I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1. 1. - 31. 12.
The 18th Viewers’ Choice Competition of the Czech and Slovak Premiere Films Shown in 2010 – The Tachov Pumpkin (18. divácká soutěž premiérových českých a slovenských filmů uvedených v roce 2011 – Tachovská dýně) was held in Tachov (Czech Republic). This competition on the most successful Czech or Slovak premiere film screened in the Tachov cinema Mže during the year was created in 1994 with the aim to support Czech film and involve the viewers, they were to decide for himself on his favourite film. Viewers give each Czech or Slovak film a rating of Excellent, Good or Bad. When the screening ends they drop their ticket into the appropriate container. How much they like a film is one criterion (enjoyment coefficient is calculated), another is the average attendance at the screening (average since some films are shown more than once, others only once). The winning film is chosen by totalling the rankings in both categories. For the awarded prizes see 18. divácká soutěž premiérových českých a slovenských filmů uvedených v roce 2011 – Tachovská dýně.
3., 12., 18., 21., 26. 1. and 1. 2.
The National Filme Archive’s Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt (Národní filmový archiv) in Prague screened a selection of films by the renowned American director George Orson Wells (6. 5. 1915 – 10. 10. 1985) entitled 6x Orson Wells. The screening opened with the film Citizen Kane (1941, USA); viewers were also shown two of Wells' Shakespeare adaptions: The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, 1950 (USA – Morocco) and Chimes at Midnight/Companadas a medianoche (1965, France – Spain – Switzerland), along with The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, USA), which he directed with Robert Wise. The screening concluded with the film Mr. Arkadin – Confidential Report, 1955 (France – Spain – USA).
4. - 16. 1.
The exhibition Czech Film Poster 2010 was held at the cafe of Lucerna cinema in Prague. Twenty-one feature film posters and 15 documentary film posters were on display.
4., 7., 12., 17., 19., 25., 31. 1. and 9., 14., 16., 18., 25. 2.
some of the films by Italian director Mario Monicelli (15. 5. 1915 – 29. 11. 2010) were featured at the Mario Monicelli – Arrivederci Amici screening at the National Film Archive’s Ponrepo screening hall at Bio Konvikt (Národní filmový archiv) in Prague. It was films: La Grande guerra (1959, Italy – France), I compagni (1963, Italy – France – Yugoslavia), Casanova 70 (1964, Italy – France), Amici miei (1975, Italy) and Amici miei atto II (1982, Italy). He took over the direction of the film Amici miei from another classic director of Italian film, Pietro Germi, who died while the film was still being shot. The audiences’ response to the film was so strong that Monicelli shot a second part eleven years later.
4. 1. - 17. 5.
The project Twenty Film Seasons in Czech Television (ČESKÁ TELEVIZE) was shown by Czech Television. The series of twenty fifty-minute documentary films entitled The Capricious Summer (Rozmarná léta českého filmu) of Czech Film was prepared for ČESKÁ TELEVIZE in the production of the Vachler Art Company (Petr Vachler – Vachler Art Company) by director Petr Vachler. The individual parts tried to map the most essential events, historical milestones and creative acts in the Czech film world over the last twenty years in the form of a film chronicle. The documentaries featured both a historical excursion as well as samples from films and original testimonies, opinions and recollections of more than two hundred individuals closely linked to film. Among those sharing their personal and artistic trials and tribulations were Jan Svěrák, Jan Hřebejk, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Vít Olmer, Zdeněk Troška, Hynek Bočan, Karel Smyczek, Vladimír Michálek, Irena Pavlásková, Juraj Jakubisko, Anna Geislerová, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Pavel Liška, Klára Issová, Jiří Bartoška, Martin Dejdar, Vlasta Chramostová, Daniela Kolářová and Iva Janžurová. The documentaries also featured a unique interview with actor Vladimír Dlouhý (10. 6. 1958 – 20. 6. 2010) and producer Pavel Melounek (31. 3. 1957 – 1. 9. 2010), who passed away while the project was still being shot. The documentary series was supplemented each week with the broadcasting of a film from the given year that the documentary dealt with.
10. 1. - 10. 2.
The Museum of Cinematography in Łódź (Poland) hosted the Confrontation exhibition of Czech and Polish film posters. A trilingual publication (also in Czech) of the same name accompanied the exhibition. The exhibition (and book) were conceived as a comparative project. Presented side by side at the exhibition were Czechoslovak and Polish posters of the same film. The visitor thus had the chance to compare how artists from both countries grasped the theme and their creative approach to it. Also featured at the exhibition from the period of 1955 – 1988 were 42 poster pairs; the publication included an additional 32 pairs. Film Haberdashery Terry’s Socks lent posters for the exhibition. Pavel Rajčan wrote the texts for the publication and also curated the exhibition.
10. 1. - 12. 2.
The Trutnov City Gallery hosted an exhibition of the works of the artists and filmmakers Eva Švankmajerová (25. 9. 1940 – 20. 10. 2005) and Jan Švankmajer. The exhibition of collages, graphic works, various objects and scenes from their film was supplemented by a large collection of their paintings.
12. 1. - 27. 2.
An exhibition documenting the nearly thirty-five-year “life” of two popular animation figures of the Czech puppet film “Pat and Mat” was held in the new city centre of the Prague quarter Horní Počernice Chvalský Chateau. The two clumsy pals first appeared in Lubomír Beneš’s 1976 film The Tinkers (Kuťáci). This was followed by the long series of films entitled Pat and Mat and ...And That's It!
13. 1.
The 1st Czech Film Critics' Awards for 2010 (1. ceny české filmové kritiky 2010) evening was held for the first time ever at Archa Theatre in Prague. Forty-six voting critics judged in two rounds 22 feature and 13 documentary films that were introduced into cinema distribution in accordance with the rules of the Union of Film Distributors (UNIE FILMOVÝCH DISTRIBUTORŮ – UFD). The Czech Film Critics’ Awards institute was created with the support of the Czech Ministry of Culture (Ministerstvo kultury České republiky), RWE Transgas and the Czech Film Chamber (Česká filmová komora, o. p. s.), which organized the event. Awarded the best film for 2010 was Radim Špaček’ Walking Too Fast (Pouta), for other awarded prizes see the 1. ceny české filmové kritiky 2010.
13. 1.
The Czech documentary film Copper Age (Doba měděná, dir. Ivo Bystřičan, 2010) was launched into distribution.
13. - 16. 1.
The 14th Festival of Films, Photographs and Publications on Travelling Topics – GO KAMERA 2011 (14. festival filmů, fotografií a publikací s cestovatelskou tematikou – GO KAMERA 2011), whose main theme was ice extremes, took place in Brno. Czech adventurer Miloslav Stingl (19. 12. 1930) and his theme of the Mayas, their civilization and the end of the world received a strong response, as did other representatives who predominantly described during the four festival days their travelling experiences in exotic lands. Competitions were also held – those of amateur films, of travel books, of travel photography – as were lectures, discussions and concerts. For the awarded prizes see 14. festival filmů, fotografií a publikací s cestovatelskou tematikou – GO KAMERA 2011.
13. 1. - 31. 5.
The annual travelling film festival, which has acquired a cult status over the years and which was organized by the Association of Czech Film Clubs (Asociace českých filmových klubů, o. s.) /co-organized by AČFK servis s. r. o./, was held. The 17th Project 100 – 2011 (Projekt 100 – 2011 – 17. ročník) was commenced on the 13. 1. in Světozor cinema in Prague, gradually passed through dozens of cinemas in some 75 places in Bohemia and Moravia. Viewers could see in renewed premiere Gustav Machatý’s Eroticon (Erotikon) from 1929 (in some cinemas accompanied by live music), the French film by director Pierre Étaix entitled Le grand amour (1969) supplemented by his short film Heureux anniversaire (1962), for which Étaix received an Oscar in 1963 for best short film. Polish film was represented by a classic of Polish and international cinematography, Andrzej Wajda, and his film Tatarak (2009) and by the successful debut of Borys Lankosz, who shot the film Rewers (2009) based on the script of Polish writer Andrzej Bart. Another film in the programme was the co-production Danish-Iceland-French-German-American film Good Hearts/Det gode hjerte (2009) directed by Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kári. The final film in the Project 100 – 2011 (Projekt 100 – 2011 – 17. ročník) was the British film Another Year (2010) by director Mike Leigh, who has been nominated for an Oscar six times. The travelling film festival Projekt 100 – 2011 – 17. ročník took place in Slovakia on 8. 9. – 31. 12.
17. 1.
Celebrating 1,000,048 years, Art’s Birthday was held between 8 pm and 10 pm in the production of Czech Radio and the European broadcasting station EBU. Czech artists also took part in this international broadcasting of radio projects from all over the world. The birthday evening took place at the Gallery of the National Technical Library in Prague’s Dejvice quarter and was purely musical. The tradition of worldwide celebrations of Art’s Birthday began on 17 January 1963. At that time Robert Fillio, one of the members of the Fluxus international art movement, declared that art was born a million years ago when a prehistoric artist threw a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Since then, artists from all over the world have been organizing a kind of global birthday party commemorating Fillio's Dadaistic decision and his dream of an eternal connection of artists.
17. 1.
Jaroslav Olša Jr., the ambassador of the Czech Republic to South Korea, presented to Korean film producer Jay Jeon the medal of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo zahraničních věcí České republiky). Jay Jeon is one of the three founders of 1st International Korean Film Festival in Busan, which over the fifteen years of its existence has grown into the largest Asian and one of the largest world film festivals. His most well known film in the Czech Republic is Bakha Satang (1999, South Korea) by director I (Lee) Chang-dong, who received in 2001 the Jury Prize of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
19. 1.
Jan Palach Day II was held at the church of Hus Congregation in the Vršovice quarter of Prague to commemorate the death of Jan Palach (11. 8. 1948 – 19. 1. 1969). The organizer and initiator was playwright and filmmaker Miroslav Bambušek, who shot in 2009 the experimental film Jan Hus – Mass for Three Dead Men (Jan Hus: Mše za tři mrtvé muže). Bambušek first paid homage to Jan Palach Day in 2010 at the Aero cinema in Prague. In addition to the aforementioned Bambušek film, the programe at the church of Hus Congregation also feature films closely connected with January 1969: Silence (Ticho, 1969) by director Milan Peer and Remembrance Ceremony (Tryzna, 1969), a documentary of Palach’s funeral by Slovak filmmakers Vladimír Kubenka, Peter Mihálik and Dušan Trančík. Hussite parson David Frýdl led the evening’s spiritual reflection.
19. 1.
Lucerna cinema and Palace Cinemas Slovanský dům in Prague held the ceremonial premiere of the Czech feature film Innocence (Nevinnost, 2011) by director Jan Hřebejk.
19. - 23. 1.
The 6th Prague Short Film Festival (6. festival krátkých filmů Praha), nicknamed Prague Shorties and organized by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, awarded its main prize to the 17-minute Rumanian-Dutch film Colivia (2010) by director Adrian Sitaru. This film won over fifteen other competition films from all over the world. One of the festival sections, First Service, brought together the short works of famous directors. Czech director Věra Chytilová’s Caterwauling (Kočičina, 1960) was also screened here. No Czech film won any prizes.
20. 1.
The Congress Centre in Prague hosted the ceremonial premiere of the documentary film with feature elements Nicky's Family (Nickyho rodina, 2011, SR - CR) that director Matej Mináč culminated his loose “Winter” trilogy, which began with the feature film All My Loved Ones (Všichni moji blízcí, 1999, CR – Poland – SR) and continued with the documentary The Power of Humanity – Nicholas Winton (Síla lidskosti – Nicholas Winton, 2001 CR – SR). The film Nicky’s Family (Nickyho rodina) continues in examining this exception person, Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of Czech, namely Jewish children, when he organized their transport from Czechoslovakia to Great Britain and found foster British families for them. Sir Nicholas Winton (19. 5. 1909), who celebrated his 102nd birthday in May 2011, personally attended the ceremonial premiere accompanied by his daughter, son and grandson and also met with actors in the film and some of the saved children. The film premiere was preceded by a motion by the deputy chairman of the Czech Senate, Přemysl Sobotka to award the Nobel Prize to Sir Nicholas Winton. In the presence of Sian MacLeod, the British ambassador to the CR, Přemysl Sobotka presented the nomination letter to the Norwegian ambassador to the CR, Jens Eikaas. The motion was supported by a petition that was signed in the Czech Republic by over one hundred thousand children.
20. 1.
Cinema City International, which operates the Cinema City multiplexes and IMAX cinema in the Czech Republic, announced that it had bought the competition chain of Palace Cinemas multiplexes in the Czech Republic, in Slovakia and in Hungary. Cinema City International has acquired a total of 15 multiplexes with a total number of 141 screening rooms. The price of the acquisition, which has boosted Cinema City to the position of the third strongest operator of cinemas in Europe, was EUR 28 million.
20. - 30. 1.
The short film Love Birds (2010) nominated for the Czech Republic was selected to international student films section at the 27th Sundance Film Festival. The film was written and directed by Canadian student Brian Lye, camera work by Yana Rits, in the production of Tomáš Hrubý and produced by David Havas for FAMU International (Filmová a televizní fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze – FAMU International). Also was held the premiere of the experimental film Life in a Day (2011, USA) was screened simultaneously on youtube.com/lifeinaday. In it, Scottish director Kevin Macdonald documents the events of 24 July 2010 from the perspective of YouTube users from all over the world. Also included in his film was the Czech film entitled Video from the Zoo (Video ze zoo) in which cinematographer and editor Sergej Kondakov shot on this very day at the Prague Zoo footage of the giraffe Nora giving birth to her baby giraffe Jakub. People from 197 countries sent some 80,000 clips containing 4,500 hours of footage. The director edited this into a ninety-minute documentary film. The film was produced by the British director Ridley Scott.
21. - 27. 1.
Prague’s Lucerna cinema hosted The 4th Festival of Contemporary Japanese Film and Culture EIGA-SAI (EIGA-SAI – 4. přehlídka soudobých japonských filmů a kultury). The main collection was represented by seven films considered to be among the best shot in Japan over the past two decades. A special bonus consisted of the presentation of the film Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no mori, dir. Tran Anh Hung, 2010) based on the eponymous novel by Murakami Haruki. The accompanying programme featured Japanese Culture Day held in the cinema and in other spaces of Lucerna palace 22. 1. EIGA-SAI – 4. přehlídka soudobých japonských filmů a kultury screening launched the Japanese Culture Month (until 24. 2.) that included film screenings, concerts, theatre presentations and other cultural events.
25. - 28. 1.
A screening of Czech films by director Otakar Vávra was held in Skopje (Macedonia). The National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv) in Prague loaned the following films for it: Girl in Blue (Dívka v modrém, 1939), The Silent Barricade (Němá barikáda, 1949), Krakatit (1948), The Golden Queening (Zlatá reneta, 1965) and The Witch Hunt (Kladivo na čarodějnice, 1969).
26. 1. - 6. 2.
The 40th International Film Festival took place in Rotterdam. Screened in the Red Westerns section that presented “Westerns” from the USSR and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe from 1924 – 1980 was the film Die Söhne der grossen Bärin shot in the production of the East German DEFA studio in 1965 by Czech director Josef Mach. The film Surviving Life (Přežít svůj život, 2010, CR – SR) by Czech artist and director Jan Švankmajer was screened for festival viewers in the Spectrum non-competition section. Some of Jan Švankmajer’s collages used for this film were exhibited in the Czech Centre in Rotterdam. The opening was attended by Jan Švankmajer on 1. 2., on the same day as the premiere of his film at the festival in Rotterdam and was open until 7. 3. Also screened during the festival was the Czech film Lemonade Joe (Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera, dir. Oldřich Lipský, 1964) that was on loan from the National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv) in Prague.
27. 1. - 2. 2.
A Week of Nordic Film was held at the Evald cinema in Prague. The organizer, the Cinemart distribution company (Cinemart, a. s.), presented sixteen recent films from Scandinavia. The festival opened with Mammoth (2009, Sweden – Denmark – Germany) by Swedish director Lukas Moodysson. Also screened were the films Direkoren for det hele (2006, Denmark – Finland – Ireland – Germany – Italy) and Antichrist (2009, Denmark – Germany – France – Sweden – Italy – Poland) by Lars von Trier, the Norwegian film Kunsten å tenke negativt (2006), whose director Bård Breien won the best director award at the 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2007 and the Czech Lion for best foreign film in 2007. Also screened was the winning film of the 43rd Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2008 Frygtelig Lykkelig (dir. Henrik Ruben Genz, 2008, Denmark), the Norwegian tragicomedy Nord (dir. Rune Denstad Langlo, 2009), Good Heart (dir. Dagur Kári, 2009, Denmark – Iceland – USA – France) and a number of others. The work of renowned Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki was represented by the films I Hired a Contract Killer (1990, Finland – France – Great Britain – Germany – Sweden) and Laitakaupungin valot (2006, Finland – France – Germany).
28. - 29. 1.
The 2nd International Film Festival of (not only) Student Films with Anthropological Themes ANTROPOFEST (2. mezinárodní filmový festival (nejen) studentských filmů s antropologickou tematikou ANTROPOFEST), organized by the Atropofest, associating young people interested in social anthropology, specifically in films focussing on anthropology, was held at the Dobeška theatre in Prague. Together they tried to change the situation that had not given the space for young people and students to present their films that thematically dealt with social anthropology. The 2nd annual festival was focussed on the theme of identity, conflict, tradition, borders, and the quotidian. Fourteen films were screened, of which three were Czech: Holuboje (2010) by director Martin Šmoldas on town of Goluboye in the so-called Bessarabia (in present-day Moldavia) established by Czech colonists in 1864, My Wars (Moje války, 2010) by director Jiřina Kosíková, who captured the life story of one woman against the backdrop of the great historical events of the 20th century and Jaroslava Bagdasarová’s Being a Tourist at Home (Turistou ve vlastním domě, 2009) in New Chaplino on Chukotskiy Peninsula, a village in the far north with a daily temperature of -30° Celsius, where they wait for tourists in vain, since the government decided to turn the village into a tourist destination.
29. 1.
The Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague (Univerzita Karlova v Praze – Filozofická fakulta) created an anthology of studies entitled Tesilová kavalérie (Terylene Cavalry) that attempted to critically map some cultural phenomena of the 1970s in the Czechoslovakia (published by Pistorius & Olšanská, 2010). Among the writings devoted to popular music, TV series, the language of power and fashion in Czechoslovakia, some focus on filmmaking and its representatives. Blanka Činátlová, Kamil Činátl and Petr A. Bílek were among those who contributed studies to the anthology.
29. 1.
The TRILOBIT Beroun 2010 awards, 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 (Ceny TRILOBIT Beroun 2010, 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) were announced and presented for the 11th time. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the town of Beroun and Czech Minister of Culture Jiří Besser, who had been the mayor of Beroun before he took over the position of culture minister. For award recipients see Ceny TRILOBIT Beroun 2010, 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.
30. 1.
Upon the occasion of the opening of a new cinema in The Museum of the Moving Image in New York (USA) the Czech film Valery’s Week of Wonders (Valerie a týden divů, 1970) by Jaromil Jireš was screened. The film was on loan from the National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv) in Prague.