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Czech That Film 2016
April 29, 2016 - May 1, 2016
Save the date for Czech That Film 2016 in Iowa City! Friday, April 29 – Sunday, May 1.
Tickets available at icfilmscene.org! Full festival pass is also available.
What: Czech That Film 2016
When: Friday, April 29 – Sunday, May 1
Where: FilmScene (118 E College St, Iowa City, IA 52240)
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Czech That Film is a nationally touring film festival organized by the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa, and the Czech Center. The Iowa City festival is organized by the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in partnership with FilmScene. 2016 is the fifth year for this popular festival, which travels to at least 18 North American cities each year. In 2016, Czech That Film will reach San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Austin, Denver, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Houston, Iowa City, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Portland, New York, Chicago, Seattle, as well as Ottawa (Canada) and Puerto Rico! Visit CzechThatFilm.com for more information about the national festival.
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CZECH THAT FILM IOWA CITY SCHEDULE
All films will be in Czech with English subtitles.
Friday, April 29 at 6:30pm:
Home Care/Domácí péče (1 hr. 32 min, 2015)
Includes Q&A with special guest Slávek Horák, film director
Reception ($10 per person) to follow at the Sheraton Iowa City Hotel (210 S Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA 52240), from 8:45 – 10:00pm. Includes hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, meet and greet with the director.
Dedicated home care nurse Vlasta attends her capricious patients in the Czech wine country, and lives for her husband Lada and her daughter, giving them more than they are asking for. Then, one day, things change and Vlasta is forced to step outside of her comfort zone. Drama and gentle humor intertwine as Vlasta realizes, for the first time in her life, that she might need some care, too.
About: Everyone knows that life is short, but each of us comes to grips with life’s actual limits in our own and often unexpected way. Home Care, the feature film debut from writer/director Slávek Horák, con- fronts the most important questions of life in an engaging way. At times darkly funny, and at times bittersweet, the film examines the finality of human existence through a tender portrayal of a dedicated home care nurse, who puts everyone’s needs above her own. She is forced to learn that this attitude is not just selfless but also self-destructive. In contrast, her husband is a traditional small-town male, whose only responsibilities seem to revolve around tending his workshop and drinking plum brandy. But his jokes and light-hearted attitude are only a masculine facade and his true emotions will soon show.
While searching for a topic, Horák went to his parents’ home, planning to work on some significant ideas in a tranquil countryside. Once there, he realized that his mother, who worked as a home care nurse, was a much more interesting character than he could ever invent. Her quirky stories had always been right there in front of his eyes.
Both main characters are based on Horák’s parents, which helped him to create their richly textured personalities and the complex dynamics of their relationship. Most of the film was shot in his parents’ house, garden, workshop and vineyard, so the setting perfectly matches the characters. The film uses the actual wardrobe of the director’s mother and features non-actors from his hometown.
Even though the film was self-produced on a tight budget, HOME CARE went on to become a major critical and box office success in the Czech Republic.
Director: Slávek Horák
Cast: Alena Mihulová, Bolek Polívka, Tatiana Vilhelmová, Zuzana Kronerová
Producer: Slávek Horák
Director of photography: Jan Šťastný
Screenplay: Slávek Horák
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Saturday, April 30 at 3:00pm
The Little Man/Malý pán (1 hr. 24 min, 2015)
The Little Man is a kind-hearted bloke who likes to help everyone and is never taken by surprise. Ever since a strange dream in which he saw a cottage with a sign over the door that said: “Here shall you find what you lack,” the Little Man has been restless. His curiosity overwhelms him, and he decides to get to the root of this mystery. Little Man’s journey to solve such a mystery is adventurous and difficult. Along the way, he encounters various forest creatures – some kind, some malicious. What will he find at the end of his expedition?
Director: Radek Beran
Producer: Jakub Červenka
Director of photography: Filip Sanders
Screenplay: Lumír Tuček
Saturday, April 30 at 5:00pm
The Way Out/Cesta ven (1 hr. 43 min, 2014)
The film’s gritty atmosphere unveils a young Romani couple, Žaneta and David, striving to live a “normal life” and to provide for their daughter and Žaneta’s sister. To protect his family, David considers a life of crime, as the grim backdrop of unemployment, debt, and poverty weighs down upon them. Žaneta wants a respectable life for her family, and for her sister to get an education, and an honest job. Trapped in the community’s anti-gypsy prejudice, can Žaneta find the inner strength to break out?
Director: Petr Václav
Cast: Klaudia Dudová, David Ištok, Mária Ferencová Zajacová, Milan Cifra
Producer: Miloš Lochman, Jan Macola, Karel Chvojka
Director of photography: Štěpán Kučera
Screenplay: Petr Václav
Sunday, May 1 at 1:00pm
Invention for Destruction (The Fabulous World of Jules Verne)/Vynález zkázy (1 hr. 24 min, 1958)
https://youtu.be/4HRePnztweE
When genius scientist Professor Roche and his aide, Simon Hart, are abducted by pirates, the professor doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation. But Simon soon realizes that the pirates want to use Roche’s newest invention — a strong explosive — for world domination. With Roche isolated, Simon tries to thwart the plans of pirate captain Artigas by sending a balloon with a message to the outside. Little does he know, Roche has a clever plan of his own.
(Or, more simply: An evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano.)
Karel Zeman’s truly fabulous film is an entertaining blast from the past. The 1950s-era special effects and outrageous plot are delightfully campy, yet impressive – especially in this digitally remastered cinema edition.
Director: Karel Zeman
Cast: Arnošt Navrátil, Lubor Tokoš, František Šlégr, Miloslav Holub
Producer: Zdeněk Novák
Director of photography: Jiří Tarantík
Screenplay: Karel Zeman, František Hrubín, Jiří Brdečka, Milan Vácha
Sunday, May 1 at 3:00pm
50/Padesátka (1 hr. 37 min, 2015)
What happens in the mountains, stays in the mountains. Set in the beautiful snowy Krkonoše Mountains, the film centers around the Three Kings 50 KM Cross-Country Ski Race. This film introduces a varied cast of comical characters whose stories are intertwined, including a one-legged female skier, a sober snowmobile driver, an infertile ladies’ man, and a bartender with a special fondness for divination. Meanwhile, the oldest member of the cross-country skiing Bulán family worries about his son’s priorities. Instead of a desire to complete the 50 KM race, he is after a totally different 50 – seducing mature women.
Director: Vojtěch Kotek
Cast: Ondřej Pavelka, Marek Taclík, Jakub Prachař, Jiří Mádl, Vojtěch Kotek, Vilma Cibulková, Tereza Oříšková, Oldřich Kaiser, Jiří Schmitzer, Hana Vágnerová, Jaromír Dulava, Kryštof Hádek
Producer: Daniel Strejc
Director of photography: Tomáš Sysel
Screenplay: Petr Kolečko
Czech That Film in Iowa City is generously sponsored by Gary & Cathy Rozek.
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