I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2. 7.
The summer cinema opened on Střelecký Island in Prague. Viewers could view the latest Czech films, as well as old successful films. The screening began with Jan Svěrák’s Kooky (Kuky se vrací, 2010, CR – Denmark). Other Czech films on the programme included Robert Sedláček’s Men in a Rut (Muži v říji, 2009), and the classics Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, 1966) by Jiří Menzel, Daisies (Sedmikrásky, 1966) by Věra Chytilová or the stories Pearls at the Bottom (Perličky na dně, 1965) by Věra Chytilová, Evald Schorm, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš and Jiří Menzel.
2. - 10. 7.
The 45th International Film Festival Karlovy Vary 2010 (45. mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary 2010) took place in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. As part of the opening evening moderated by Marek Eben, director Scott Cooper personally introduced his film Crazy Heart (2009, USA) in the Large Hall of the Thermal Hotel in Karlovy Vary. Actor Jeff Bridges received an Oscar for his lead role. The director had also taken in a premier at Karlovy Vary nearly twenty years ago when he visited the town as a young backpacker. The moderator introduced the members of the international jury – with Czech cinematographer represented by director and screenplay writer Bohdan Sláma and led by American film producer Ron Yerxa. Some two hundred feature-length and short films were presented at the festival. Czech cinematography had two films in the main competition – Tomáš Mašín’s feature-length debut Three Seasons in Hell (3 sezóny v pekle, 2009, CR – Germany – SR) and Jan Svěrák’s film Kooky (Kuky se vrací, 2010, CR – Denmark). Other Czech films competed in the documentary section – Helena Třeštíková’s Katka (2010), in the section From East to West the feature film Dreamers (Zoufalci, 2009) by Jitka Rudolfová and in the Independents Forum Two Some (Dvojka, 2009) by Jaroslav Fuit. The festival featured a complete retrospective of films of Czech director Karel Vachek (4. 8. 1940) in celebration of his 70th birthday. In addition to audiences, the Karlovy Vary film also attracted producers and vendors. One of the main objectives of the organizers was to support film art, international exchanges and the promotion of films. The Film Industry section has served this purpose for many years, offering film professionals extensive services and various presentation possibilities. The Works in Progress section featured a presentation of new films from Central and Eastern Europe that were in the post-production or pre-premiere phase. Films presented here were from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia and Slovenia that sought an international distributor. The traditionally established Docu Talents from the East sidebar was held providing a glimpse of emerging documentaries from Bulgaria to Estonia. The action was organized in collaboration with the Institute of Documentary Film (Institut dokumentárního filmu – IDF) and the International Festival of Documentary Films (Mezinárodní festival dokumentárních filmů) in Jihlava. This presentation also featured a meeting with representatives of the Czech Film Centre České filmové centrum, who presented Czech films screened in the Karlovy Vary official programme and drew attention to novelties in Czech film and the film industry. This mainly concerned the film Three Seasons in Hell (3 sezóny v pekle), Kooky (Kuky se vrací), Dreamers (Zoufalci) and Two Some (Dvojka). In the Variety Critic’s Choice section a screening of the film Men in a Rut (Muži v říji, 2009) by Robert Sedláček was organized jointly with the European Film Promotion which is a long-time member of the Czech Film Centre (České filmové centrum). On 5. 7. a discussion was held on minority co-productions. A total of CZK 25 million was earmarked in 2010 by the State Fund of the Czech Republic for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography (Státní fond České republiky pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie) for minority European co-productions. This was done for the first time ever. Yet in most EU member states such systems of support have existed for years, either on the level of regional or national funding. According to chairperson of its council Přemysl Šoba, the Czech Fund for the support of cinematography (Státní fond České republiky pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie) has the least experience with minority co-productions. In contrast to other countries, regional funds do not exist in the Czech Republic. The funds concern the possibilities of financing feature-length films, documentaries and animated films that are created outside the Czech Republic, though their production is done at least partially in the country with the use of Czech services and goods. Domestic producers can also be a supplier “of Czech creative components” and a minority co-producer or film is also an official coproduction based on a bilateral agreement or the European Convention on Film Production. The festival’s guests included British actor Jude Law, Russian director, actor and producer Nikita Mikhalkov, director Augustí Vila and producer Luis Minarro. The Film Haberdashery Terry’s Socks shop in Prague, owned by director Terry Gilliam, organized during the festival an exhibition of posters. Visitors could view forty posters of major international films, such as the Czech posters for Fellini and Antonioni’s films or posters of 1960s film classics. Karlovy Vary’s Gallery of Art also organized a non-traditional exhibition featuring the work of artist František Skála. For the awarding of Czech film – see 45. mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary 2010.
3. 7.
The comedy Kristian (1939) by director Martin Frič with Oldřich Nový and Adina Mandlová won in the poll for best Czech film of all time. Media Desk Czech Republic, in collaboration with Týden magazine and the server Tyden.cz, announced the results. Over two and half thousand people took part in the poll begun in April at a seminar on the digitizing of Czech films in the state management. They chose from 200 films recommended for the initial phase of digitizing. Second place went to the comedy Journey into the Depth of the Student’s Soul (Cesta do hlubin študákovy duše, 1939) also directed by Martin Frič as was the film Eva Fools Around (Eva tropí hlouposti, 1939) in third place. The top ten included also Marketa Lazarová (1967) by František Vláčil, The Cremator (Spalovač mrtvol, 1968) by Juraj Herz, Grandmother (Babička, 1940) by František Čáp and the film Waiter, Scarper! (Vrchní, prchni, 1980) by Ladislav Smoljak. In the past only copies of films were projected at cinemas. The development of digital technology begun in recent years has ushered in a new era in the film industry. In the next few years only digital films will be available for cinema audiences. Providing access to film works that are part of the national cultural heritage is among the priorities of the European Commission in the area of the audiovisual policy. The seminar informed that the digitizing of the first 200 films could take four years; the required investment was estimated at CZK 500 million. Most Czech films made from the start of Czech cinematography in 1898 to 1993, when the state film studios were privatized, are administered by the state via the National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv) and the State Fund of the CR for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography (Státní fond České republiky pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie). The digitizing proposal was prepared by a team assembled by the Czech Ministry of Culture (Ministerstvo kultury České republiky) with the Film Council, associating professional associations, festivals and institutions. The image scan and digital restoration of an audiovisual recording is financially demanding and takes considerable time. According to Helena Fraňková, the director of the media and audiovisual department of the Czech Ministry of Culture (Ministerstvo kultury České republiky - Odbor médií a audiovize), the actual period of the digitizing process therefore depends mainly on the amount of funds that will be available.
6. - 10. 7.
The 33rd Short Film Festival was held in Grenoble (France). A screening contemporary Czech animated films was included in the programme. Aneta Kýrová’s comedy Whoops, Mistake! (Chybička se vloudí, 2008) received an enormous positive response from viewers and the festival newspaper even devoted a whole article to it. Also screened were the films Torchbearer (Světlonoš, 2005) – a puppet horror film by Václav Švankmajer and the animated painting Pelargonium (Pelargonie, 2005) by Lucie Sunková. The programme also featured Galina Miklínová’s film The Game (Hra, 2004), combining a melodramatic story with the board game Sorry! and the first experiment with 3D animation Contact (Kontakt, 2003) by Martin Duda. The tradition of metaphorical slap-stick was represented by Anna Mastníková’s school film The Story of Mrs. Kolomazníková (Příběh paní Kolomazníkové, 2008).
8. - 11. 7.
Boskovice (Czech Republic) hosted The 18th Festival for the Jewisch Quarter Boskovice 2010 – Multicultural Festival of Music, Theatre, Film and Exhibitions (18. festival pro židovskou čtvrť Boskovice 2010 – multikulturní přehlídka hudby, divadel, filmů a výstav). The Boskovice fest, in contrast to other events, took place throughout the town. Viewers could take advantage of a wide variety of theatre offers in the pleasant environs of the castle and parish garden. The Panorama cinema was the venue for the screening of Vojtěch Jasný’s films Desire (Touha, 1958) and All Good Countrymen (Všichni dobří rodáci, 1968). There was even prepared thematic blocks of documentary films and short films of Film & Sociologie Ltd.(Film & Sociologie s. r. o.). One day was devoted to Slovak film. The sidebar also offered a broad selection of events, including exhibitions – among others, one of the works of Ladislav Sitenský – a legend of Czech and international photography.
21. - 29. 7.
Documentary films from the seven-part cycle Children of Stalinism (Děti padesátých let, dir. Adéla Kroupová, Jan Oraský, Kateřina Borecká, Viktória Dzurenková, Iva Jestřábová, 2010) in New York at The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF). Producer Zuzana Dražilová introduced them. The Viewers’ Choice award in the category of international work and the award for best international historical documentary film in the category of international documentary went in part to: Daša Returns (Dáša se vrací, dir. Adéla Kroupová, 2010), To My Father (Mému otci, dir. Jan Oraský, Kateřina Borecká, 2010), I’m Not Afraid to Speak (Nebojim sa hovoriť, dir. Viktória Dzurenková, 2010) and One Life (Jeden život, dir. Iva Jestřábová, 2010). The wartime drama by director, screenplay writer and producer Václav Marhoul entitled Tobruk (2008, CR – SR) received two awards at the festival: in the category of Best foreign films the film won in the best wartime film section, the other award was for best foreign screenplay. The Awards were presented at the ceremony in Los Angeles on 11 November 2010.
23. 7. - 1. 8.
The Association of Czech Film Clubs (Asociace českých filmových klubů – AČFK) organized in Uherské Hradiště (Czech Republic) The 36th Summer Film School (36. letní filmová škola 2010). As in prior years, the programme of the non-competition festival was divided into several sections. It consisted of the following groups in 2010: Fokus Island, Inventory, Spectrum, Visegrad Horizon, the Association of Czech Film Clubs Presents and Special Presentation. Among those films presented were, for instance, the Czech film For Semafor For Semafor (dir. Miroslav Janek, 2010), as part of the Visegrad Horizon section viewers could see the films of Czech film and art schools, including Fleas (Blechy, dir. Vojtěch Pinc, 2010) from the Faculty of Multimedia Communication of Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín (Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně - Fakulta multimediálních komunikací). The section The Wild Nineties showed the extremes of the age, the breadth of genres, themes, processing forms and various producer strategies. Director Jan Hřebejk, director and screenplay writer Zdeněk Tyc, film historian Pavel Taussig and director and producer Milan Cieslar contributed to the discussion. Director Robert Sedláček presented his new film The Greatest Czechs (Největší z Čechů, 2010) at a pre-premiere. The summer film school also offered a comprehensive spectrum of contemporary Latin American films. Argentine film historian and critic Pablo De Vita, Mexican film historian Gabriel Rodríguez and representative of Columbian society promoting Columbian films Juan Concha were therefore invited to the festival. The festival also prepared a cross-section of Slovak film focused on the work of Czechoslovak director Ján Kadár, who worked with director Elmar Klos. The central exhibition of the event was a uniquely large presentation of Czechoslovak film posters. The curators called UÁÁÁ: Czechoslovak Film Posters 1959 – 1989. The Summer Film School (36. letní filmová škola 2010) also consisted of a two-day seminar devoted to various digitizing aspects. Seminar participants dealt with questions concerning the digitizing of cinemas and the transfer of classical film works to digital form. As part of the Summer Film School (36. letní filmová škola 2010), homage was paid to Slovak director Paľo Bielik and cinematographer Stanislav Szomolányi, who received the Annual Award of the Association of Czech Film Clubs (Asociace českých filmových klubů – AČFK). Also receiving the same award was club member František Šmahel. Annual awards also went to foreign filmmakers – to British director Ken Loach, Hungarian director Béla Tarr and Icelandic director Fridrik Thór Fridriksson. For other recipients of the Annual AČFK Awards – see the Annual Awards of the Association of Czech Film Clubs (Výroční ceny Asociace českých filmových klubů).
27. 7.
A three-hour concert of Serbian musician Goran Bregović with brass music, singers, male choir and string quartet accompanied by Bregović’s Marriage and Funeral Orchestra was held on the original scene – on a pontoon on the river Vltava between Prague's Charles Bridge and Bridge of Legies. The sixty-year-old recipient of many major awards including the prestigious Palm d’Or from the Cannes Festival for music to the film Underground/Il était une fois un pays (1995, France – Germany – Hungary) by director Emir Kusturica presented, in addition to older songs, the second part of his recording Alcohol entitled Champagne that preceded the first part, Plum Liqueur. The concert also included liturgical songs, opera and dance music.
29. - 31. 7.
The 7th Třebíč Jewish Festival opened with a lecture by Iva Steinová on the symbolism of Jewish Tombs and a performance by the dance group Yocheved at the Zadní synagogue in Třebíč (Czech Republic). The three-day festival featured concerts, films, theatre presentations, expert lectures and forums. The film programme included the full-length documentary film on columnist, journalist and reporter Stanislav Motl entitled Living Dead (Živý mrtvý, dir. Pavel Dražan, 2008) and the feature film All My Loved Ones (Všichni moji blízcí, dir. Matej Mináč, 1999, CR – Poland – SR). A Jewish community lived for centuries in the Třebíč’s quarter of Zámostí in a relatively peaceful neighbourhood with the surrounding Christian majority. With the events of the Second World War the existence of the Jewish community disappeared definitively. Today Jewish quarter is listed as UNESCO - preserved monument.
30. 7.
The world premiere of the Czech documentary film Czech Peace (Český mír, 2010, CR) by Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda was held at the State Theatre in Traverse City (USA) as part of the International Film Festival whose founder and programme director is documentary filmmaker Michael Moore. He personally introduced the film and moderated the discussion after the film was screened. Both Czech filmmakers had already won at the festival in 2005 with their film Czech Dream (Český sen, 2004). However, they did not take part in the festival then.
30. 7. - 5. 8.
The 2nd River Film Fest took place in Písek /Czech Republic/ (2. festival nad řekou). The festival attempted to conceive of cinematography in historical and artistic contexts – as a synthesis of literature, music, a theatre, fine arts and human dreams that merge into a single synthetic work – film. By monitoring this evolution the festival reflected individual artistic components, but also how the worldwide social movement is imprinted in great film works. In addition to tradition cycles, the festival’s programme included the Belle Epoque cycles and the presentation of national cinematography’s and culture. The new cycle A Diagnosis of Time, for which film critic Jan Lukeš chose ten Czechoslovak and Czech films from the 1960s to present, were to show “a picture of the individual’s soul during a period’s transformations”. Among the films screened were 1929 (Dvacátý devátý, 1974) by director Antonín Kachlík. After a screening there followed a discussion with the film’s director. Six Polish directors of the “cinema of moral anxiety” – Krzysztof Zanussi, Piotr Andrejew, Tomasz Zygadło, Jerzy Domaradzki, Ryszard Bugajski and Janusz Zaorski, who arrived together to Písek, received the Miroslav Ondříček Award at the festival. For the awarding of Czech films – see 2. festival nad řekou.