In Kladruby nad Labem, 25 km from Pardubice, are the oldest stables in the world, a place surrounded by meadows, pastures, lanes, and the remains of the ancient riparian forests on the Czech banks of the Elba and its tributaries. This is where the Kladruber comes from. These white horses with an elegant gait that inspire respect with their 700 kg weight and big deep eyes. One of these horses became famous as the government decided to dedicate it as a wedding gift to the dukes of Cambridge, William, and Kate, in April 2011. Kladrubers were bred to serve as ceremonial carriage horses at the Habsburg courts in Vienna and Prague. A warm-blooded breed based on Spanish and Italian horses, a convex head with a Roman nose is among their significant features. Since the late 18th century, the Kladrubers have come in two colors, grey and black. The grey ones were used for royal ceremonies while the black ones served high-ranked clergy. Today, they still do the same at the Danish court, while others are used by the trumpeters from the Swedish Royal Mounted Guard. Some carry police officers in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The breed’s peaceful nature...
“Our students have achieved beyond their expectations with a record 36 Average Point Score and 100% pass rate. Whilst the global IB average has also risen this year to 32.99, our result continues to widen the gap when compared with other IB schools around the world,” said Michael Bardsley, Principal of PBIS said This result also showcases the difference that Nord Anglia Education schools bring to students’ academic results. “We are incredibly proud of this year’s graduates and the fantastic results they have achieved. The 100% pass rate, our impressively high average pass rate and the high individual scores are all testament to the hard work the students and our dedicated teaching staff have put in during this incredibly challenging year,” added Bardsley. We are delighted that 17% of PBIS students achieved 40+ points which opens up the top universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford. In addition, 49% of our students gained 35 – 39 points, ensuring that they too will be accepted to Russell Group universities. The school also offers the IB Careers Programme and achieved a 100% pass rate. Students graduating from this programme also have offers at top universities, some with scholarships. Overall, it is...
The Cinéfondation section will present a world premiere of short animated film Red Shoes by Anna Podskalská, and this year’s edition of prestigious Cannes Classics will welcome one of its awards-winning Czechoslovak films, The Cassandra Cat (1963) by Vojtěch Jasný. Moreover, six Czech films and co-productions will be screened at the Marché du Film, Zuzana Kirchnerová will take part in the Cinéfondation’s L’Atelier with Caravan, and even more Czech projects will be pitched within the various industry panels. The Czech Film Fund, represented by its divisions Czech Film Center and Czech Film Commission, will be present at the market. RED SHOES CINÉFONDATION World premiere Czech Republic 2021 / 14 min Directed by: Anna Podskalská Produced by: Ondřej Šejnoha – FAMU (CZ) In co-production with: FILMTALENT ZLÍN (CZ), Mária Môťovská (CZ) (read more) The village party has begun and Róza hasn’t been invited to dance. Suddenly, an unknown stranger appears, inviting Róza to dance, giving her a pair of red shoes. Róza starts to dance with great passion, quickly becoming the center of attention. Soon after she realizes, she can’t control the shoes, but the shoes are controlling her… THE CASSANDRA CAT CANNES CLASSICS World premiere of digitally restored version...
The Gray Man, a $200 million Netflix blockbuster starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling will be shooting in the Czech capital through July 20. The action on The Gray Man is now taking place during daytime hours, between 9:30 and 19:00 in Prague 7, especially in the area of Dukelských hrdinů and surroundings. Filming previously took place on Prague’s Vítkov National Monument, and future scenes will be shot in the city center at locations including Jan Palach Square in front of the Rudolfinum, Pařížská, and Náměstí Republiky. Outdoor locations in Prague 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8 will all be utilized during the production of The Gray Man. The Gray Man is being directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, who previously made Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The film has been adapted from the novel by Mark Greaney, in which Prague also played a key location. The outstanding cast is rounded out by Jessica Henwick, Wagner Moura, Dhanush, Julia Butters, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfre Woodard. Joe Russo on the film’s scale: “The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical, and the ability to do with Gosling and Evans is a dream for us. The idea is...
Street theatre festival “Za dveřmi” (Behind the Door) brings a countless number of these priceless moments to children and adults, citizens and tourists – because street theatre doesn’t know limits of language or age. The festival will run from July 8 to July 15 and will show off the creations of Czech artistic ensembles as well as groups from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and Poland. The 13th edition of Za dveřmi will offer over 35 theater performances, concerts, and street performances. Spectators can look forward to a poetic theatrical walk through the center of Prague with a movable installation of a 6-meter lion puppet in the lead role, an acrobatic helium balloon hovering over the Industrial Palace, which and requires as much helium as 14,000 balloons. “Behind the Door” will present among others the Bratři v tricku, Divadlo Drak, Squadra Sua, Činoherní studio Ústí nad Labem and V.O.S.A. Every day of the festival you can join street parades, acrobats, jugglers, and bring the center of Prague to life. “We want to be topical and show new things because street theatre and art in public space should have these qualities. There are thirty five performances on the program. I do...
The official selection of the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), which takes place from August 20th through the 28th, features 32 premieres. The films will make their bow in the fest’s two competitions and Special Screenings section. Karlovy Vary will also celebrate the work of The Film Foundation via an extensive tribute. In 2019, the festival adjusted the structure of its official selection by axing the documentary competition. The 2021 edition will formally see the updated version of the fest come into reality after the cancellation of last year’s edition. Feature-length documentaries are now, for the first time, incorporated into the two existing competitions – the Crystal Globe Competition and East of the West Competition – both previously restricted to fiction features only. Exclusive premieres and sneak previews of foreign and Czech films will continue to be presented in the Special Screenings section. The programming team has chosen eight diverse titles to spotlight. Heading the Special Screenings selection is the festival’s opening film, “Zátopek,” David Ondříček’s highly anticipated drama about four-time Olympic gold medalist, the runner Emil Zátopek, who is widely regarded as the most popular athlete in Czech Republic’s history. The film will premiere on August 20th, 2021 in...
Classical Music at Werich’s is a festival of outdoor chamber music recitals and concerts taking place from 29 June to 7 September 2021, always at 7 p.m., in the Werich Villa Garden on Kampa Island in Prague’s Malá Strana district. Over five summer evenings, this unique location on the banks of the Čertovka will come alive with the sound of classical music performed by exceptionally talented young artists – consummate professionals who have had success on both the domestic and international stage. Visitors can look forward to both sung and instrumental concerts. The sung repertoire will showcase works by Czech, French, and Spanish composers. The instrumental concerts have a cosmopolitan flavour, with works selected to perfectly complement the surroundings and open-air setting of the festival. Violinist Jan Mráček, the featured soloist for the first concert (29 June), is the youngest soloist in the history of the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and winner of the International Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna. Accompanied by Lukáš Klánský on piano, he will be performing Brahm’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Smetana’s From My Homeland, Bartók’s Romanian Dances, Fibich’s Concert Polonaise, and concluding the evening with Mazurek by Dvořák. Following this are two concerts devoted...
The Dancing House, designed by Vlad Milunić and the famous architect Frank Gehry, has become an icon of modern architecture and one of the most famous buildings in Prague. The building is metaphorically called the Dancing House or also Ginger and Fred, because of the towers reminding of the famous dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair, a famous pair from the classic 1930s Hollywood movies. The male part of the dancing couple is represented by a rock tower and the woman is symbolized by a tower made of glass, while the top of the male tower is covered with imaginary hair. The interiors were partly designed by the British architect of Czech provenience Eva Jiřičná. Vaclav Havel was the one who had the idea to build a house with a view here 30 years ago – a place that would serve as an art gallery and at the same time complete the street that had been empty for more than 40 years. A Neo-Baroque house used to stand here in the past, but it was destroyed by an American bomb after an accidental airstrike on Prague in 1945. Being an artist himself, Havel loved all kinds of art, thus he more...
On June 21, 1621, a huge crowd gathered in Old Town Square to view the executions of 27 noblemen involved in the Estates Uprising the previous year. Defenestration, White Mountain, and the Aftermath In a rebellion against the Habsburg monarchy and the threat of being forced to convert to Catholicism or leave their homeland, several Bohemian nobles first threw two governors and a secretary out of a window at Prague Castle in 1618, then battled the Imperial army at White Mountain in 1620. After the crushing military defeat, forty-seven nobles were put on trial. More than half of them were sentenced to death. June 21 The executions began at 5 a.m. Prague’s executioner, Jan Mydlář, stood ready, with four sharpened swords. Twenty-four of the nobles would be beheaded that day, and the other three would be hanged. A contemporary drawing of the scene shows two bodies dangling from a beam protruding from a window in the Old Town Hall, while another hangs from a gallows in the area where the statue grouping of Jan Hus stands today. Mydlář, a Protestant himself, sympathized with the nobles, but he was forced to do his job. He eschewed the traditional red executioner’s hood for a black...
The Czech National Anthem has its origin in the opera Fidlovačka, which was a patriotic opera written by Josef Kajetan Tyl (lyrics) and Frantisek Skroup (music), first performed on December 21, 1834, in the Prague Estates Theatre. At the time, Czechs were only an ethnic minority in the Austrian Empire where the German language dominated. The main goal of this play was to strengthen the national feeling and break the cultural oppression. A song called Kde domov můj, in English “Where Is My Home” was performed in the opera by a man portraying a blind violinist. This scene was very emotional and the song became widely sung. It is thus no surprise that it was recognized as the official National Anthem in 1918 when independent Czechoslovakia was born. And in January 1st, 1993, the song became the anthem of the Czech Republic. However, there was a long debate going on as to whether a more serious piece should be composed for similar purposes, for example by famous Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. If we had to describe the anthem with one word only, it would be the word peaceful. The Czech National Anthem is really more like a love song –...
If you noticed a few works of modern art suddenly on the streets of Prague, you have stumbled across Sculpture Line, a project now in its seventh year. Czech streets, squares, and other public spaces will decorate dozens of fine artworks of famous and young artists from both, Czech and from abroad. The purpose of the exhibition is to enhance and enrich the public space, to offer a new look to cities and to the works of art, both for the inhabitants and for the visitors. You can adkmire Jiří David’s work Absolute Zero at Náplavka (Rašínovo nábřeží), Václav Fiala’s Tower for Jan Palach on the Smíchov side of the Vltava Embankment, Rhinoceros by Jaroslav Rona at Jungmannovo náměstí, Stele by Alexandra Koláčková at the Dancing House and many more. The full list of artworks around Prague can be found here. “Art is a medium where we can meet even in these difficult times. We are currently working with other partners and festival installations around the world. So you can come across artworks in places such as Uruguay or Iran,” says Ondřej Škarka, the festival director and art supporter, who is helping to introduce the project in other parts of the...
Even though we can spend the summer in cinema halls, an outside alternative with a unique atmosphere certainly won’t offend. Which places in Prague are worthy of a visit? Kasárna Karlín This year, you can expect a truly packed program in the courtyards of former barracks. June will begin with a choice of short films from the competition section in Pragueshorts. The first Saturday of the month will then belong to the Polish film Corpus Christi; later, viewers will have the chance to see the sci-fi 12 topic, the film Karel, me and you (Kartel, já a ty), and the big premiere of Welcome to Czech Republic (Vítejte v Česku), which will be shown the 17th of June. Welcome to the Czech Republic is a collection of three short films that explore the Czech identity from a variety of different viewpoints. Next in line is Tarantino, Another Round (Chlast), and other blockbusters. Tickets will be available for CZK 80. Letní kino Lihovar MeetFactory continues with the trend of films in the fresh air, and that in cooperation with ČRo Vltava. This time, MeetFactory has moved to a former distillery. Every Wednesday from 9:30, it will show one chosen film for...
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