A huge drop in the mortgage market caused developers in Prague to sell only 550 flats in the third quarter of this year.
For the first three quarters of this year, sales have so far reached 2,550 and according to current trends, it looks like only around 3,000 flats will be sold in Prague for the whole year. Compared to last year’s record year, when developers sold 7,450 new flats, this is a significant drop.
The latest data on the Prague residential real estate market was published in a joint analysis by the development companies Central Group, Trigema and Skanska Residential.
“Year-on-year sales fell by sixty percent and quarter-on-quarter they went down by forty-three percent. This is the biggest decline in the time we have been tracking residential market data. Those interested in buying through a mortgage have almost completely disappeared from the market,” says Marcel Soural, owner of investment and development group Trigema.
Developers refer to the current drop in sales and demand as pent-up demand and believe it will start to return next year. “This is mainly due to the mood in society. People are putting off buying property not because they can't afford it or are impoverished, but rather they are waiting to see what happens.”
“Politicians are talking about fear of winter, and people are therefore curbing their appetite, pulling back and waiting to see how winter turns out,” Soural said, referring to the consumer confidence index, which, according to the Czech Statistical Office, is the lowest since 2003.
According to Dusan Kunovský, owner of Central Group, a slight market recovery could come as early as next spring. However, cheaper mortgages will bring a major boost in demand. “We expect rates to return to the three per cent level in 2024," Kunovský says. He also believes that supply will not increase substantially because of the delayed demand. Developers simply will not find it meaningful to place large new projects on the frozen market and will wait until demand picks up.”
There are currently 4,700 flats for sale in Prague with a total value of CZK 45.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 71 per cent. However, Kunovský said that in the next period the supply will stabilise somewhere below 4,000 flats.
It is the low supply, which will continue to be slightly limited, and the constantly rising costs that will not allow the prices of new flats to fall. “Projects will be postponed rather than go down in price. Costs have risen so much that cheapening does not make sense,” predicts Kunovský.
Current figures also show that new flats in Prague are not getting cheaper. Although sales prices rose by 17 percent year-on-year, the quarter-on-quarter increase did not exceed two percent. The average price of flats sold by developers in the third quarter reached CZK 147,884 per square meter and the average price of flats on offer at the end of September was CZK 154,181 per square meter.
“Of all the projects across the market, eighty per cent of the supply saw no change in price, ten per cent increased and the rest were reduced. This shows that prices are not falling, or if they are falling, it is perhaps due to pressure on the investor, who has to deal with financing quickly, or due to the shortcomings of the project," says Petr Michálek, chairman of the board of Skanska Residential.
According to developers, prices of new Prague apartments will continue to stagnate. The situation is slightly different for older flats. There, a quarter-on-quarter price decline of 1.9 percent is already visible. Year-on-year, however, prices are still 1.8 percent higher. The number of older flats on offer has increased by fifty-nine per cent compared to 2021.
However, sellers are likely to encounter weak demand here as well. “Price reductions will therefore occur mainly on the secondary market. The trading premium caused by the historical price development is higher there than the margin on new construction, and the room for price decline is higher there,” explains Soural.
For older flats, their price will also be influenced by the decline in demand for less energy-efficient flats, which results from the current energy situation.
Do you already know where to go this weekend? If you are still wondering, we have some tips for interesting experiences in Prague.
Signal Festival 2022
Thursday 13 October to Sunday 16 October, various locations
The streets of Prague will once again be lit up by art installations. This year’s annual program is busier than ever. The largest gallery zone, live performances, lectures, workshops, new locations, new collaborations. Enjoy the culture in the city’s backdrop for yourself and visit the prepared installations.
The Shockproof Film Festival
Friday 14 and Saturday 15 October, Prague 3
The festival encompasses everything in cinema that is outside of the realms of mainstream or run-of-the-mill. Each year we present a fine selection of the most outstanding, impressive, overlooked, ludicrous and bizarre in horror, extreme, action, gore, camp, B-, C- and even X-rated movies.
Pumpkin exhibition in the Botanical Garden
Friday 14 to Monday 31 October, Prague 7
The most colourful time of the year is here and with it the traditional pumpkin exhibition. In the Botanical Garden, pumpkin arrangements will be inspired by Celtic culture and the festival of Samhain, from which Halloween was born. You can also look forward to creative workshops for children, pumpkin games for all generations and a Halloween celebration.
Palm Off Fest
Friday 14 to Wednesday 26 October, Prague 8
An international meeting of Central European theatres will take place at the Pod Palmovkou Theatre. This year’s edition is subtitled We Want Something Different!, which frames the common theme of all the productions and also the theme of discussion on contemporary events not only in culture.
Artists will bring productions from Germany, Slovenia, Ukraine, Finland and Slovakia. The program will also include an exhibition of Polish theatre photography, a discussion with the artists and a thematic discussion at the Palm Off Studio.
Open Workshop Festival
Saturday 15 October, Prague 5
Come to Smíchov Embankment to try your hand at crafts from carpentry, mosaic to blacksmithing, basting or car repair. Engage your creativity with painting, floristry or bookbinding. Maybe something will catch your eye and you will find a new hobby for the long winter evenings!
Recycling Weekend ONLINE
Friday 14 and Saturday 15 October
Offer your end-of-life electrical appliance to the National Technical Museum’s collection. And you don’t even have to take it anywhere, because the traditional event is held online, just take a photo and a curator will assess the item. If it is not suitable for the NTM collections, at least they will advise you on how to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.
A rally called “Czechia Against Fear” will take place on Wenceslas Square on Sunday, October 30. It is organized by the civic organisation Milion chvilek pro demokracii (A Million Moments for Democracy), which has organized demonstrations against the government of Andrej Babiš and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Come to say together, ‘We can do it! Come to face the fear and show to society that we will stand up for democracy, for Ukraine, and overcome the crisis. Come to be energized with positive energy and hope,” states the official event on Facebook.
“The war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, inflation… understandable fears are growing among people. But in the embrace of the pro-Russian fear mongers who radicalize society in the squares, we will find neither solutions nor peace. They systematically undermine democratic values and sow fear. We need to show that you – hundreds of thousands of other citizens – care about democracy. We must also send a message to the government to act quickly and clearly.”
“In difficult times, we will stand together as democrats to confront fear and demonstrate the power of democracy to make a difference. We will show faith in the system we fought for more than 30 years ago. We will also let Ukraine know that we support it in its struggle for the world we, as the Czech Republic, want to live in.”
On 27 February 2022, the Milion chvílek initiative organized a demonstration on Wenceslas Square in support of Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
It was attended by approximately 80,000 people, and guest speakers included Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Ukrainian ambassador Yevhen Perebyynis.
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix.
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Czechia is for the EU to introduce a system of regular and predictable financial support for Ukraine faced with Russian invasion, Czech Minister for European Affairs Mikulas Bek said today, adding that Ukraine cannot do without support and more order needs to be brought into its financing.
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Fifteen NATO states, including Czechia and Slovakia, have signed a declaration about their intended joint purchase of anti-aircraft defence systems, Reuters news agency has quoted German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht as saying today. This is a project of the joint anti-rocket defence of which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke in Prague in August.
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The EU member countries do not intend to unify social support for refugees and some will keep providing special aid, while others open their regular welfare system to them, Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurecka said after the EU labour ministers’ meeting in Prague today.
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State and local government spending on the Ukrainian refugee crisis amounted to CZK 16.9 billion at the end of September, the Ministry of Finance announced on Twitter on Thursday. According to Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura, the costs for the whole year are likely to be lower than the initially estimated CZK 25 billion.
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Sales of new hybrid vehicles in Czechia increased by 20.5 percent year-on-year to nearly 20,390 in the first three quarters of 2022, according to data released by the Car Importers Association on Thursday.
The 10th edition of the Signal festival of light and digital culture gets underway in Prague on Thursday evening. The event takes place along two routes in the Czech capital and offers video mapping projects, installations and other works.
WHEN TO GO TO THE FESTIVAL?
The festival runs from Thursday 13 October to Sunday 16 October 2022 from 7 pm to midnight every day. Don’t miss is our packed-off program starting on Monday and a special screening at St Ludmila’s Basilica on the occasion of the Czech EU Presidency, which will take place today from 7 to 10 pm.
WHERE TO FIND THE FESTIVAL MAP?
This year you will see the Signal Festival on two routes – Center and Vinohrady/Vršovice. To make sure you don’t get lost, we have created a festival map that is easily accessible from your mobile phone in the Signal Festival app. The printed map can be found in the special edition of Deník N, which you can get at all ticket offices or from our volunteers in yellow jackets. Not to forget the rich off program, such as the audiovisual performance VEKTROSKOP in the Prague Observatory and Planetarium.
WHAT IS SIGNAL PLUS?
Join us for the biggest gallery zone we’ve ever put together! Signal Plus is a ticket to 6 unique installations that you can visit repeatedly over the 4 days of the festival. Support the creation of artworks and enjoy Signal Festival to the last dot. With Signal Plus you will experience the best artworks of this year’s festival. Get Signal Plus tickets
VIP WHERE CAN I GET MY FESTIVAL WRISTBAND?
After purchasing your ticket online, you will receive an email with detailed information. With your ticket, just come to the festival box offices – at CAMP, Kunsthalle Praha, St. Salvator Church, Kateřinská zahrada, Heroldovy sady or Kulturní vršovická křižovatka Vzlet.
There we will exchange it for a festival ribbon, which you can use to comfortably access all the paid installations. Box offices are open during the festival from 19:00 to 24:00, 13-16 October 2022. Signal VIP ticket holders are advised to pick up the wristband from 18:00 at Kunsthalle Praha, where you can have a festival welcome drink!
WHAT DO I NEED THE TICKET FOR?
With a ticket you get the opportunity to see 6 unique installations that you won’t see otherwise. Experience PHOTOSYSTEM II, intangible #form, Prague Dreams: A site-specific work of art born from the depths of urban data, LUNAtic, TEEPEE and Flux. The ticket is not time-limited, so you can come any day, any time from 7 pm to midnight. Support Czech and international art with us.
WE’RE ACCESSIBLE
For the fifth year now, we have been monitoring safety with the Kooperativa insurance company. We have created a page For Signal as it is, with useful advice and recommendations on how to enjoy Signal in the best and safest way. We want to be accessible to everyone.
However, you should always check this information with the specific installation on our website. The rapidly flashing lights and effects of some installations may cause photosensitive epileptic seizures in more sensitive people. It is best to consider your participation in light of your medical condition.
HOW TO GET AROUND THE FESTIVAL?
The best way to enjoy the festival is on you feet. You can avoid the busy public transport and full parking spots. If you prefer to move in faster speeds, hop on Rekolo! With the special code Signal2022, new and existing Rekolo riders get 2 free rides within 30 minutes until Sunday.
Whether you walk or bike, it’s good to think about your safety first. Take your time, obey the rules of the road and look around you – not only will you avoid trouble, but it will also make you enjoy the Signal Festival all the more.
WE’RE SUSTAINABLE
We strive to behave sustainably and to be environmentally friendly. We sort waste honestly and you can too. We’ve eliminated single-use plastics, and we don’t make unnecessary promotional items from unsustainable materials. Electricity consumption during the festival is approximately 10,000 kWh. This is equivalent to the weekly consumption of 26 kettles.
The Signal Festival is surprisingly energy-efficient. In addition, this year again we have no promotional items. We don’t want to produce any more waste. We would love for you to remember us in your photos, experiences and shared stories on social media. To support us and the festival artists, buy Signal Plus or Signal VIP.
FOR SIGNAL AS IT IS
If you still encounter a problem on your festival walk through Prague, just seek out one of our volunteers. You will easily recognize them, they are Signalist Coordinators, who can be recognized by their reflective jackets with a specific symbol. This symbol represents a light, a laser or an asterisk and will accompany you together with the Kooperativa insurance company throughout the festival.
Letná in Prague 7 has been named among the 51 Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World to visit right now by Time Out.
“Although it’s just across the River Vltava from Prague’s densely packed Old Town, vibrant Letná offers great contrast – notably thanks to its abundance of open space. In 1989, hundreds of thousands of Praguers huddled together at Letná Park in sub-zero temperatures to finish off communism,” describes David Creighton.
“Today, on summer evenings, they play sport, have picnics, or head to the Letná beer garden for a drink with fabulous views of the Old Town below. The wider neighbourhood (along with neighbouring Holešovice) is part of Art District 7, and the Trade Fair Palace showcases modern art and merits a visit for the functionalist architecture alone. Of all Prague’s districts, Letná has notably bounced back since 2020, and the numerous eateries and independent shops are evidence of its strong local spirit.”
The perfect day
Grab brunch at Café Letka, then work it off by exploring the neighbourhood’s other green space: ancient Stromovka Park. Refuel with some locally-sourced international fare at The Farm Urban Kitchen and Coffee and take in a gallery or museum – the National Technical Museum, complete with a crop of vintage Škodas, is much more fun than it sounds. Take an afternoon pause for coffee and gooey cake at Alchymista before a movie at the old-school Bio Oko cinema. For accommodation, try Mama Shelter hotel, where brutalist-style communist-era luxury gets a funky makeover.
Plan your trip
There’s always something going on at Letná Park, including the summer Letní Letná theatre and circus. Or check the schedule of big-hitter exhibitions at the Trade Fair Palace.
The 10 coolest neighborhoods in the world according to Time Out:
- Colonia Americana, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Cais do Sodré, Lisbon, Portugal
- Village Wat Bo, Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Ridgewood, New York, USA
- Mile End, Montreal, Canada
- Barrio Logan, San Diego, USA
- Shimokitazawa, tokyo, Japan
- Clifftonville, Margate, England
- Barrio Yungay, Santiago, Chile
- Cours Julien, Marseille, France
If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to our new morning fix.
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From Tuesday October 25 Czechia will bar the entry of Russian citizens with Schengen visas from any EU state who are travelling for the purposes of tourism, sport or culture.
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Opposition leaders ANO would have come first in elections to the Czech lower house in September with 30.5 percent of the vote, suggests a poll conducted by the Median agency published on Wednesday.
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Czech Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurecka has proposed that the retirement pensions of senior officials in the former Communist regime should be cut by CZK 300 for each year they spent in their posts, he told reporters before the lower house session today. The proposal would apply to around 3,000 people.
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On Thursday, the German Parliament will discuss a proposal by the conservative opposition to tighten migration policy, which includes the possibility of introducing permanent checks at the border with the Czech Republic. This was announced by a spokesman for the parliamentary faction of the conservative CDU/CSU union, the most significant opposition force in the Bundestag.
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Czech President Milos Zeman will hold a round-table debate on energy issues at the presidential summer residence at Lany near Prague next Thursday, Presidential Office head Vratislav Mynar has told CTK.
As of Tuesday, 25 October, Russian citizens with a valid Schengen visa issued by any EU Member State travelling for tourism, sport or cultural purposes will be denied entry to the Czech Republic.
This was approved by the government at its meeting on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský (Pirates) announced at a press conference.
According to the ministry’s data, up to 200 Russian citizens arrive in the Czech Republic via the international airport every day.
The Czech Republic thus joins the Baltic States, Poland and Finland, which closed their borders to Russian tourists in the previous weeks.
The Baltic countries been urging the rest of the EU to do the same – so far without success. France and Germany are reluctant to end tourist visas, fearing it would block the exit of Russians who oppose Putin’s regime.
The European Commission last month issued guidance calling for tighter security checks when issuing visas to Russians.
The Czech Republic was the first EU member state to suspend the issuance of visas to Russian citizens across the board, the day after the invasion of Ukraine, on 25 February.
The ban is still in place, and the Czech Republic later also imposed it on Belarusian citizens, in both cases except in humanitarian cases.
“Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right,” said Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
Barring all Russians would also impact the tens of thousands of people who have left that country out of protest or disagreement with the actions of Putin and his administration.
“They’ll understand then,” the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told The Washington Post. “They’ll say, ‘This [war] has nothing to do with us. The whole population can’t be held responsible, can it?’ It can. The population picked this government and they’re not fighting it, not arguing with it, not shouting at it.”
The Visegrad group, which includes Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, should expand to include Slovenia, President Miloš Zeman said at the first joint V4 meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine.
During the meeting in Bratislava, leaders discussed energy security, inflation and the potential expansion of the Visegrad group to other countries.
Zeman said he appreciated that all V4 countries had assisted Ukrainian refugees, noting that cooperation within the group is as useful as other similar formats, such as those within the Benelux countries.
“Visegrad has proven its role by preventing attempts to distribute illegal migrants by quotas among individual European countries,” said Zeman, who also spoke in favour of expanding the V4 group to include Slovenia, which he said belongs to Visegrad cooperation.
The presidents of Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, used the post-summit press conference to praise Zeman, whose second presidential mandate ends at the beginning of the next year.
Polish President Andrzej Duda described him as a witty politician, while President Katalin Nováková said Zeman would be missed at the meetings.
Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová pointed to the inconsistent position of the V4 countries on military aid to Kyiv.
Hungary had earlier refused to allow Western arms supplies to flow through its territory to Ukraine.
However, Zeman, who was well-known for his pro-Russian stance before the war in Ukraine and also had sympathy for the Hungarian government, said that Budapest is assisting Kyiv with demining Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainians rallied Tuesday in the Czech capital of Prague for the second straight evening to condemn this week’s barrage of Russian missile strikes against cities across Ukraine and to demand more weapons from the West to protect their nation.
The protesters held blue-and-yellow crosses with the names of the cities hit by the Russian missiles.
“Ukraine needs air defenses to be able to prevent the massacres of the civilian population and destruction of our cities,” Anastasiia Sihnaievska told the crowd.
“We are protecting our right to live,” said Sihnaievska, who fled her town of Zhytomyr because of the Russian invasion.
People chanted “Russia´s terrorist!” and “More weapons for Ukraine!”
They unveiled a giant Ukrainian flag and displayed banners that read “Air defense systems for Ukraine,” “We will not forget, We will not forgive,” or “Stop bombing Ukraine.”
“It’s great that Europe supports us but we need more help,” said the 21-year-old Ivanna Mykuliak. A student of physics in Odesa, she came to the Czech Republic to work to help support her family in Ukraine.
Protesters who were not Ukrainian also joined the rally.
“Ukraine is fighting for us,” said Julie Levkova, a Czech who helped organize the protest. “I want to use all possibilities I have here and all my energy to fight for Ukraine in the Czech Republic.”
A similar rally took place in Romania´s capital of Bucharest on Monday.
On Tuesday, the presidents of 10 European nations – Czechia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Montenegro – said the deadly Russian missile strikes this week against civilians in Ukraine “constitute war crimes under international law.”
“On behalf of our states, we demand that Russia immediately stop attacking civilian targets,” they said in a statement. “We will not cease our efforts to bring to court people responsible of yesterday’s crimes.”
After years of covid, the largest Czech sports hall, Prague’s O2 Arena, is once again being used. In addition to foreign stars, it has increasingly attracted domestic musicians, for whom it was previously an unattainable benchmark.
We bring you a selection of some interesting (not only) musical events that you can see at the O2 Arena before the end of this year.
Mirai, October 13, 2022
The Czech mainstream music scene has been experiencing a truly golden time in recent years, with musicians who would have been unimaginable just a few years ago increasingly making their way to giant halls. After Pokáč, who recently played in the Vysočany hall, the band around frontman Mirai Navrátil is now going to try it out.
However, Mirai invited several guests to the O2 Arena (including their producer Ondřej Fiedler) and they will perform a collection of their biggest hits to date.
50 Cent – October 17 + 18, 2022
If you as a rap fan are not satisfied with Kendrick Lamar, the week after him, the O2 Arena will be rocked by the production of one of the titans of contemporary American hip-hop, the senior Curtis James Jackson aka 50 Cent.
This charismatic Queens, New York native with a strong life story (among other things, he survived a murder attempt in 2000 in which he was hit nine times by a 9mm projectile, earning him the nickname Bulletproof) is now one of the richest rappers on the planet. And in October, he will play two consecutive concerts at the O2 Arena.
Swedish House Mafia – October 22, 2022
Swedish global music stars, it’s not just ABBA anymore, but nowadays also the trio Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso with their successful project Swedish House Mafia. They had one of the headline slots at this year’s US music festival Coachella, and the furniture giant IKEA has teamed up with them to bring their current line of home recording studio furniture and equipment to market.
They’ll be kicking it off in Prague at the end of October with a giant party, where they’ll be launching, among other things, this year’s new record Paradise Again.
The Cure – October 24, 2022
The Cure led by Robert Smith has embarked on a major European tour, visiting a total of twenty-two countries and playing forty-four concerts. The band will return to Prague almost to the day, exactly six years after their previous stop, which also took place at the O2 Arena. In the meantime, we had the opportunity to see them in the Czech Republic, among others, at the Colours Of Ostrava festival.
They will be supported by the well-known and popular Scottish guitar band The Twilight Sad.
Sting, October 28, 2022
The English musician Sting performed in the Czech Republic relatively recently, when he played his several postponed concerts in Slavkov in the middle of the holidays. Now he is coming to Prague once again, as part of his current program entitled My Songs, which is a cross-section of his work from his time with The Police to the present day, with an emphasis on his greatest hits.
The concert will include songs such as Fields Of Gold, Shape Of My Heart, Roxanne, Demolition Man, Englishman In New York and Every Breath You Take. Sting will perform with a full rock band and his son Joe Sumner will also appear as a special guest.
Lucie at the Opera, 10 November 2022
This year it is exactly twenty years since the band Lucie performed at the Prague State Opera and played together with the symphony orchestra and many guests songs in arrangements specially composed for this project by Martin Kumžák. After twenty years, this project is being repeated directly in the form of an indoor tour throughout the Czech Republic.
With a new program and exclusive musical arrangements accompanied by a symphony orchestra, choir, and a spectacular dynamic stage.
Ennio Morricone, December 19, 2022
Although the celebrated and brilliant composer Ennio Morricone died two years ago at the age of ninety-one, his music and legacy undoubtedly live on.
In the year before his death, immediately after his departure from the world stage, Ennio Morricone himself began to work on a new concert The concert show, created and designed by him, will include iconic scenes from the most famous films for which he composed his timeless music, and will feature soloists with whom Ennio Morricone worked for many years on stage alongside a large choir and symphony orchestra. In addition, his son, conductor and composer Andrea Morricone takes the baton in this case.
Štěpán Kozub, 28th + 29th December 2022
The last tip is out of the question, as it is not musical (and not even autumnal, it will be a week after the beginning of winter), because probably the biggest Czech star of humor today, actor Štepán Kozub, will make his premiere at the O2 Arena just before New Year’s Eve.
If anyone thinks that Kozub dares to do more than he should, we must point out that the show at the O2 Arena follows his tour of eleven hopelessly sold-out stops in a series of stand-up shows.
The 19th edition of the Indian Film Festival will bring the combination of selected films that will allow you to enjoy the Indian cinema in its Bollywood pomposity, as well as from the point of view of independent productions with their no less important creators.
This year, you can look forward to a romantic comedy with a new take on gender (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Badhaai Do), a lyrical story of a village cinema, and a young boy, who develops a deep passion for moving pictures (The Last Film Show), award-winning documentary about three famous Bollywood star look-alikes (Urf), a family drama based in Kerala about a wife, who no longer wishes to be a simple servant (The Great Indian Kitchen), and the brand new Indian remake of Forrest Gump starring Aamir Khan (Laal Singh Chaddha).
All films will be screened with Czech and English subtitles.
There will also be a Bollywood party on 14 October at Futurum Music Bar from 21:00 to 3:00. You will get a chance to enjoy a significant amount of music, dance, and joy under the baton of DJ Deepak and the inspiring dancer Om Dance Academy.
The festival will take place from 12 to 15 October at Kino Světozor.
“Nineteen years ago, when we first screened five Bollywood films for the Czech audience, the most popular genre at that time were the so-called masala movies,” says Radim Špaček, director and artistic director of the festival. “Movies were called so because they contained all sorts of ingredients – romance, suspense, humour, songs and the obligatory happy ending.
“After almost two decades, Bollywood itself has changed, and so has the way films reach us and how we perceive them. You could say that we are taking a detour back to the masala principle – our current festival offerings are as diverse as the ones that used to be
the most successful films of the past,” he continues.
The organizers will provide also Indian food and a range of traditional masala chai drink.
The traditional Bollywood party will take place at the Futurum Music Club on 14 October.