I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
4. 8.
The presidium of the Czech Film and Television Academy (ČFTA) chose Václav Marhoul’s Tobruk (2008, CR – SR) for direct nomination for the European Film Award. The same recommendation went to the documentary film by Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník, Poustevna, das ist Paradies! (2007).
4. - 8. 8.
The Renaissance was the theme of a traditional mini-festival of films – Rabiograph at the largest Czech castle ruins Rabí in Klatovy region. An open-air screening was held of the films The Guild of the Kutná Hora Virgins (Cech panen kutnohorských, dir. Otakar Vávra, 1938, Czechoslovakia), Weddings of Petr Vok of Rožmberk (Svatby pana Voka, dir. Karel Steklý, 1970, Czechoslovakia), Der Zorn Gottes (dir. Werner Herzog, 1972, Germany – Peru – Mexico), Elisabeth: The Golden Age (dir. Shekhar Kapur, 2007, Great Britain – France) and Bathory (dir. Juraj Jakubisko, 2008, SR – CR – Great Britain – Hungary). Between the screenings there were held competitions, lectures and other accompanying programmes.
4. - 9. 8.
The 13th International Festival of Films with Jewish Themes took place in São Paul in Brazil. The Slovak-Czech coproduction Broken Promise (Nedodržený slib/Nedodržený sľub, dir. Jiří Chlumský, 2009) took third place in the viewers’ choice competition.
5. 8.
The ceremonial premiere of the Czech film Veni, Vidi, Vici (dir. Pavel Göbl, 2009) was held at the Palace Cinema Slovanský dům multiplex in Prague.
7. - 16. 8.
The 10th Summer Film Academy was held in the Polish town of Zwierzyniec. The programme featured the following Czech films: Talent Competition (Konkurs, dir. Miloš Forman, 1963, Czechoslovakia), Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, dir. Jiří Menzel, 1966), Marbles (Kuličky, dir. Olga Dabrowská, 2007), Little Girl Blue (Tajnosti, dir. Alice Nellis, 2007, CR – SR), A Country Teacher (Venkovský učitel, dir. Bohdan Sláma, 2008, CR – France – Germany), Ivette and the Mountain (Ivetka a hora, dir. Vít Janeček, 2008), Citizen Havel (Občan Havel, dir. Pavel Koutecký, Miroslav Janek, 2008), René (dir. Helena Třeštíková, 2008), Guard No. 47 (Hlídač č. 47, dir. Filip Renč, 2008), Tobruk (dir. Václav Marhoul, 2008, CR – SR), The Meinhof Baader Complex (Baader Meinhof Komplex/Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (dir. Uli Edel, 2008, SRN – France – CR), Small Celebrations (Malé oslavy, dir. Zdeněk Tyc, 2008, CR – SR – Italy), The Danube Operation (Operacja Dunaj, Operace Dunaj, dir. Jacek Głomb, 2009, CR – Poland) and the documentary film Cooking History (Jak se vaří dějiny/Ako sa varia dejiny, dir. Peter Kerekes, 2009, SR – CR – Austria).
8. 8.
Czech model and actress Pavlína Němcová informed that she is preparing her own film. The film will be based on Victor Hugo’s novel Ninety Three that depicted the most dramatic year of the French Revolution. The screenplay written by renowned screenwriter was translated into English and offered for assessment to two world-renown directors. Němcová decided on her own project because she wanted to play the lead role. She asked Jack Nicholson, Jude Law and John Malkovich to play roles in the film as well. Pavlína Němcová played, for instance, in the film Edith Piaf/La Môme (dir. Olivier Dahan, 2007, France – Great Britain – CR) and in the Czech-Italian film The Case of Unfaithful Klára/Il caso dell’ infedele Klara (Případ nevěrné Kláry/Il caso dell' infedele Klara, dir. Roberto Faenza, 2009).
8. - 15. 8.
A half century of summer cinema was commemorated in Domažlice (Czech Republic) during the Summer Flick (Letňák) film festival. Viewers were offered a short excursion through five decades of Czech film and cinema history. The festival was opened by a concert of The Beatles Revival group. Each ensuing day included the screening of one film commemorating one decade. To make the atmosphere as authentic as possible, tickets to the cinema were priced in the amount common at the time. The 1950s were represented by the film Smugglers of Death (Král Šumavy, dir. Karel Kachyňa, 1959) with a four-crown entry fee, followed by the film Men about Town (Světáci, dir. Zdeněk Podskalský, 1969) with a six-crown entry fee and for the comedy How to Drown Dr Mráček or The End of Water Sprites in Bohemia (Jak utopit dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách, dir. Václav Vorlíček, 1974) viewers paid nine crowns. Films of the 1980s were represented by The Blockbuster (Trhák, dir. Zdeněk Podskalský, 1980) with ticket prices set at 12 crowns and the 1990s by Kolya (Kolja, dir. Jan Svěrák, 1996, CR – Great Britain – France) with 25 crown tickets. The last two days featured screenings of You Kiss Like God (Líbáš jako Bůh, dir. Marie Poledňáková, 2009) for today’s normal ticket prices.
9. - 15. 8.
Echoes of the River Film Fest in Písek (Czech Republic) started under the title With Kafka to the Cinema at the Franz Kafka Centre at Meiselova street in Prague, but above all at the Lucerna cinema in Prague, where other events were held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of this Prague cinema. It was screened Gustav Machatý’s Eroticon (Erotikon) from 1929 with a live music accompaniment by FOK conducted by Mario Klemens, the classic horrors The Pit and the Pendulum (dir. Roger Corman, 1968, USA) and The Premature Burial (dir. Roger Corman, 1962, USA) a memorial to Michael Jackson, Moonwalker (dir. Jerry Kramer, Jim Blashfield, 1988, USA), Kafka (dir. Steven Soderbergh, 1991, USA), The Fisher King (dir. Terry Gilliam, 1991, USA) and Oliver Stone’s W. (2008, USA) on George W. Bush as president.
12. - 16. 8.
The 6th International Festival of Student Films and Debuts – FRESH FILM FEST KARLOVY VARY 2009 offered 200 films of Czech and foreign directors that were judged by a seventeen-member jury. The jurists were divided into five teams: a jury evaluating the main competition had five members; three-member teams evaluated the sections. Films included in the international competition competed in five sections – feature films, short films, animated and experimental student films and the sections of first and second feature films. The non-competition screening featured the highest evaluated films from student works. The Fresh Classics section featured hot feature novelties, radical works, blockbusters and extensive retrospectives. The entertainment preview section Panorama was made up of current student works and the Eight section offered a profile of the up-and-coming generation of Czech filmmakers. The Main Prize of the 6th Fresh Film Fest Karlovy Vary went to the Swedish film Skrapsår (dir. Gabriela Pichler, 2008), in the Contact competition the Contact award went to Czech film director Andy Fehu’s Hooper-dooper (Vesnická zábava, 2008).
13. - 16. 8.
Regensburg (Germany) hosted the 27th Silent Movie Week which included Gustav Machatý’s Eroticon (Erotikon) from 1929.
15. 8. - 14. 10.
The life and work of Czech writer Božena Němcová (4. 2. 1820 – 21. 1. 1862) was the subject of an exhibition at the Slezskoostravská Gallery at the Slezská Ostrava town hall (Czech Republik). The exposition consisted of originals of costume designs including the original film clapboards for the Czech film The Granny (Babička I., II., dir. Antonín Moskalyk) with Jarmila Kurandová from 1971. The film Grandmother (Babička, dir. František Čáp) with Terezie Brzková from 1940 was commemorated by, in addition to photographs, a memory book with the signatures of the actors and film markers that belong to actress and writer Nataša Tánská. She played Barunka in this version of Grandmother (Babička). The ceremonial opening featured a screening of the Czech television documentary by Olga Sommerová Božena Němcová, the Immortal Star (Nesmrtelná hvězda Božena Němcová, 1997).
18. - 23. 8.
At the Rynek Sztuki festival in Plock (Poland) the following Czech films from the National Film Archive in Prague were screened: The Good Soldier Švejk (Dobrý voják Švejk, dir. Karel Lamač, 1926), Armoured Car (Pancéřové auto, dir. Rolf Randolf, 1929), Prague Seamstresses (Pražské švadlenky, dir. Přemysl Pražský, 1929) and Hop-Pickers (Starci na chmelu, dir. Ladislav Rychman, 1964).
19. 8.
The Czech film Men in a Rut (Muži v říji, dir. Robert Sedláček, 2009) had its ceremonial premiere in Velký Špalíček cinema in Brno (Czech Republik).
19. - 25. 8.
The Charlie Chaplin film from 1936 Modern Times opened The 8th Film Festival and Special Seminar on Film and History 2009 – The Magic of Progress, film screenings of Czech, international, old and contemporary films. The screening was held at the Orlík castle near Humpolec (Czech Republic). Over the course of the seven festival days, viewers saw 12 films devoted to science, technology and progress in modern history. The afternoon performance took place in newly reconstructed parts of the castle, the night screening was held on the main courtyard using Jiří Čáslavský’s mobile cinematographer. The festival was part of the project Film and History, whose authors are the two historians Jaroslav Pinkas and Petr Kopal. The project maps historical film (mainly Czech), which it sees as a unique phenomenon significantly influencing historicism of the broadest public layers.
19. - 22. 8.
The 6th annual Festival of Spanish Culture – Iberica, which focussed on fusion of flamenco and jazz, was held in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Seven concerts took place in five cities – Boskovice, Prague, Brno, Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Bratislava (Slovak Republic). The programme featured workshops on the flamenco or salsa and film screening in Boskovice. Film director Carlos Saura, who became intrigued with Iberia several years back, shot the eponymous film based on its motifs in 2005. This film was screened Thursday, 20 August in the Boskovice chateau greenhouse. A day later at the same place Michael Meert’s film Herencia Flamenca (2005) was screened.
20. 8.
A panel exhibition at the Svoboda central square in Brno (Czech Republic) commemorated the anniversary of the events in August 1969. The exhibition was prepared by the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in collaboration with the National Security Archive. The impetus for the spontaneous demonstration on 21 August 1969 in Brno and in other cities was the first anniversary of the occupation Czechoslovakia by the armies of the Warsaw-Pact countries. Director Peter Kerekes shot a television documentary film of these events entitled Brno 1969 (2009). The documentary film contains a number never before released photographs that people provided to the film crew for publication in the media.
25. 8.
German Films Service & Marketing GmbH nominated the co-production German – Czech – French film The Baader Meinhof Complex (Baader Meinhof Komplex/Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, dir. Uli Edel, 2008) for the 82nd American Film Academy’s Oscar Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
27. - 30. 8.
The 26th International Mountaineering Film Festival 2009 was held in Teplice nad Metují (Czech Republic). The winning film was The Sharp End (dir. Peter Mortimer, Nick Rosen, 2008, USA), while the award of the general partner HUDY Sport, a.s. went to Czech film director Petr Pavlíček for Matrix Reloaded (2008).
28. - 30. 8.
Litoměřice (Czech Republic) hosted The Film Festival Litoměřice for the Ninth Time 2009 – Film Fatal. Viewers had the chance to view films in which they submerged themselves into noir and non-noir adventures, elegant rugged criminals and dramas full of fateful themes and characters – mainly from the 1960s and 1970s. The collection of archive noir inspirations was supplemented by a series of three films of Japanese noir. The representative of the animated noir film was the winning film The 8th International Festival of Animated Films Třeboň, Teplice – AniFest 2009 – Idiots and Angels (dir. Bill Plympton, 2008, USA) and of the section “anime noir”. There was even the tradition selection the best of FAMU films led by the film Old Lady (Bába, 2008) by Zuzana Špidlová-Kirchnerová. There was also an exhibition devoted to French film posters.
28. 8. - 3. 9.
The jury of the 12th International Film Festival in Berdyansk (the Ukraine) awarded a special prize Jury to Vladimír Drha’s English Strawberries (Anglické jahody, 2008, CR – SR – Ukraine).