Tag Archives: Czech Republic

Prague, Czech Republic: Annual Summer Cinema Makes a Move Across Town

by Jay Johnson on 18. Jun, 2009 in Outdoor Movie Events

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Annual summer cinema makes a move across town

Outdoor Movies in Prague, Czech RepublicPrague’s summer outdoor cinema series, formerly known as the Střelák Festival, is moving to Riegrovy sady this year as construction on Střelecký ostrov – its former home – alters both the terrain of the city and its cultural landscape.

“We don’t know if it will be possible for us to return to the island,” says organizer Petr Pošvic, who is seeking a fresh start and has aptly renamed the festival “Riegrák.”

“[Riegrovy sady] fulfilled our criteria: to be outside, to be central yet away from residents who might feel disturbed by the noise,” he said.
This year’s series kicks off June 14 with a concert by the orchestra Mandelbrotovy Kostičky featuring a 200-piece student choir, mixing classic arrangements with modern pop-music elements.
The early days of the program are heavy on contemporary Czech films, most not available in subtitled English versions. The only Czech film that will be accompanied by English subtitles is Proměny, which will play June 16.

“Most subtitled 35mm film copies get sent straight to festivals, and it is hard for small cinemas and festivals to get their hands on them,” Pošvic said.

The series offers its trademark mix of Czech and international films, and recent American releases and second-runs. There are concerts most Thursdays, and documentaries will screen Wednesdays. With the exception of Garbage Warrior July 22, the documentaries are all Czech-language versions. The end of June provides an opportunity to catch some American blockbusters, such as the new Star Trek film (June 25), and the Oscar-nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (June 27). Catch Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep in Doubt (June 29), and for a release just outside the Hollywood mainstream, see The Visitor (June 30).

July and August offer plenty for English-language cinephiles, as well as European films with Czech subtitles.

For animated film fans, the American Coraline is a must-see. In a beautifully pictured account, we learn of a young girl’s discovery of an alternate world behind a secret door in her home (June 23). Watchmen runs the following night, and, for lovers of political drama, Frost/Nixon shows June 28. Recent acclaimed films like Milk (Aug. 11), Synedoche, New York (Aug. 12), Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire (Aug. 22), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Aug. 28) and The Reader (Aug. 30) are all on the agenda.

At the heart of the repertoire are films from Project 100, an initiative of the Club of Czech Art Cinemas, which compiles between eight and 10 films each year notable for historic or cinematographic contributions. This year’s picks include the German silent classic Nosferatu from 1922, a film adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and the more recent, brutally explicit Requiem for a Dream, based on Hubert Selby Jr.’s novel of the same name. Movies from this collection show Monday nights.

For viewers well versed in Czech, the Wednesday night documentary series is worth checking out. Films shown in the series include Vítejte v KLDR (Welcome to North Korea!), Jak se vaří dějiny (Cooking History) and the moving documentary René, which follows a young man who spent much of his life in prison. The Thursday concert series is still in the works, and not all details were available at press time, but the reggae and dub-influenced four piece Nana Zorin along with Rakija’n'Roll outfit Gothard are confirmed to play July 2. Other confirmed bands include Vimal Darpan’s Temple of Glowing Sound (July 30), a blend of ethnic and electronic sounds and shamanic grooves. Most concert nights are supplemented by Czech comedic films, again, without subtitles.

A Sunday night showing of Psycho (July 5) is one to mark on the calendar, as well as the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading (July 10). Woody Allen’s latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, shows July 17.

Riegrák will also give 2009 FAMU graduates a chance to showcase their final projects June 19. Entry is free and offers a rare opportunity to see the country’s newest original work. Though without subtitles, entries promise to be of a highly visual nature.

Last year’s crime-infused comedy, In Bruges, is worth a view Aug. 18 and should prove itself the kind of film enhanced by an outdoor screen, and a couple of beers.

“As we have done in years before, we will provide cold drinks that can be bought at our refreshment stand,” says Pošvic, allaying any fears of dehydration.

By Sarah Borufka
Source: http://www.praguepost.com/tempo/1500-annual-summer-cinema-makes-a-move-across-town.html

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Střelecký ostrov, Czech Republic: Public Renovation Threatens Outdoor Movie Screenings in Střelecký ostrov, Czech Republic

by Open Air Cinema on 13. May, 2009 in Outdoor Movie Events

Outdoor Movies in Střelecký ostrov, Czech Republic

Outdoor Movies in Střelecký ostrov, Czech Republic

For the past 12 years, when June rolled around, outdoor cinema operator Josef Čadík would wheel his setup to Střelecký ostrov and screen outdoor movies underneath a canopy of chestnut trees through the crisp nights of late August. Come this year, Čadík faces ousting as Prague 1 prepares for a massive rehabilitation of the island starting in June. However, public opinion will fight to keep the outdoor film screenings.

Despite the disapproval of a number of NGOs and the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ), Prague 1 is going ahead with a one-year project transforming Střelecký ostrov into a multifunctional, year-round recreational spot.

The 40 million Kč face-lift involves the restoration of the island’s greenery, the construction of a wheelchair-accessible lift from the Most Legií bridge, a public ferry port, a suspended pedestrian bridge, plumbing and electricity and sewage networks as well as smaller jobs like bench and pavement reparation.

The rehabilitation project also includes plans to cut down about 80 of 300 trees on the island, said Prague 1 spokeswoman Blanka Zoufalá.

“Prague 1 wants to turn [the island] into a sort of attraction,” Skalský said. “If this were to happen, it will destroy the character of the island, which is closely tied to nature. It’s a resting zone with greenery where people come for a stroll and to relax. It’s not good to increase the traffic and the number of commercial activities that are expected to take place there in the future.”

According to a Zahrada nad Metují representative, the project aims to restore the island’s function and mature character, and all 80 trees will be replanted.

Saving Trees and Outdoor Movies

The project builds on a scientific analysis of the island’s vegetation, carried out by Zahrada nad Metují itself, identifying 82 lingering trees that are becoming dangerous to the public.

Skalský doubts it. He said bird’s-eye shots of Střelecký ostrov reveal all tree crowns as green, suggesting that the trees are alive, not withering.

In response, Arnika is seeking independent experts to carry out a second expert study to establish whether the lumbering is in fact justified. “We also want to investigate the presence of protected animal species, because we suspect that some might reside [on the island], making large construction intervention inappropriate,” Skalský said.

While Skalský claims the construction date has been pushed back until these results are in, Koráb knows nothing of it. “We negotiated with Arnika – they paid a visit to the mayor and the whole project was presented to them, and I’m not aware that [plans] were halted,” he said.

Outdoor cinema operator Čadík also recalls his meeting with the project’s architect. “We were promised project materials so that we could express our stance on it, but we’re being dealt with as if we’re not counted on this year, and it vexes me,” he said, adding that Prague 1 promised him a spot on the island for the summer outdoor movie screenings, but his lease has not yet been extended.

“Mr. Čadík is being communicated with,” Koráb said. “He’s aware of the council’s plans to revitalize the park and knows very well that he can run the open air cinema, just not for the five to six months he’s used to.”

The island’s purpose is not solely to serve Čadík’s open air cinema, Koráb added. “It will be multifunctional deal.”

Source: “Plans for Střelecký ostrov face-lift irk locals” By Martina Čermáková -The Prague Post. Read full article at: http://www.praguepost.com/news/1213-plans-for-strelecky-ostrov-face-lift-irk-locals.html.

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Prague, Czech Republic: Outdoor Movie Screenings Feature Indie Films -A Review of “The Fountain” (2006)

by Open Air Cinema on 09. Mar, 2009 in Outdoor Film Reviews

Outdoor Movie Review of Each summer in the Czech Republic, Prague’s parks and public squares come alive with outdoor movies. Summer in Prague means one thing – letni kino, or open air cinema. The outdoor movie season starts in early June, and goes right on until mid-September. In this period, Prague residents and tourists alike are treated to the gamut of films, from Apocalypto right through to Zodiac. Prague’s indie and arthouse film following is quite strong, and these audiences were particularly enamored by one film: Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain”. Though misunderstood by most critics, and mostly rejected by American audiences, indie-enthusiasts argue for the film’s artistic merit. The following is a review of “The Fountain” by Rob Gonsalves of eFilmCritic.com. You can read the original blog post about Prague’s outdoor movies here.

The Fountain, a visually enthralling and emotionally overpowering fantasia by writer-director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream), seems to have baffled many impatient critics and left many audiences cold. At this point, a lone reviewer’s quest to save the movie is almost as challenging as Tom’s quest to rescue Izzi. But I will try, and I will state it plainly: If you have ever taken my advice to see a movie and found yourself grateful you’d seen it, please go see The Fountain.

Aronofsky has fashioned a spiritual triptych out of the story’s main conflict, a doctor’s drive to discover a remedy for his dying wife. Izzi is writing a book, called The Fountain, about a conquistador (Jackman) whose queen (Weisz) sends him to find the Tree of Life, whose sap gives eternal life. There is also the tale of a futuristic man (Jackman) speeding across the cosmos in a bubble that also contains the Tree. Yet underneath all the symbolic trappings is a very simple parable about how love can transcend death because it gives life meaning. That’s what Tom, throwing himself into research and missing his chance to spend time with Izzi in her final days, must learn.

Outdoor Movie Review of I admired Aronofsky’s 1998 debut Pi, but his 2000 Requiem for a Dream seemed trendy and shallow, not honestly felt. The Fountain is Aronofsky’s triumph, an intoxicating blend of luscious cinematography (by Matthew Libatique) and brooding score (by Clint Mansell). Every frame hums with passion; like 2001 and Solaris (both versions), this is an art film in sci-fi dress, speaking eternal truths in the language of light shows. The actors shoulder the three-story burden effortlessly. By now we know Rachel Weisz can be winsome and enchanting, but here she brings a brittle kind of bliss to a woman who has come to terms with her own passing. The real revelation is Hugh Jackman, who jumps without fear into the sort of role that could’ve turned him into a laughingstock — he brings emotional urgency and transparency to the saga.

The Fountain is a fragile egg, easily cracked in cynical times. It’s sure to be misread as a soft-headed, muddled New Age treatise, but what it actually has to say is a good deal more tough-minded: that you had better love honestly and well in this life, because you don’t get a do-over. Death can be transcended but not conquered or denied. In all three incarnations, Tom is in perpetual motion, running away from his loved one towards something he believes will guarantee eternal life with her. Even his future-self — having lived centuries thanks to his medical breakthrough — turns away from the spirit of Izzi to hurtle through space towards Xibalba, the dying nebula wherein, he believes, he will be reunited with Izzi. But really the future Tom exists only in Tom’s mind — a cautionary tale of a literal bubble boy, sealed off from life and fixated on an impossible dream — just as the conquistador Tomas lives only in Izzi’s imagination. As in The Fisher King, the characters construct fantasy to process painful reality. The results may strike some as pretentious and others, like me, as adventurous and desperately moving.

Outdoor Movie Screening of The Fountain in Prague, Czech Republic

Outdoor Movie Screening of "The Fountain" in Prague, Czech Republic

Approach The Fountain as a love story informed by a grab bag of philosophies — Christian, Buddhist, Pagan, Mayan, take your pick — with sumptuous images to match, and you’ll have the key to its eternal life. It’s really nothing more complicated than the story of a couple, one of whom embraces life and so embraces death as a part of life, the other of whom tries to control life and death and is ill-equipped to deal with either. It’s a simple story told with Zen directness, its fingers deep in the age-old questions, its eyes and ears wide open to the sensual potential of cinema.

For my money, The Fountain is the best that American film has to offer this year. If more movies equally daring and powerful are to be made, this one needs your support.

Source: Rob Gonsalves -eFilmCritic.com. Read full review at: http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=15011&reviewer=416.

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Prague, Czech Republic: Outdoor Movies at Prague’s Open Air Cinemas

by Open Air Cinema on 20. Jan, 2009 in Open Air Cinema, Outdoor Movie Events

Outdoor Movies in Prague, Czech RepublicSummer in Prague means one thing – letni kino, or open air cinema. The outdoor movie season starts in early June, and goes right on until mid-September. In this period, Prague residents and tourists alike are treated to the gamut of films, from Apocalypto right through to Zodiac.

But what is a letni kino? Well, in the most rudimentary of cases, it is a sheet tied to two trees and a projector beaming out some film in a park. But those in Prague are a slightly more sophisticated affair. The open-air cinema on Strelecky ostrov, near the National Theatre, has been running now for 11 years. As well as a big screen, it has a bar and grill. As beer is an integral part of Czech outdoor cinema, I decided to start at the very beginning, and ask the barman about his job:

“It’s very nice but sometimes it is a little bit tiring, because I am here 12 hours a day, so if the weather is too good, then lots of people come here and I have more than enough work. So sometimes it is very tiring, but it is really nice to work here. The people are nice, the films are good.”

So you get to see all the films?

“No no no. As you can see, from here, I can’t see a thing! It’s a pity, but what can you do? I’m here to do my job, and not to look at films. I’m doing my job and I can hear some things, but I can’t see anything.”

But now to the films themselves. In the middle of Strelecky Ostrov stands a bright yellow caravan. Inside are a couple of gigantic old projectors, and Honza Parizek, the cinema’s technician. As he deftly handled yards of film, he explained to me he was doing:

“I’m just preparing the movie for projection”

So how do you prepare a movie for projection?

“On this table I put the movie onto the reels that go onto the projectors.”

And is this a complicated process? The machines look rather complicated to use.

“No, it is really simple, a monkey could do it. The projector is for 35 millimeter film. It has to be big and strong because the lamp inside is very strong. It needs to ventilated. There are motors which pass the film in front of the projector. The machine has to be very heavy, because there can’t be any vibrations.”

Ondrej Kubista is one of the organizers of the open-air cinema on Strelecky Ostrov, he talks about what makes his cinema better than the rest:

“These summer cinemas all have a really nice atmosphere, because they are out in the open-air. In this sense, here on Strelecky Ostrov, we are no different from any other such outdoor cinema. What is special about us is that we are here in the centre of Prague, between Mala Strana and Stare Mesto. We are exceptional in this way. Another thing that is special about us is our programme. We try to put together a programme which will suit both Prague locals and visiting tourists. This means that the majority of things we show are Czech films with English subtitles.”

Honza Parizek is the man responsible for putting together the programme:

“On Mondays we have films that are part of ‘Projekt 100′ – this is a collection of cult movies. On Tuesdays we have either documentary movies or music movies. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, we have quality commercial movies, chosen from those on general distribution. And on Sundays we have a profile collection of Jan Svankmajer’s feature films, the best Czech surrealist director.”

And of all of this year’s films, which is your personal favourite?

“The Fountain, by Darren Arronofsky. It is a metaphysical, audio-visual symphony.”

…Wow! Unfortunately, The Fountain has already been and gone. It was shown after a Legendary Pink Dots concert last Saturday.

Further up the river, in Karlin, is yet another open-air cinema. This one is organised by the town council, and Czech Radio, and has quite a different selection procedure. Organiser Karel Polacek explains his choice of films:

“I choose the films, this isn’t the only cinema that I choose the films for. From my youth, when the Czech Republic was a communist country and we didn’t have so many films, I have inherited the idea that outdoor cinemas are the place for lighter, entertaining films. That means that we avoid art films, which are better in an enclosed space. Quite simply, at an outdoor cinema there should be adventure, comedy, humour and, for those who are prepared to watch it, sex.”

The open-air cinema in Karlin has quite a different feel to it. It is housed in the courtyard of one of Czech Radio’s oldest and prettiest buildings, on Hybesova street. Strelecky Ostrov, on the other hand, is an island in the middle of the Vltava, with views up to the castle and the city’s old town. The open-air cinema in Karlin is in its fourth year, and it surprised me to hear that it is the most popular of these cinemas in the Czech Republic. Last year it attracted over 14,000 visitors. The Karlinske filmove leto is, it seems, a little less publicized than the cinema on Strelecky Ostrov, so I asked Karel Polacek what his secret was:

“Money, money, money. Entrance is only 25 crowns, and that is why they come. The audience really depends upon the film that you are showing. If you show Spiderman, or 300, then you get a very young crowd, if you show Notes on a Scandal or the Czech film Empties, then you generally get people coming in pairs, in their thirties. So the audiences for these sorts of films are older, and larger.”

Despite the healthy sounding audience figures for this, and other open-air cinemas in Prague, the Czech tradition of letni kino is finding it hard to survive. The season is only around three months long, and then these cinemas go into hibernation for the winter.

Simona Cadikova is in charge of the open-air cinema on Strelecky Ostrov. She comes from a family of mobile cinema owners, which she says sometimes is like belonging to a circus. She explains the problems faced by those in the industry:

“Nowadays, people love big American movies, and these movies are playing in big multiplex cinemas, in shopping malls and the like. And people forget that these small cinemas are a much nicer experience. At least for me. And so people are going to these multiplexes and little village cinemas are just dying.”

Here on Strelecky Ostrov, you can’t get any popcorn, and you can’t get any Haagen Dazs, but what can you get instead, what typically accompanies Czech cinema?

“It’s beer, lemonade, sausage, chips. But, definitely, in an open-air cinema, it’s beer! You know, people love coming to a movie out of doors, having a beer, looking up at the stars, at the trees. It’s wonderful!”

Source: “Nights of a thousand stars: Prague’s open-air cinemas” By Rosie Johnston. Read full article at: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/94052.

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