Made in Prague: Film Festival

10 NOVEMBER - 27 NOVEMBER 2011, LONDON - VARIOUS VENUES.

The 15th annual festival of Czech cinema in the UK explores a rich history of literary adaptations for screen. Focusing on the best examples of strong literary sources matched with visionary film directors, the resulting selection offers exceptional films from the history of Czech cinema. The filmic journey through Czech literature starts with the silent film Battalion (Josef Hais Týnecký); continues with modernist gem Marijka the Unfaithful (Ivan Olbracht) with Bohuslav Martinů’s original score, and a 1959 adaptation of Czech national treasure Good Soldier Svejk (Jaroslav Hašek); and moves on to Capricious Summer (Vladislav Vančura) and Nobody Is Going to Laugh (Milan Kundera) both representing the 60s Czech New Wave. Included is also a new take on Suchý & Šlitr’s 1965 jazz opera A Walk Worthwhile directed by Miloš Forman. Václav Havel’s directorial debut of his own play Leaving represents contemporary literature alongside Vladimír Michálek’s Of Parents and Children (Emil Hakl) and Ondřej Trojan’s Identity Card (Petr Šabach). The festival pays special tribute to its guest, director Juraj Herz whose 2010 film Habermann (Josef Urban) is complemented by his masterpiece The Cremator (Ladislav Fuks) and a short film Collected Barbarities (Bohumil Hrabal). A theatre performance based on Tomas Sedlacek's non-fiction bestseller The Economics of Good and Evil will close the season celebrating the literary work of 16 outstanding Czech writers.