.
Upon the occasion In Honour of Miloš Forman there was screened in Douro Valley (Portugal) the film Firemen’s Ball (Hoří, má panenko/La Fiesta de bomberos, 1967, Czechoslovakia – Italy).
10. 9.
Oko cinema began operation in the Letná district of Prague. The new operator – the distribution company Aerofilms added it to its other two cinemas, Aero and Světozor. These cinemas are the most respected Prague art cinemas that have for several years now offered an alternative to the multiplex programme. Prior to this, Oko was operated by the organizers of the Jihlava festival of documentary films which used the venue to screen, in addition to classic distribution films, documentary works. The new Oko cinema has preserved this tradition and also offered programme blocks devoted to Bollywood, serials or film jukeboxes, i.e. specially requested films. Matinees feature screenings for parents with children.
10. 9.
The opening of the exhibition of young American painter Dana Bell was held in Prague’s Dvorak sec contemporary gallery. The artist chose as her theme unusual human relations from cult scenes of American films. Dana Bell’s paintings reflect the strong moments of 20th century film that the author shows in geometric symmetry. She reflects upon films that not only shine with an aesthetic language, but also in the various forms of narrating and presenting an often psychological story. This is why she works with films or scenes from the films of Federico Fellini or Alfred Hitchcock.
10. 9.
The opening of an exhibition of the work of artist Zdeněk Kaplan was held at Světozor cinema in Prague. Kaplan’s exhibited film posters are part of the series of the Golden Era of Czech Film Posters organized by Světozor with the Terry Socks Haberdashery. The poster work of Zdeněk Kaplan, who emigrated in 1969 and lives in northern Italy, is influenced by Secessionist art. He often used subtle decorations and highly detailed drawings. Examples of his masterpieces include The Seven Year Itch (dir. Billy Wilder, 1955, USA), My Fair Lady (dir. George Zukor, 1964, USA) and Vivre pour vivre (dir. Claude Lelouch, 1967, France – Italy).
11. 9.
The European Audiovisual Monitoring Centre announced that for the first half of 2009 on the five main EU markets, attendance at cinemas showed a year-on-year increase of four percent. The most frequented film was the American drama Angels & Demons (dir. Ron Howard, 2009).
12. 9.
The television premiere of the film The Last of the Mohicans (Poslední mohykán, 2009) by co-screenplay writer and director Ondřej Havelka, who dedicated the documentary film to the legend of pre-war Czech swing, Jiří Traxler. Since 1949 this ninety-seven-year-old pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger and at present only living musical-contemporary of Jaroslav Ježek lives in Edmonton, Canada. The hour-long document was created in the Brno studio of Czech Television.
13. 9.
Students of the Prague Film School screened their graduation films at Prague’s Světozor cinema. The length of the various films ranged from ten to fifteen minutes. The filmmakers came from Iceland, Greece, Ireland, USA, Mexico, Lithuania, Germany, Japan and Sweden. The Prague Film School was created in 2004. Over the course of its five year existence over 700 foreign students have graduated from this school, of which one was from the Czech Republic. The courses are taught in English.
15. 9.
With the screening of the film Tobruk (2008, CR – SR) in London the DVD of this war film was released on the British market. The screening and discussion with viewers was attended by the film’s director Václav Marhoul and Colonel Miloslav Kratochvíl-Bitton, who fought at Tobruk. The DVD is sold in England by the company High Fliers.
15. - 18. 9.
The 11th International Television and Radio Festival of Gastronomy – The Znojmo Grapes was held. The competition was divided into sections of TV programmes, radio programmes and advertisements. The Golden Grape main prize went in the TV programmes section to the programme Global Food, the episode The Sushi Empire (company ARTE, 2008, France). In the radio programmes section a Golden Grape was awarded to the programme Sheep Head Cooker (Vývařovna skopových hlav, dir. Břetislav Tureček, Czech Radio 1 – Radiožurnál). The jury awarded the following special prizes: The Grand Prix went to the programme Yes, Boss (Ano, šéfe!, TV Prima), the South Moravia Region Award went to the programme Kitchen Alert – Moravian Cravings (Kuchařská pohotovost – Moravské choutky, dir. Daria Hrubá, 2009, produced by CZECH TELEVISION), the Award of the City of Znojmo went to the ad Rajec – Nature Shares (Rajec – příroda se podělí, Kofola, a. s., SR), the Michal Melíšek Award went to the creators of the advertisement Roll Out the Barrels (Vyvalte sudy, Český rozhlas Regina) and the award of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic to Květa Bodóllová for the programme Our Guest (Náš host, Czech Radio Plzeň).
15. - 24. 9.
The French Institute in Prague hosted a screening of Czech films entitled Czech–In Kino 35 – echoes of the Paris Festival of Czech Films. The screening was linked to the event Czech-In organized in June 2009 in Paris. The following films were screened The Return of the Idiot (Návrat idiota, dir. Saša Gedeon, 1999, CR – Germany), Želary (dir. Ondřej Trojan, 2003, CR – Austria – SR), Wrong Side Up (Příběhy obyčejného šílenství, dir. Petr Zelenka, 2005, CR – Germany – SR) and Who’s Afraid of the Wolf (Kdopak by se vlka bál, dir. Maria Procházková, 2008), the animated film Jan Werich’s Fimfarum (Fimfárum Jana Wericha, dir. Vlasta Pospíšilová, Aurel Klimt, 2002) and the documentary Citizen Havel (Občan Havel, dir. Pavel Koutecký, Miroslav Janek, 2008).
16. - 27. 9.
The 15th International Film Festival in Athens (Greece) was held at which the Czech film Valery’s Week of Wonders (Valerie a týden divů, 1970) by director Jaromil Jireš was screened.
17. 9.
Vilnius (Lithuania) hosted a screening of 52 Weeks of Film History. Gustav Machatý’s Ecstasy (Extase) from 1932 was the Czech film screened. The National Film Archive in Prague sent the film to the event.
17. 9.
The People in Need organization prepared a series of public film-debate evenings entitled You Have the Right to Know. The first of the evenings, on which a documentary film was always show, was devoted to the theme How do we perceive freedom twenty years after the Velvet Revolution? The film The Power of the Powerless (dir. Cory Taylor, 2009, USA) was screened. After the screening there was a debate with Jan Urban, a former dissident, Monika Pajerová, who played a role in the Velvet Revolution and Jakub Bachtík from the Democracy Czech-Up initiative. In October the theme of Burma was selected, the film Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land (2008) in the co-production of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain shot by director Anders Østergaard was screened.
17. 9.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the creation of (Film Review) Filmový přehled magazine, issued by the National Film Archive, the editorial board organized a press conference at Ponrepo, the screening hall of the National Film Archive at Bio Konvikt in Prague. The magazine’s editor-in-chief Tomáš Bartošek briefly recalled the history of the Film Review that has since the time of its inception touched on, during certain periods, problems concerning its own existence. But the magazine’s content has always been maintained at a high level. The editor-in-chief thanked his broad circle of indispensible colleagues. In the current age of information in which the amassing of data and its distribution via various (mainly electronic) channels, the Film Review remains in print form, even though since 1994 the computer version has been issued (presently via the Internet), but which still does not allow for the text to be worked with as with a database. The monthly Film Review is in its objectivity, accuracy and quality a source of information for a broad circle of people interested in film and as such is an important part of the Czech film culture.
17. 9.
Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům in Prague held the ceremonial premiere of the feature-length film Little Foxes (Lištičky/Líštičky, dir. Mira Fornay, 2009, CR – SR – Ireland).
17. 9.
The year 2009 is connected with the 60th anniversary of the first professional dubbing studio in the Czech Republic. It was sixty years ago in which there was created in then Czechoslovakia the Czech version of the soviet film Konstantin Zaslonov (dir. Vladimir Korsh-Sablin, 1949), recognized as the first Czechoslovak professionally dubbed film. “Of course, Czech was spoken earlier in the American animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. That was in 1938 and the text to it was written by Erik Adolf Saudek. An interesting bit of trivia was that the sound was recorded optically back then, while a magnetic recording was used for all films to follow,” pointed out director Olga Walló, who followed in her father K. M. Walló’s footsteps and has dubbed a thousand films into Czech over a forty year period. Both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (dir. David Hand, 1937, USA), as well as the Soviet drama Konstantin Zaslonov are connected to the name Miroslav Gebert, who allegedly spoke Czech for most of the roles in the American film Trailing the Killer (dir. Herman C. Raymaker, 1932) – that was even written in 1933.
17. 9.
The Slovak Film and Television Academy nominated the co-production Slovak-Czech film Broken Promise (Nedodržený slib/Nedodržený sľub, dir. Jiří Chlumský, 2009) for the American Film Academy’s Oscar Award in the category of best foreign language film.
19. 9.
Tereza Bebarová and Vladimir Dlouhý received in Přelouč (Czech Republic) awards of The 15th Awards of František Filipovský for Best Acting and Dubbing Performances of Audiovisual Works Přelouč 2009. Tereza Bebarová received the award for the role of Laura (Mellisa George played the role in the original) in the television series In Treatment (dir. Rodrigo Garcia, Paris Barclay, Melanie Mayron, Chris Misiano, 2008, USA), and Vladimír Dlouhý received the award for John Adams (played in the original by Paul Giamatti) in the television series John Adams (dir. Tom Hooper, 2008, USA). The dubbing of the film John Adams also received the FITES Award (of the Film and Television Union) and the Media Master for exceptional dubbing work of a valued audiovisual work. The FITES Award for lifelong exceptional dubbing work went to translator and director Věra Barešová. Actresses Aťka Janoušková and Eva Jiroušková and actors Jiří Dušek and Jiří Brož received awards for lifelong mastery in dubbing given by the Actors’ Association. The Award of the Union of Interpreters and Translators for exceptional quality of translation and dubbed audiovisual work was also presented in Přelouč. This award went to Vladimír Fuksa and to dialogue writer Jitka Tošilová for translation of the film Billy Elliot (dir. Stephen Daldry, 2000, Great Britain – France). The František Filipovský special award for exceptional dubbing work on television films of various genres including animated, children’s and TV series went to the American series Desperate Housewives IV (dir. Larry Shaw, 2007, USA) – translation by Markéta Šerá, dialogues by Alena Navrátilová, sound by Jaroslav Kosán, and directing of Czech version by Jiří Kodeš. The Award of Sennheiser and of the Association of Sound Technicians for best sound of a dubbed audiovisual work went to David Pavlíček for sound in the film Cloverfield (dir. Matt Reeves, 2008, USA, director of Czech version: Jiří Balcárek). Award for best dubbing have been presented in Přelouč since 1995, the year before that František Filipovský himself was awarded in memoriam.
19. - 26. 9.
Marie Poledňáková’s comedy You Kiss Like God (Líbáš jako Bůh, 2009) received both main prizes at the 31st Festival of Czech Film and Television Comedy – The Nové Město Cup of Laughter in Nové Město nad Metují (Czech Republic). She received the viewers’ choice Cup of Laughter Award and the Golden First from the jury. In the category of best television comedy the jury awarded the main prize to Petr Slavík’s comedy Strange Hair (Divnovlásky, 2009), a CZECH TELEVISION production. The film for television Strange Hair (Divnovlásky) also won other prizes from the festival in addition to the Golden First. The author of the book it was based on, writer Irena Obermannová, was awarded a FITES award for best screenplay and actresses Lucie Šteflová and Helena-Lia Tachovská received the Zdeněk Podskalský Award for most striking performance by a young actor. Jitka Čvančarová won the best actress award for her leading role in the television comedy The Decorator (Natěrač, dir. Jaroslav Brabec, 2009). Jiří Macháček won the best actor award for his role of Oscar in the comedy Shameless (Nestyda, dir. Jan Hřebejk, 2008). The award for best director went to Jaroslav Brabec for his film The Decorator (Natěrač). The jury decided in favour of Hell with the Princess (Peklo s princeznou, dir. Miloslav Šmídmajer, 2009) for best artistic concept. Architect Milan Býček and costume designer Lucie Ulíková received the award for best creative work. In addition to the award of the expert jury, the Actors’ Association also gave an award for best performance in television films, staging and feature films that went to Veronika Kubařová for her role of the girl in Juraj Herz’s television drama The Girl and the Magician (Dívka a kouzelník, 2008). Actor and president of the Nové Město Cup of Laughter festival Pavel Zedníček presented the Festival President’s Award for contribution to Czech comedy to actor, director and screenwriter Zdeněk Svěrák. The new competition section entitled Student Laughter was added to the festival. This category included films shot by students of schools geared toward filmmaking. Viewers had the chance to see a total of 18 comedies by students of FAMU in Prague, Private Film College Písek Ltd., School of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Technology in Prague, the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín and Film School Zlín. The five-member jury granted the Student Laughter main prize for best student work to the film Radio Kebrle (2006) by director Zdeněk Durdil. The Young First award in the section of film comedies again went to the film You Kiss Like God (Líbáš jako Bůh) and in the category of television production an adaptation of Donald Churchill’s play, The Decorator (Natěrač), won. The viewers’ choice Students’ Cup of Laughter went to Tomáš Hubáček’s four-minute film Brutpong (2003).
21. 9.
Daddy’s Girl (Tatínkova holčička, dir. Petr Slavík, 2008) from the TV NOVA series Private Traps (Soukromé pasti) won at the 11th International Film Festival in La Rochelle (France) the award for best film in the section of European television work.
22. 9.
The ceremonial premiere of the Czech feature film Protector (Protektor, 2009) by director Marek Najbrt was held in the Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům multiplex.
22. and 25. 9., 11. - 18. 10.
The National Audiovisual Archive in Helsinki (Finland) hosted the event Musicals from the Socialist Period, in which the Czech Musical Hop-Pickers (Starci na chmelu, dir. Ladislav Rychman, 1964) was performed. Also shown was a series of animated films by director Zdeněk Miler on the Mole: The Mole and the Transistor Radio (Krtek a tranzistor, 1968), The Mole as a Gardener (Krtek zahradníkem, 1969), The Mole and the Lollipop (Krtek a lízátko, 1970), The Mole and the Umbrella (Krtek a paraplíčko, 1971), The Mole as a Painter (Krtek malířem, 1972), The Mole and the Music (Krtek a muzika, 1974), The Mole and the Telephone (Krtek a telefon, 1974) and The Mole and the Matches (Krtek a zápalky, 1974).
22. - 25. 9.
Vimperk hosted the 8th International Festival of Films about Nature and Animals – Nature Vision 2009. The festival was linked to the same event (though competitive) in the German town of Neuschönau (16. – 19. 7.), where 29 films from all over the world selected for the main competition were screened. Films vied for festival prizes in a total of 9 categories. The most successful film was Mythos Wald – 1 & 2 (2008) by German director, cinematographer and producer Jan Haft. He immediately received two prizes – Best International Film and Best Camera. The Czech-German Young Jury also awarded its prize, which received the Czech film A Living Picture of a Better World (Živý obraz lepšího světa, 2008) by director Marián Polák. As is the tradition, the best films from the international competition in Germany were screened in Vimperk. The Vimperk festival is supplemented each year by sidebars. This year it was the photography exhibition Natural Wonder and the exhibition of the 40 best works by children from the 2nd year of the I Like Animals competition. Works chosen by the jury competed for the Stanislava Chumanová Award (the beloved mayor who passed away two years ago).
22. 9.
The Prague City Council named a new grant commission for culture and art. The commission chairman is Ondřej Pecha, a representative of ODS, chairman of the city council committee for culture and recreation, other members are Jan Hančil, DAMU dean, Zdeněk A. Tichý, DAMU vice-dean, Petr Dorůžka, music columnist, Jan Simon, director of the Symphonic Orchestra of Czech Radio, Noemi Zárubová-Pfeffermannová, university teacher for dance and non-verbal arts, Renata Milgromová, choreographer, dancer and director of the Open Field civic association, Věra Jirousová, art historian, Petr Vrána, visual artist and producer, Jiří Peňás, columnist, Jan Lukeš, editor of the department of film theory and history of the National Film Archive, Jan Foll, film columnist, Eva Zaoralová, art director of the International Film Festival at Karlovy Vary, Petr Vlasák, producter and Marek Gregor, journalist and manager.
24. 9.
Prague’s Laterna Magika hosted its six thousandth performance of its Magic Circus (Kouzelný cirkus). The repertoire has been performed uninterruptedly since 1977. The Magic Circus (Kouzelný cirkus) was created by a group of artistic directed by Evald Schorm (15. 12. 1931 – 14. 12. 1988). Jiří Srnec and Jan Švankmajer also lent a hand in directing, while the creative and set design was the work of Josef Svoboda (10. 5. 1920 – 8. 4. 2002), and costumes were designed by Zdeněk Seydl (29. 4. 1916 – 17. 6. 1978). The choreography for the music of Oldřich F. Korte (and other thirteen composers) was created by Karel Vrtiška (15. 4. 1927 – 24. 2. 2004), Jiří Hrabal, Vlastimil Jílek (2. 9. 1925 – 16. 4. 1996) and Josef Koníček. Film professionals contributing to the success of the Magic Circus (Kouzelný cirkus) included cinematographers Emil Sirotek (20. 3. 1937 – 1. 10. 1999) and Antonín Daňhel, film editor Alois Fišárek, sound master technician Ivo Špalj, producer Jaromír Kallista, Karel Beran and many other colleagues.
24. 9.
The Czech Film and Television Academy nominated Marek Najbrt’s Protector (Protektor, 2009) for nomination for the Oscar Award of the American Academy of Film Arts and Sciences in the category of best foreign language film.
25. 9. - 4. 10.
The 1st International Film Festival Ostrava Kamera Oko focusing on cinematographic work was held. The festival featured almost a hundred films, and an interesting attraction was the screening of Tomáš Vorel’s film Smoke (Kouř, 1990) on the premises of Vítkovice Holding. Part of the film was shot on the very premises of the ironworks plant Vítkovické železárny. The festival’s closing consisted of the awards ceremony for the National Cinematographer Competition. The Ostrava Camera Eye Award for camera work of the National Cinematographer’s Competition went to FAMU student Adam Stretti for his camera work in Michal Hogenauer’s Children Watching Night Trains (Děti sledující noční vlaky, 2008), the jury’s special award went to cinematographer and director Gašper Šnuderl for his feature film Charmers (2008). Cinematographer František Uldrich presented the awards. The festival was part of Ostrava’s candidacy for the title of European Cultural Capital for 2015. On the occasion of the opening of the festival a commemorative plaque was unveiled to British director and producer of Czech origin Karel Reisz in Ostrava – his native town. The commemorative plaque depicts a large wide-angle lends in which a photograph of Karel Reisz’s family shines. Karel Reisz died in London in 2002. Practically his entire family ended up in Auschwitz. He was the only one to get to England thanks to Sir Nicholas Winton. Director Věra Chytilová was also present at the unveiling of the plaque.
26. 9.
The French-Spanish coproduction film by Spanish director Javier Rebollo La mujer sin piano (2009) won the award for best director at the 57th International Film Festival in San Sebastian (Spain). One of the roles in the film – the Polish worker Radek – was played by Czech actor and singer Jan Budař.
28. 9.
The Museum Cinema in Moscow (Russia) screened an older Czech film, St. Wenceslas (Svatý Václav, 1929) by director Jan S. Kolár, to commemorate the anniversary of the death of St. Wenceslas ( 907 – 929 or 935, Sept 28 ). September 28th is a national holiday of the Czech Republic and Czech Statehood Day.
28. 9. - 2. 10.
Czech films received awards in the competition of the 26th International Festival AGROFILM 2009 in Nitra (Slovak Republic). In category B – professional and instructional films the Mendel University Brno Award went to the video Cultivation of Fishing Grounds (Péče o rybářské revíry, dir. Jiří Minář, 2008), in category C – documentary and current events films – the film for television Learn to Catch Fish (Naučte je chytat ryby, dir. Pavel Bezouška, 2009) from the series Stories from Africa (Příběhy z Afriky) won the diploma and the award of the Association of Agriculture Cooperatives and Companies went to the CZECH TELEVISION Brno film White Sea of the Highlands (Bílé moře Vysočiny, dir. Rudolf Adler, 2009) from the series Our Countryside (Náš venkov).
30. 9.
Visitors of Central Bohemian monuments could in September set out in the tracks of films that were shot at the castles and chateaus here. Thematic exhibitions, discussions with actors and film screenings acquainted them with the films. For example, on 26. 9. at the Březnice chateau, anchorman Marek Eben spoke of the shooting of the television competition On the Treasure of Czech Agnes (O poklad Anežky České). The film The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider (Smutek paní Šnajderové/Trishtimi i zanjes Shnajder, dir. Piro Milkani, Eno Milkani, 2008, CR – Albania), set in the backdrop of this historical monument, was screened on the courtyard of Karlštejn Castle on 12. 9. Visitors of Konopiště chateau saw the same film on 4. 9. The Krakovec Castle is inherently connected with the fairytale by director Oldřich Lipský Long Live the Ghosts! (Ať žijí duchové!, 1977, Czechoslovakia). Visitors had the chance to speak on 13. 9. with some of the main actors in this film, and scenes from the film were screened. For all of September at Křivoklát castle they could have a look at specific places where various films were screened and compared their view with photographs of shots taken by various cinematographers. Filmmakers were also remembered on 19. 9. in Veltrusy. The chateau, park and town here were the backdrop for the Czech films The Ring (Prstýnek, dir. Martin Frič, 1944), The Unconquered (Neporažení, dir. Jiří Sequens, 1956), Little Mermaid (Malá mořská víla, dir. Karel Kachyňa, 1976) Autumn Spring (Babí léto, dir. Vladimír Michálek, 2001) and films from USA The Bridge at Remagen (dir. John Guillermin, 1969, USA), Amadeus (dir. Miloš Forman, 1984, USA) and others. The Žleby château also has a “fairytale” past. The Czech films A Royal Promise (Královský slib, dir. Kryštof Hanzlík, 2001, CR) and the film The Loveliest Riddle (Nejkrásnější hádanka, dir. Zdeněk Troška, 2008, CR) were shot here and guides told visitors about them during September. Remembering the filmmaking was part of the Revived Monument project.
30. 9.
Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům in Prague held the ceremonial premiere of the film Catch the Billionaire (Ulovit miliardáře, dir. Tomáš Vorel, 2009, CR).
30. 9.
Ondřej Havelka’s documentary film The Last Mohican (Poslední mohykán, 2009) on the work of swing musician Czech origin Jiří Traxler received special recognition in the category of musical documentary at the 61st international festival Prix Italia in Turin. The programme was shot by the Centre of Musical and Theatrical Work of the CZECH TELEVISION Brno TV studio.
30. 9. - 4. 10.
Under the auspice of Jan Graubner, the Olomouc archbishop, Simeon, the Olomouc-Brno archbishop and representatives of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, Joel Ruml and Mahulena Čejková, there was held in Olomouc the non-competition documentary The 8th International Festival of Spiritual Films – Film in the Sign of the Fish 2009. Directors came together from four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, but films from other countries were screened as well. Czech films included the films Old Lady (Bába, dir. Zuzana Špidlová-Kirchnerová, 2008), Romany King (Romský král, dir. Viliam Poltikovič, 2007), Action Monasteries (dir. Ján Novák, 2008) from the series Secret Actions Policy (Tajné akce StB) and Through the Land of Silence (Krajinou ticha, 2009) by director Otakáro Mária Schmidt, who was present at the festival, and other films.
30. 9. - 13. 10.
Strasbourg held a two-week festival of Czech films. The festival entitled Quinzaine du cinema tchèque, which was linked to a similar event previously put on in Strasbourg by the same organizer – the Odyssée cinema in collaboration with Czech director Jaromil Jireš (10. 12. 1935 – 24. 10. 2001), offered seven Czech films: Kolya (Kolja , dir. Jan Svěrák, 1996, CR – Great Britain – France), The Return of the Idiot (Návrat idiota, dir. Saša Gedeon, 1999, CR – Germany), Jan Werich’s Fimfárum (Fimfárum Jana Wericha, dir. Vlasta Pospíšilová, Aurel Klimt, 2002), Wrong Side Up (Příběhy obyčejného šílenství, dir. Petr Zelenka, 2005, CR – SR – Germany), Citizen Havel (Občan Havel, dir. Pavel Koutecký, Miroslav Janek, 2008), Country Teacher (Venkovský učitel, dir. Bohdan Sláma, 2008, CR – France – Germany) and Who’s Afraid of the Wolf (Kdopak by se vlka bál, dir. Maria Procházková, 2008) and three older films by Miloš Forman – the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, USA), Amadeus (1984, USA) and the film Valmont (1989, USA). A screening of Czech films was organized by the Czech Film Centre, the European Council’s Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic and Odyssée cinema in Strasbourg.