I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
5. - 18. 1.
The 21st International Film Festival took place in Palm Springs (USA). Actors Jana Plodková and Marek Daniel together with director Marek Najbrt, screenplay writer Benjamin Tuček and producer Milan Kuchynka personally presented the Czech film Protector (Protektor, 2009). Another Czech film presented at the festival was the documentary Forgotten Transports – To Poland (Zapomenuté transporty – Do Polska, dir. Lukáš Přibyl, 2009).
7. 1.
At the Brožík Hall at the Old Town Hall in Prague, the committee of the Czech Centre of the International PEN Club presented, at the suggestion of the professional independent jury (Vladimír Karfík – chairman, Ivan Binar, Arnošt Lustig, Jiří Padevět, Ludvík Vaculík), the Karel Čapek award to czech writer Ivan Klíma not only for his lifelong literary contribution and enduring effort to assert Čapek’s humanist attitudes, but also for his latest book, the memoire My Crazy Century (Moje šílené století).
7. - 8. 1., 11. - 13. 1.
The CINEFEST Hamburg 2009 – Prague 2010 festival took place in the National Film Archive’s (Národní filmový archiv) Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt in Prague. These were films shown at Hamburg’s CINEFEST festival that accompanied the 22nd International Historical Congress (November 2009), organized by CineGraph Association. The festival’s theme was Shadows of the War and Innovation and Tradition in European Film 1940 – 1950. At Ponrepo the following films were among those screened: In jeden Tagen (dir. Helmut Käutner, 1946, Germany), Der Prozess (dir. Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1947, Austria), Liebe 47 (dir. Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1949, Germany), The Way Ahead (dir. Carol Reed, 1944, Great Britain) and Ulica graniczna (dir. Aleksander Ford, 1948, Poland).
7. - 14. 1.
The 8th International Film Festival was held in Pune (India) where Czech director Maria Procházková won the director’s prize for her feature film Who’s Afraid of the Wolf (Kdopak by se vlka bál, 2008, CR).
7. - 20. 1.
Evald cinema in Prague hosted a screening of the Israeli film A Matter of Size (Sipur gadol, dir. Erez Tadmor, Sharon Maymon, 2009), awarded the Viewers’ Choice award at the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2009. The comedy about thirties people with a weight problem who try to lose weight by sumo wrestling was accompanied by a competition thematically linked to the film’s subject. On January 20, 2010 there was held at Evald a drawing of winners out of the audience.
8. 1.
The Slovak actress Emília Vášáryová received an honorary doctorate from Janáček’s Academy of the Performing Arts in Brno (Janáčkova akademie múzických umění v Brně). The school awarded it to her as an exceptional and charismatic actress and one who can play great character roles of tragic and comic heroines.
13. - 28. 1.
The 19th International Festival of Jewish films took place in New York. The programme included two Czech films: Marek Najbrt’s Protector (Protektor, 2009) and the documentary Forgotten Transports – To Poland (Zapomenuté transporty – Do Polska, dir. Lukáš Přibyl, 2009).
14. 1.
Elmar Kloss, a dubbing director, was a guest at Ponrepo, the screening hall of the National Film Archive at Bio Konvikt, Prague (Národní filmový archiv). He reminiscend on his father, czech director Elmar Klos (26. 1. 1910 – 19. 7. 1993), who would have turned 100 in 2010. Elmar Klos, Sr. worked from 1952 with Ján Kadár, they shot a total of eight films together, of which The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze, 1965) was awarded an Oscar, the annual prize of the American Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, for best foreign film, in 1966. Before the discussion with Elmar Kloss, a series of short films entitled Baťa’s Filmmaker Elmar Klos were screening. Starting on 5. 1. 2010 the series Kadár’s Klos and Klos’s Kadár was shown at Ponrepo and included their joint feature films from 1952 to 1969 – Kidnapped (Únos, 1952), Music from Mars (Hudba z Marsu, 1955), House at the Terminus (Tam na konečné, 1957), Three Wishes (Tři přání, 1958), Death Is Called Engelchen (Smrt si říká Engelchen, 1963), The Defendant (Obžalovaný, 1964), The Shop on Main Street (Obchod na korze) a Anada/ Desire Named Anada (Touha zvaná Anada 1969, ČSSR – USA).
14. 1.
The Czech film Protector (Protektor, 2009) by director Marek Najbrt is one of the few Czech films that managed to acquire a partner for distribution abroad. The foreign rights were bought by the renowned Brirish company High Point Films.
14. 1.
A glass memorial plaque to Josef Stelibský (5. 12. 1909 – 28. 4. 1962) was installed in the Vatra cinema in Vsetín (CR). Stelibský was a prominent Vsetín native, music composer and a highly regarded creator of film music in his day. He wrote music to 50 films, worked on 14 operettas, was the author of many hits and dance songs of the time. In 1948 he emigrated to West Germany where he prepared music programmes for Radio Free Europe. In 1954 he moved to Hollywood where, however, neither his professional life nor health thrived. Eight years later he took his own life.
14. 1.
The Czechoslovak-French film Birds, Orphans and Fools (Vtáčkovia, siroty a blázni/Les oiseaux, les orphelins et les fous, 1969) by director Juraj Jakubisko had its renewed premiere within the frame of Project 100.
14. - 17. 1.
The BVV Congress Centre in Brno hosted the 13th Festival of Films, Photographs and Publications on Travelling Topics – GO KAMERA 2010 (13. festival filmů, fotografií a publikací s cestovatelskou tematikou – GO KAMERA 2010), organized by the travel agency Cestovní kancelář Livingstone s. r. o. This year’s festival was devoted to the search for the lost Himalayan paradise – Shangri-la. The legend on the desire to find the paradise was augmented by the exhibition entitled Shangri-la which was a picture of the twenty-year trek of explorer Rudolf Švaříček to the Himalayas. For the awarding of Czech film – see 13. festival filmů, fotografií a publikací s cestovatelskou tematikou – GO KAMERA 2010. Awards were given in categories of best photography, best book, best lecture and nicest presenter.
14. 1. - 14. 3.
The exhibition entitled Adina Mandlová or The Golden Age of Film Stars opened in the Museum of the Mladá Boleslav Region (Czech Republic). The exhibition was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the First Republic film star and Mladá Boleslav native (28. 1. 1910 – 16. 6. 1991). She was famous for her beauty and love affairs, which she didn't conceal and about which, among other things, she wrote about in detail in her autobiography Now I Only Laugh About It (Dneska už se tomu jenom směju. Praha, Čs. filmový ústav, 2000). The exhibits that came mainly from the collection of Milan Wolf, recalled famous and less known films in which Mandlová acted. Exhibition visitors could review original posters, photographs, prospectuses and other film-related materials. Samples of the fashion of the time, interiors and life style, borrowed mainly from collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and from the National Museum in Prague.
14. 1. - 31. 5.
The travelling film festival 16th Project 100 – 2010 (Projekt 100 – 2010 – 16. ročník) was opened in the Světozor cinema in Prague. As of the end of May the films were screened in more than 100 cinemas throughout the Czech Republic with the festival continuing in Slovakia in the autumn. The travelling festival presented a mini-collection of films devoted to the tradition genre of world cinematography – film noir. The genre of noir films had in film history a number of predecessors (German expressionism, spy thrillers), and successors, and was a key source of inspiration for filmmakers around the world. After World War II the United States of America became the cradle of film noir; it then became a favourite in France and other countries. The festival features the following films: American director Howard Hawks’s The Big Sleep (1946, USA), Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s I Hired a Contract Killer (1990, Finland – Sweden – France – Great Britain – SRN) and Hungarian director Béla Tarr’s A Londoni férfi (2007, Hungary – France – Germany). The collection of noir films was supplemented by films from the late 1960s and early 70s Play It Again, Sam (1972, USA) by director Herbert Ross and screenplay be Woody Allen and the black comedy Harold a Maude (1971, USA) by Hal Ashby. Also screened at the festival were the films Fish Tank (2009) by British director Andrea Arnold, Das weisse Band – Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (dir. Michael Haneke, 2009, Germany – Austria – France – Italy) and Slovak director Juraj Jakubisko’s Birds, Orphans and Fools (Vtáčkovia, siroty a blázni/Les oiseaux, les orphelins et les fous, 1969, SR – France). In addition to film noir films, a number of Czech and foreign films were screened, including Eroticon (dir. Gustav Machatý, 1929, CR), Le grand amour (dir. Pierre Étaix, 1969, France), The Good Heart (dir. Dagur Kári, 2009, Denmark – Iceland – USA – France – Germany), Tatarak (dir. Andrzej Wajda, 2009, Poland), Rewers (dir. Andrzej Bart, 2009, Poland) and Another Year (dir. Mike Leigh, 2010, Great Britain). The organizers of the 16th Project 100 – 2010 (Projekt 100 – 2010 – 16. ročník) was in the Czech Republic the Association of Czech Film Clubs (Asociace českých filmových klubů – AČFK) and in Slovakia the Association of Slovak Film Clubs.
15. 1.
The staging of The Ear (Ucho), based on the eponymous film by Karel Kachyňa (1. 5. 1924 – 12. 3. 2004) from 1970 had its premiere at the Metro theatre. The text was written by Lenka Procházková based on the script by her father czech writer Jan Procházka (4. 2. 1929 – 20. 2. 1971). The play opened from 23. 2. at the small stage of the Divadlo pod Palmovkou theatre in Prague. The play’s director was Lukáš Burian, producer of Divadlo Rity Jasinské theatre.
15. 1.
As part of the presentation of the 31st Bavarian Film Awards, director Juraj Herz was awarded in Munich for his direction of film Habermann’s Mill (Habermannův mlýn/Habermann, 2010, CR – Germany – Austria). The film was awarded in the actor’s category with Mark Waschke receiving the Bavarian film prize for best actor.
15. 1.
The internationally acclaimed four-part film series on the holocaust Forgotten Transports (Zapomenuté transporty, 2007 – 2009), which was completed in 2009 after ten years of research and footage taken by Czech historian and politician Lukáš Přibyl, came out on DVD. The collection contains four ninety-minute films devoted to Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Poland. The series was made in twenty countries and six languages are spoken in it. The first DVD release is in Czech but other language versions are planned for the future.
15. 1. - 27. 2.
Colour photographs of the French filmmaker and photographer Jacques Renoir were exhibited under the title Imprints and Collisions in the gallery of the French Institute in Prague. Jacques Renoir, the great grandson of the famous French painter August Renoir and the nephew of film director Jean Renoir personally attended the opening of the exhibition.
19. 1.
The Association of Czech Film Clubs ( Asociace českých filmových klubů – AČFK) commemorated at Aero cinema in Prague the 41st anniversary of the death of Jan Palach (11. 8. 1948 – 19. 1. 1969) with a screening of the documentary film Remembrance Ceremony (Tryzna, dir. Vlado Kubenko, Peter Mihálik, Dušan Trančík, 1969, Czechoslovakia) and Miroslav Bambušek’s film Jan Hus – A Mass for Three Dead Men (Jan Hus – mše za tři mrtvé muže, 2009). Following the screening there was a musical performance by Antena & Dží.
20. - 24. 1.
the Aero cinema in Prague screened a retrospective of films by Italian director Federico Fellini (20. 1. 1920 – 31. 10. 1993) upon the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary of his birth. Twelve of his most prominent films were screened. The first was the Oscar-awarded La strada (1954, Italy), and the screening concluded with La dolce vita (1960, Italy – France), which received a Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival 1960. Costume and set designer Piero Gherardi received an Oscar from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1962 for best design in this film. Before each feature film Fellini’s advertisements were shown since even he couldn’t avoid work as a director of advertisements. Viewers thus could appreciate the quality of the old advertisement for Campari, Banca di Roma and Barilla pasta that bear Fellini's unmistakeable signature. The screening was supplemented by a collection of twenty posters for his films that leading artists in Czechoslovakia and Poland made.
20. - 24. 1.
Světozor cinema in Prague hosted The 5th Festival of Short Films Prague (5. festival krátkých filmů Praha), which is an international competition screening of feature films up to 25 minutes in length. The festival’s main prize went to the Icelandic film Smáfuglar (2008) by director Rúnar Rúnarsson. Also included in the international competition was the Czech film Saharan Sands (Saharské písky, dir. Josef Tuka, 2009), but it didn’t receive a prize.
21. 1.
Dejvické Theatre in Prague held the premiere of the play The Man Without a Past (Mies vailla menneisyyttä losti) that is an adaptation of the screenplay by Finish writer and director Aki Kaurismäki. The film Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002, Finland) and its creators have won many international prizes, including the jury’s Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.
21. - 28. 1.
Lucerna cinema in Prague opened the 3rd annual Festival of Contemporary Japanese Films and Culture – EIGASAI 2010. Viewers had the chance to see a series of select Japanese films of the past decade that were very popular in Japan (some of which received prestigious awards). There is a slight chance, however, that they’d be selected for normal formal distribution. In any case, they certainly weren't samples of film extremism that often bordered on the intolerable for the European viewer. The festival opened with Kanaria (dir. Akihiko Shiota, 2004). The festival’s organizers were The Japan Foundation, the Japanese Embassy in the Czech Republic, the Czech-Japanese society and Lucerna Palace.
21. - 28. 1.
The 21st International Film Festival Alpe Adria Cinema took place in Trieste (Italy). Jan Němec’s Czech film The Ferrari Dino Girl (Holka Ferrari Dino, 2009) received a special award.
22. 1.
An exhibition of the graphics of Slovak film director Juraj Jakubisko living in Prague was opened in the Municipal Gallery in Litomyšl (Czech Republic). Visitors had the chance to view his latest work that he created using serigraphy – the screen-print technique. The director took part in the opening.
23. 1.
Beroun (Czech Republic) hosted the awards ceremony for Czech film and television works – Awards TRILOBIT Beroun 2009, Vladislav Vančura Prize and Honorable Mention FITES – Czech Film and Television Association, Czech Literary Fund Foundation and the city Beroun for Original Czech Film and Television Works – see Ceny TRILOBIT Beroun 2009, Cena Vladislava Vančury a Čestná uznání FITES – Českého filmového a televizního svazu, Nadace Český literární fond a města Beroun za původní díla domácí filmové a televizní tvorby.
25. 1.
The Union of Film Distributors (UNIE FILMOVÝCH DISTRIBUTORŮ – UFD) released the results of the revenues of Czech cinemas. In 2009, despite the economic crisis, record revenues of CZK 1.251 billion were reported. Revenues also showed a year-on-year growth of CZK 31 million, owing mainly to an increase in ticket prices. But the number of cinema-goers dropped in 2009 by 428,000 to 12.469 million viewers.
26. - 31. 1.
Biarritz (France) hosted The 23rd television festival FIPA (International Festival of Programmes Audiovisual). Czech actor František Němec received the Grand Prix for best actor in the TV drama Archive (Archiv, 2009) by director Lucie Bělohradská.
26. 1. - 28. 2.
German visitors could admire the original Cinderella Ball dress, the mouse jacket of the princess with the golden star and Mr. Tau's magic hat at the Berlin culture centre Kulturbrauerai. The exhibition entitled Three Nuts for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku) featured 140 original costumes from 19 famous Czech and Czechoslovak film fairytales. The Berlin exhibition was a continuation of the successful exhibition How Fairytales Dress that has been held in Plzeň and Prague since 2008. In selecting the exhibitions the organizers placed an emphasis on co-production Czech-German films. The exhibition was opened by Czech director Václav Vorlíček along with actress who played the incredibly sad princess, singer Helena Vondráčková. Livia Klausová, the first lady of the Czech Republic was also present at the opening.
27. 1.
Prague’s Lucerna cinema hosted the opening ceremony of the Slovak-Czech feature film Heaven, Hell... Earth (Nebe, peklo... zem/Nebo, peklo... zem, dir. Laura Siváková, 2009).
27. 1. - 4. 2.
The National Film Archive’s Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt in Prague (Národní filmový archiv) hosted A Screening of Albanian film (Přehlídka albánského filmu) organized by the National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv) in collaboration with the Albanian Embassy and STUDIO FÁMA 92, spol. s r. o. The screening was opened by Albanian ambassador Quazim Tepshim and co-director of the co-production Czech-Albanian film The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider (Smutek paní Šnajderové/Trishtimi i zonjes Shnajder, 2008) Piro Milkani, who is a graduate of FAMU – the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (Filmová a televizní fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze). The first film shows was Koncert në vitin 1936 (dir. Saimir Kumbaro, 1978). Films to follow on the ensuing days were The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider (Smutek paní Šnajderové/Trishtimi i zonjes Shnajder) by directors Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani from 2008, Slogans (Albania – France) by director Gjergj Xhuvani from 2001, Mao Ce Dun (dir. Besnik Bisha, 2007) and the screening was closed by the Albanian-Austrian-French co-production film Alive! (dir. Artan Minarolli). After the Prague part was finished, the screening continued at universities in Brno, Olomouc, České Budějovice and other czech towns and cities.
29. 1.
The Czech Film Centre (České filmové centrum) released its first DVD of select short films. Entitled Czech Short Films Vol. 1 it features 12 short feature, documentary, animated and experimental films made by students of Czech film schools: Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, the Miroslav Ondříček Film Academy in Písek, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and the Film School Zlín (Filmové a televizní fakulty Akademie múzických umění v Praze, Filmové akademie Miroslava Ondříčka v Písku, o. p. s., Vysoké školy uměleckoprůmyslové v Praze and Vyšší odborné školy filmové Zlín, s. r. o.). This is the first DVD edition that should continue in future years. The main objective was to draw attention to Czech short films, promote them abroad and establish closer cooperation with film schools and beginning filmmakers. In addition to films, the DVD also contains information on ten Czech film schools and their study programmes, as well as on festivals that feature short films in the competitions. Thanks to this supplementary information, the DVD also serves as a presentation of Czech film schools. The DVD contains the films: Expensive Father (Drahý otec, dir. Jan Těšitel, 2009), Toaster (Toustovač, dir. Michaela Prokopová, 2009), 59/184/84 (dir. Lukáš Kokeš, 2009), The End of June, Early in July (Konec června, začátkem července, dir. Václav Hrzina, 2009), Nocturne (Nokturno, dir. Marek Berger, 2009), CTRL EMOTION (dir. Vojtěch Kotek, 2009), A Tear Is Needed (Usnula jsem, dir. Kristina Dufková, 2009), Saharan Sands (Saharské písky, dir. Josef Tuka, 2009), The Kingdom of Cutlery (Království příborů, dir. Eva Skurská, 2009), 100 Days (100 dnů, dir. Viera Čákanyová, 2009), Basic Language (Kmenový jazyk, dir. Lukáš Glaser, 2009) and Anonym (dir. Tomasz Mielnik, 2009).
29. - 30. 1.
The civic association Antropofest organized for the support of the department of social sciences of the University of Pardubice’s Faculty of Arts and Philosophy and in cooperation with the Dobeška theatre in Prague the first year of the International Film Festival of (not only) Student Films with Anthropological Themes – ANTROPOFEST (1. mezinárodní filmový festival nejen studentských filmů s antropologickou tematikou ANTROPOFEST). Antropofest’s aim was to acquaint the professional and lay public with one of the research tools of social anthropology, which is anthropological film, by which the life and cultural of various societies are studied. Select films from the Czech Republic and abroad focused on specific social-anthropological themes were presented at the festival: social exclusion, migration, life in the 21st century and issues of majorities. In total 19 films were screened from all over the world, including the Czech films Goluboie (dir. Štěpánka Plachá, Michaela Píšová, 2008), Gáj (dir. Pavel Borecký, 2009), Where There’s Blood and Sweat, There Are Tears Too (Kde krev a pot, tam i slzy, dir. Michal Pavlásek, 2009), Red Rose, Why Don’t You Thrive (Červená růžičko, proč se nerozvíjíš, dir. Daniela Stavělová, 2006) and The Doudleby Carnival Carol: Identity, Status and Integration (Doudlebská masopustní koleda: identita, status a integrace, dir. Daniela Stavělová, 2008). The festival also included professional debates regarding the current film screenings, concerts and other accompanying programme.