Meet Hrabal’s Neighbors the Movie Way. Watch “The Snowdrop Festival”!

After the immense success of the movie “Cutting It Short”, the Academy Award-winning director Jiří Menzel was begged to do another Bohumil Hrabal’s adaptation.

He chose the storybook “The Snowdrop Festival” unraveling the humorous tales of Kersko where Hrabal lived. The result was a tender comedy celebrating Czech cuisine, hunting, and camaraderie.

On February 21st, thanks to the “Some Like It Czech” screening series, you’ll get the opportunity to watch this piece with English subtitles and a witty introduction at Kino Aero.

Buy your tickets here.

The movie “The Snowdrop Festival” (1983, watch the trailer) has a simple, yet very effective plot. Two hunting clubs from Kersko argue who has the right to the dead boar, shot in a thrilling chase right in front of the pupils of a local school.

When they finally agree to feast on the catch-all together in a nearby lodge, a much more complicated question comes up. Should the wild boar be served with a rosehip sauce, or with sauerkraut?

With Bohumil Hrabal’s inimitable narrative style and Jiří Menzel’s unique approach, a nostalgic but deeply human fresco unfolds before your eyes.

The film combines the poetic with realistic description, stylized exaggeration with humorous detailing, happy events with sad ones, creating a portrait miniature of the neighbors with whom Hrabal lived in the middle of a cottage area in Kersko.

In Menzel’s autobiography, the director was quite critical about this piece of work, saying, “it was a bit of a mistake to be talked into rushing to film ‘The Snowdrop Festival’. There are holes in the script, and blind spots. This film could have turned out better if we’d had a little more time.”

But the Czechs did embrace the movie indeed. Some love it because of its iconic catchphrases, some for its deeply human fresco of every Czech person, and some for its dreamy Kersko vibes. Without any doubt, the movie is a must-see if you want to understand Czech culture and its roots through and through!

Come to the cinema Aero on February 21st where this piece will be screened with English subtitles and accompanied by an engaging and highly informative introduction, and you might finally discover the secrets of properly preparing venison in Czech cuisine. Buy your tickets here.

If you want to know more about the event and the project itself, follow Some like it Czech on Instagram or Facebook.