On the right
lines - the Prague festival comes to the Broadway
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Before you
dismiss Prague let me just mention a couple of things - A Knight's
Tale and Johnny Depp's From Hell.
Their link to Czechoslovakia? Well, both movies were filmed in the
capital city.
Having said
that, don't expect to see either at the which comes to the Broadway, Nottingham from
5 - 26th May.
Do expect to
see films equal in depth and beauty but without the Hollywood tag.
Over the coming
weeks 13 movies and nine short documentaries will be shown ranging
from comic to surreal to controversial.
Those being
shown will range from the 1930's silent era to groundbreaking New
Wave Czech cinema of the 60's to the present day.
Prague Film
Festival - What's showing
Buttoners - 5th May
A black comedy about ordinary people who bargain with fate at the
end of the 20th century. It鈥檚 a funny film about spitting on trains,
bad weather, the atom bomb, shooting human sperm into space, infidelity
and people who have killed other people. A kaleidoscope of eccentric
characters makes up a picture of a cruel world where everything
is connected with everything else and events seem to repeat themselves.
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| Love at
the train station. Good job it wasn't filmed at Nottingham,
they'd have been waiting ages for the connection |
Prague Stories
- 19th May
Prague stories inspired by New York Stories and the famous Paris
vu par, is a movie about human relationships in contemporary Prague
seen from the perspective of four distinctive directors. We meet
a successful Czech journalist looking for the meaning of life and
wavering between his pregnant wife and his colleagues; former lovers
who re-enact a love affair; a mother and daughter coming to terms
with each other and the death of the old and birth of a new love
affair. Love tangles, tragicomic communication problems and the
uneasy overcoming of alienation are the common themes of the individual
episodes where the city is almost like another character.
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| Scene from
Loners |
Loners -
12th May
Seven Prague-based characters looking for love find themselves in
this offbeat engaging tragicomedy. A very fresh and spontaneous
film full of dreamlike absurdity enhanced by the haze of marijuana.
Zelenka鈥檚 witty script exploiting and linking situations similar
to those in Buttoners (watch out for the Japanese encounter with
Czech family life!) is supported by highly stylistic music and Ondricek鈥檚
distinctive visual style. Definitely a winner with the younger generation,
Loners belongs fully to the contemporary trend of European independent
cinema.
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| Leading
Czech director Vera Chytilova |
Focus on:
Vera Chytilova
Vera Chytilova, one of the foremost directors of the 60s Czech New
Wave, was always closely associated with Prague. Her career from
the start was daring and original with an ability to observe ordinary,
everyday things in an unconventional way and from unexpected angles.
This first British retrospective of her work pays homage to the
range of her abilities.
Daisies -
26th May
Daisies concerns the pranks of two girls. Marie I and Marie
II, who destroy life around them. Outrageous d茅cor and dazzling
cinematography play an integral part in this nihilistic tale of
senseless provocation.
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| It's a
black comedy, honest. Traps is one of the last films to be screened
during the festival |
Traps - 26th
May
A feminist black comedy about a vet who, after being raped by two
men, uses her particular expertise to take her revenge. Oscillating
between tragedy and comedy with some really hilarious scenes, the
film uses rape as the departure for an analysis of morality and
power in contemporary society. Life itself and the instinct for
self-preservation is the biggest trap of the film. The others are
pride, love and the essentially primitive nature of being.
Expect the Broadway
to be transformed into a mini-Prague over the coming weeks.
There'll certainly
be the true taste of Czechoslovakia on offer.
The festival
is being sponsored by Staropramen, brewers of one of the leading
lagers in the country.
That's not going
to stop us saying this will probably be one of the best film festivals
you'll see this year.
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