Citizen Havel

The film, Citizen Havel, shows with humor and empathy a timeless story of the politician whose fame has crossed the Czech borders a long time ago. The audience can note the ups and downs of the ex-president, sad moments of his life such as a death of his first wife Olga, critical health situation but also times of a big popularity, happiness and joy. Some might be interested to see his speeches or ‘jackets rehearsals’ the others will appreciate more his sense of humor or follow his intellectual processes. The documentary is not trying to be a sort of glorification of Havel, on the other hand, this is a president from flesh and blood who is in the extraordinary epoch of his life demonstrated in very unusual situations.

Director Petr Koutecký started to register the film in 1992, shortly before Havel became the first president of the independent Czech Republic and the film finishes on the last day of his office - 2.2.2003. Koutecký and his camera were close to Havel for the whole two presidential periods, during trips, visits, meetings etc. Thanks to their friendship, the director managed to register also the private moments of the famous politician, something that nobody else would have a chance to do: ‘We totally forgot to realize that somebody is registering us.’ remembers Vladimír Hanzel, longtime Havel’s secretary. ‘Probably no other politician ever let the film-makers so close,’ adds Hanzel.

After the tragical death of Koutovský the film was finished by his colleague Míra Janek and his wife in 2006 which had to undergo a difficult task to cut from seventy hours of the film material the most interesting moments and put them in one full-length picture that will have a premiere in January 2008 in the Czech cinemas. The international one is planned within the film festival Berlinale. Citizen Havel is not only a portrait of the world-known politician but also sometimes a tragicomic testimony of the first ten years of the Czech freedom.

Josef Lada - Painter of the Czech Christmas

In the Prague Municipal House will take place until the February 3rd 2008 the exhibition dedicated to the Czech painter and writer - Josef Lada, as this December we remember two important anniversaries of this artist: 120 years from his birth and 50 from his death.
The exhibition offers a representative sample of all areas of Lada’s work – from caricature, humoristic drawing, children’s books illustration, scenography, posters to free painter’s composition. We can find there some of his works which has not been published yet and that were considered lost even by the author himself.

The first of his drawings were published in 1904 in a magazine Máj (May) and two years after his first children book was produced as Lada was not only a painter but also an author of many stories for children that happened to be very popular for its originality and simplicity. He ‘gave a face’ to the main character of his writer-friend Hašek: a good soldier Švejk but what made him perhaps the most notable in the eyes of public were his charming winter illustrations of native village Hrusice that became with his unique visualization of the Holy Family, mangers with animals and carolers a symbol of traditional Czech Christmas.

Between the representatives of the Czech modernism we will hardly find a painter whose work has met with such a spontaneous admirations by different kinds of audience. His originality was appreciated even by Pablo Picasso but the biggest evidence of the vitality, authenticity and importance of Josef Lada’s work is the fact that there are constantly new re-editions his children’s books and his images are even today a requested motive of the Christmas cards and calendars. The world that Lada painted does not exist any more, and the major part never existed, as Lada created his own. He looked at things for the whole life with the children’s eyes and he had a gift to see in ordinary always something unique and miraculous.

Play that wrote the Pope

Contrary to Poland where the Wojtyla’s screenplays are shown quite frequently there will be for the first time in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, 19th of December featured a play that wrote the Pope! The Prague Theatre in Dlouha has prepared his play The jeweler’s shop in a form of scenic reading under a direction of Petr Lanta. According to Lanta it is not going to be any king of ‘theatre in chairs’. ‘I would like to create with limited resources the most of the theater magic’ adds the director.

The jeweler’s shop is a poetic, poesy and monolog drama which main theme is the relationships and love. ‘They are actually loud and sincere personal thoughts and self-examination that becomes in certain parts a drama.’ describes the play Lanta.
The main characters are three couples that represent at the same time two different generations. Other symbolic persons take parts in the play such as Adam, who is a guide and protectors of erratic souls, perhaps something like Wojtyla’s alter ego and then a jeweler who is weighing not only the wedding rings but also the human hearts.

Wojtyla wrote this play under a pseudonym Andrzej Jawien in 1960, when he still served as a bishop in Krakow. The way how he is describing the relationships is very realistic, it is not only a symbolic drama. It is a text of responsibility and criticism of the sixties that he wrote in the epoch of free love and a common sensation that everything was allowed. He realized a danger leading from an unlimited liberty causing a confusion of a man’s soul. Today’s destruction of values is just confirming Wojtyla’s prediction of this era is a bad heritage.

Rediscovery of Pilgrimage

The pilgrimage has a big tradition between the Czech and Moravian people even though these days a meaning of this word in the Czech language is more associated with roundabout attractions and refreshment kiosks. Our grandmothers would be surely willing to tell us what a traditional pilgrimage looked like and that making a certain effort and sacrifice was considered that time a indivisible part of every day’s life.

The members of Matice Svatohostýnská (Svaty Hostyn Trust), who take care of the most visited pilgrims’ place in the Czech Republic, would like to follow up on this tradition and help to rediscover the meaning of pilgrimage today. That is why they decided to create a pilgrimage path connecting the most important Christian traditions’ shrines the in the Czech Republic: Svaty Hostyn (historical Marian pilgrims’ place) and Velehrad (base of the evangelizations of Slavic nations, Cyril and Method). Organizers wanted to offer new alternatives also for the young generations so they came up with an idea to have a sort of educational path in which the pilgrims would not only admire the richness and the beauty of the south-east Moravian nature but learn during its 55 km divided into 22 stations about the most important culture-historical aspects and personalities of the area. However, what is making the path unique of its kind is its spiritual dimension as there will be at every station a panel placed also with a citation from the Holy Scripture and a short meditation.

Every pilgrim will receive a passport, a map with the route and a pilgrimage stick. Participants are invited to join official group pilgrimages or organize their own with a family, friends etc. They can make the trip longer or shorter, the accommodation for the less fit pilgrims will be provided.
The plan is to open the route officially on the 4th July 2008, on the feast of Saint Cyril and Method, at the occasion of organization of the Day of the People of Good Will in Velehrad.

'Abnormally Normal' Man

‘You said you don’t have anything to read why you don’t take this?’ were the words of my friend who passed on me a recently published book titled: Decide for a Risk. With not very high expectations I accepted from her this interview-structured life story of Petr Esterka. All I could associate with this name was a fact that he is a Czech bishop living currently in the United States.

The book completely captured all my attention already in the first chapter. My heart was beating fast while reading how 22 year-old Petr and his two friends were cutting through the electric wires of 5000 volts, barrier that was protecting the Czechoslovak border from the Austrian ‘capitalist enemies’. If the police guard spotted them they would be shot immediately or torn apart by the specially trained dogs…

Petr Esterka did not search for it but nevertheless his life has been one big adventure. Coming from a devoted Catholic family from the South Moravia, refused to accept the dictatorial regime of the communists and decided to leave the country in 1957. From the refugees’ camp in Austria he continued to Rome where he became a seminarian. After his priestly ordination in 1963 his path led to the United States where among the pastoral work he performed also as a university professor and a chaplain of the Air Force. In 1999 he became a bishop responsible for the Czech Catholic community living abroad.

Despite of the interview form of the book, Petr Esterka is not talking about himself, but about the world, people, his person usually stands on the side. He does not close his eyes in front of the problems; on the other hand he faces them. He seems very natural and surprisingly ‘normal’ in all his responses as he admits doubts and does not cover by a pose the reverence of his position. He does not have the tendency to polarize the world for the good and the bad, he does not condemn and he lives based on a motto: ‘hate sin – love sinner’ and he is very credible when he says it.

The book was published in the Czech language under the title:
Rozhodni se pro risk, Petr Esterka v rozhovoru s Alešem Palánem
Karmelitánské nakladatelství Kostelní Vydří, 2007

Happy Birthday, Democracy!

Everything started on the November, 17th 1989. The university students gathered for the piety act at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nazi murder of Jan Opletal. Then the crowd decided to march to the centre of Prague. The peaceful mass of students was stopped by the armed policemen who brutally beaten them up.

After this the end of communist regime started to count down and in little more then a moth was the dissident Vaclav Havel elected as the president of Czechoslovakia. Something unbelievable became a reality!

This year the democracy celebrates its 18th birthday which means it officially becomes an adult. During its 18 years went through many euphories but also disappointments. It has welcome visitors such as John Paul II. and George Bush, on the other hand some guests as the Russian army who ‘visited’ for more then two decades finally left. It lost its Slovak leg which decided to walk on its own and with its own skin has experienced what the capitalism all brings. It witnessed not only constant disputes between the political parties but even a coalition among the biggest political rivals.Nevertheless, there is a reason to celebrate; democracy achieved its full-age in a relative health despite of the fact that the unreformed communists have higher preferences then each of the two minority government parties. Happy Birthday!

Memory of The Crystal Night in Prague

Events that happened during the night from the 9th to the 10th November 1938 activated the Hitler’s devilish plan to eliminate completely one population.
The excuse of the Crystal Night was a attempt of a Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, to kill a secretary of the German embassy in Paris, Ernst von Rath.
During this night many Jewish synagogues and cemeteries were plundered, the shops of the Jewish people destroyed and books significant to the Hebraic religion publicly burnt on squares. The window glasses of the Jewish shops shined when they were being broken so this is the reason the night got its unusual adjective the Crystal.

It is Saturday afternoon, 10th of November 2007, 69th anniversary of the Crystal Night. By the Old-New Synagogue in Prague are gathering people to memorize the tragic event. But it is not so easy to get this day to the Jewish center. The neo-Nazis under the name of New National Democrats announced their march and against them are ready to protest the ultra-left radicals. Close by the Synagogue are standing lines of policemen and the water cannon.
But the people who want to express their piety to the victims are not discouraged, on the other hand, in this way they also want to reject any form of Nazism and violence. Wearing a symbolic David star on their coats are singing, led by the rabbi Sidon, a prayer for the martyrs while the scream of the extremists is heard by the Synagogue. The police has the whole Jewish quarter under control, nobody from the Nazis or the anarchists can get there. Representatives of many institutions, politicians and other persons of the Czech culture sphere joined The Hebraic community to show their compassion with the victims of holocaust. Cardinal Vlk in his short speech mentioned: ‘By my presence here today I express my solidarity in a serious danger that some people reject or deprecate the terror of holocaust or even they are adopting the ideas that caused it.’

Thinking through film!

From the 23rd - 28th of October 2007 took place in Jihlava, Czech Republic, the International Festival of Documentary Films, the biggest event of this kind in Central and Eastern Europe. The 11th annual meeting of fans of this genre offered again a unique selection of Czech and international films under a motto: 'Thinking through film.'

The festival program as always was divided into three main contest categories. The first one: 'Good work' offers every year thematically interesting documentaries from all over the world, not only the famous ones but also those the have not been discovered yet. The second category: 'Between the seas' presented this year high-quality films from 6 European counties, the special interest was paid this time to the Eastern European film. The last section: 'Czech joy' concentrates on the domestic documentaries, 13 films from the Czech production participated in the contest this year. The non-competition category: 'Transparent beings' offers a retrospective of important persons of the world cinematography, this year it was dedicated to the legend of the French film, Chris Marker, the German film essayist Harun Farock and the Argentinean director Raymund Gleyzer.

The price 'The best world documentary’ in a category 'Good work' was given to a Chinese director James T. Hong for his 731: Two versions of Hell. As 'The best Czech documentary' in the section 'Czech joy' was considered A Town Called Hermitage by Ondřej Provazník and Martin Dušek. The jury decided that 'The best documentary of Central and Eastern Europe' is the film Artel by a Russian director Sergei Loznitza.
The special award of the festival ‘The Benefit to the World Cinematography’ was given to a Czech origin director Woody Vašulka, who belongs to the first generation of the experimenters with the video technology. He lives from 1965 in the U.S. where he co-founded the Inter-media theatre of electronic media - The Kitchen in New York.

The Last Train: Drama of the Powerless

Recently released film from the Czech-German co-production THE LAST TRAIN, directed by Joseph Vilsmaier and his wife Dana Vavrova, is one of the many movies that dedicate their story to the Second World War. This time we will not see masses of soldiers and strategic battle preparation, almost the whole film takes place in a train which transports the last Jewish citizens of Berlin to the concentration camp. Completely purified Berlin was a Goebbels‘ present for Hitler's birthday in 1943.

The train left the Berlin station Grünewald with the last 688 Jewish people who stayed in 1943 in the German capital. They were mainly from the prominent rich families who were really surprised by the sudden Gestapo attack in their homes.
The Last Train dedicates its attention to the ‘passengers’ in one of the compartments of the train. During two hours we can become familiar with different personalities and different strategies how they coop with a given situation. Some of them hope almost until the arrival to the concentration camp that they will be able to live; the others plan to escape from the beginning of the journey. The tiny space of the train compartment gave the authors of the film a possibility to show ‘little’ human tragedies. The main characters express real deepness and very human dimension. The film honors the people of which spoke in his memories Viktor E. Frankl: ‘Even if there were few of them, they are the example that in the concentration camp they can take everything from a man except one thing: the highest human dignity…’

We could ask ourselves a question why to go to the cinema and see the movies that fulfill us with terror and anxiety? Why to remind ourselves the horrors of the past times? But on contrary, the tragedy of many millions of dead people has to be constantly reminded to us, mainly today, when we concentrate so much on the present moment. It was not always so common to live in such a wealthy society and we should not forget the path that led us to the current richness. The permanent reminder of sufferings of European nations should create in us empathy with the suffering of many other nations today.

Inter-religious meditation during the Forum 2000 conference

From the October 7th until the October 9th 2007 the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, was the host of thousands of prominent guests from all around the world who participated in the 11th annual Forum 2000 Conference.

During the meetings that were this year dedicated to a topic: Freedom and Responsibility was many times reminded a current situation in Burma. Vaclav Havel, the ex-president of Czech Republic, asked all the participants to support the people in Burma by signing a petition and Farish Ahmad-Noor, Malaysian political scientist, mentioned that a task of all religious people today is to tell the truth to the ‘worldly power’ as it was done by the monks in Burma recently.
Every year a meeting of representatives of the religions of the world takes place and this year it was participated by many important delegates of all three Abraham traditions religions: Hebraism, Christianity and Islam. One of the topics of a discussion was an inseparability of the religion and politics. Czech catholic priest Tomas Halik reminded that religion is a source of values and it creates an ambience for the life in our society.
The conference was concluded by the inter-religious meditation in the roman-catholic parish of Saint Salvatore. The crowded church witnessed how the representatives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim worlds lit together a candle as a sign of a faith in one common God.

The Forum 2000 was founded in 1996 as a joint initiative of the Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. Since 1997, Forum 2000 has organized annual conferences held in Prague which have attracted important thought leaders, Nobel laureates, politicians, business leaders and many others, whose common denominative is experience with bearing responsibility. Their effort to search for the responses to significant global issues culminated in the adoption of the Second Prague Declaration, which briefly sums up the world’s current state and concludes with the words: „Today it is not enough only to observe and describe what is threatening us. It is not enough to talk about hope. The only way is a pragmatic meeting and a free acceptance of our obligation to have a dialogue with everybody and about everything which we consider to be conditions of our common freedom and responsibility in our interconnected world“.