CZECH AND SLOVAK sTORIESFEB / MARCH 2016

25/2/2016 Closely watched trains

10/3/2016 Zelary

24/3/2016 The Ear / Ucho

28/3/ 2016 The GRAND SCREENING The elementary school zdenek sverak birthday party

Closely watched trains, Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1968Closely Watched Trains (Czech: Ostře sledované vlaky) is a 1966 Czechoslovak film directed by Jiří Menzel, and one of the best-known products of the Czechoslovak New Wave. It was released in the United Kingdom as Closely Observed Trains.

It is a coming-of-age story about a young man working at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. The film is based on a 1965 novel by Bohumil Hrabal and won the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 40th Acade-my Awards in 1968.

The film is based on a 1965 novel of the same name by the noted Czech author Bohumil Hrabal. Menzel and Hra-bal worked together closely on the script, making a num-ber of modifications to the novel.The association between Menzel and Hrabal was to continue. They collaborated on the script of the long-banned film Larks on a String, filmed in 1969 but not released until 1990, and after Hrabal’s death in 1997 Menzel filmed another of Hrabal’s novels, I Served the King of England, released in 200.

The film won several international awards:

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Filmawarded in 1968 for films released in 1967The Grand Prize at the 1966 Mannheim-HeidelbergInternational FilmfestivalA nomination for the 1968 BAFTA Awardsfor Best Film and Best SoundtrackA nomination for the 1968 DGA Awardfor Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesA nomination for the 1967 Golden Globefor Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film

Initial release: November 18, 1966 (Czecho-slovakia)Director: Jirí MenzelRunning time: 1h 33mStory by: Bohumil HrabalScreenplay: Bohumil Hrabal, Jirí Menzel

Stills from the film

ZELARY

Academy award nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film

Želary is a 2003 Czech/Slovak film di-rected by Ondřej Trojan, starring Anna Geislerová. The movie received a 2004 Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It was pro-duced by Barrandov Studios in Prague.

The film is adapted from two works by Czech novelist Květa Legátová - “Želary,” a collection of short stories published in 2001, and her 2002 book, “Jozova Hanule.”

Two lovers, a nurse named Eliska (Anna Geislerová) and a surgeon, Richard (Ivan Trojan), join the re-sistance in Czechoslovakia during World War II. When they are discov-ered, the couple must separate and hide. Joza (György Cserhalmi), one of Eliska’s patients, agrees to take her to an isolated cabin in the small mountain village of Zelary until she can reunite with Richard. But Eliska and Joza end up living together for two years and take on the personaof husband and wife.

Director: Ondrej TrojanStory by: Kveta Legátová (novel), Petr JarchovskýStarring: Anna Geislerová, György CserhalmiDistributed by Sony Pictures Clas-sics USA, Falcon Czech RepublicReleased: Septem-ber 4, 2003Running time: 150 min.Country: Czech Re-public/Slovakia

Nominated for the Golden Palm, 1990 Cannes Film FestivalUcho (The Ear) is a Czech language film by Karel Kachyňa, completed in 1970. This film was banned by the nation’s ruling Com-munist party (who were supported by the occupying Soviet forces). It wasn’t released until late 1989, around the time of Czecho-slovakia’s first democratic elections in over 40 years.

The film is about a bitter married couple that consists of Ludvik, a senior official of Prague’s ruling Communist regime, and his alcoholic wife Anna. They return home after attending a political party dinner and notice their home has been broken into. Several strange occurrences, including the disap-pearance of their spare house keys and dead phone lines, lead them to believe that they are under surveillance by their own govern-ment. As the night progresses, the flaws of their marriage and of each other are ex-posed.

Initial release: October 18, 1990 (Hungary)Director: Karel KachyňaRunning time: 1h 34mInitial DVD release: October 3, 2005 (United Kingdom)Screenplay: Karel Kachyňa, Jan Procházka

THE EAR

28/3/2016 doors: 7.30pm

new reconstructed version of :the elementary school

This gentle comedy takes place just after World War II., during the aca-demic year 1945-46. Ten-year-old Eda and his friend Tonda attend an elementary school in Prague sub-urbs. They are pupils of an all-boy class which is famous for its bad behaviour. No wonder one day the teacher is drive out of her mind. Although it seems there exists no remedy, nevertheless… The teacher is replaced by Igor Hnízdo – alleged-ly the hero of several military opera-tions – an energetic, uncompromis-ing and just man. His only weakness is his grea interest in the fair sex. In no time the little tyrants who have been taken by surprise

turn into meek sheep, ready to defend their new teacher at any time and any place. Reticent Eda watch-es him, comparing him with his own unvaliant father who, in reality, my however have been and probably is much more of an hero…

Script writer Zdenek Sverak has created an autobiographical mosaic of his childhood memories, returning to the time when he was ten years old. At this crucial stage, boys are still children but already perceive the adults’ world with great intensi-ty. This extraordinarily ordinary and artfully simple film endowed with intelligent humour is rich in

many surprises, secrets, as well as in an understand-ing attitude toward human weaknesses. The story will no doubt be a refreshing balm for the souls of the viewers who are constantly attacked by violence, cyni-cism and formal emptiness.

more than 50 cinemas over the world at the same time will be celebrating zdenek sverak’s birthday

The Elementary School (Czech: Obecná škola) is a 1991 Czechoslovak comedy film di-rected by Jan Sverák. The screenplay comes from the pen of his father Zdenek Sverák. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991 and is considered to belong among the best Czechoslovak films ever.

Initial release: August 1, 1991 (Czechoslovakia)Director: Jan SverákRunning time: 1h 40mScreenplay: Zdenek SverákMusic composed by: Jirí Svoboda

Zdenek Sverák

(born 28 March 1936 in Prague) is a Czech actor, humorist and scriptwriter. He is one of the most popular Czech cultural personalities. In 1989, he was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1958, he graduated in Czech language and literature at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague. He has worked in a wide variety of capacities. His work contains more than 300 musical texts, plays and more than ten movies. Among his film scripts are Kolya (Czech: Kolja, Academy Award winning film) and The Elementary School (Czech: Obecná Škola, nom-ination for Academy Award), both directed by his son Jan Svěrák. With his close friend Ladislav Smoljak, he created the fictional personality (uni-versal genius, inventor, sportsman, criminalist, poet, writer and philosopher) Jára Cimrman who won the voting for The Greatest Czech in 2005 (only the fact that Cimrman is fictional prevented him from actually winning). Zdeněk Svěrák also founded a charity organization Paraple which focuses on helping paralyzed individuals.

The world premiere of the new reconstracted film of zdenek sverak at deptford cinema

28/3/2016 7.30pm

Deptford Cinema is being built by the community for the community, as a 42 seat cinema with a cafe/bar. Cinema is run by volunteers and is under the con-struction run also by volunteers. The programming of the events and films are open to anybody in the community to show the films they want, and thereby become a hub for all things to film in Lewisham. The cost of the cinema ticket today is 5, cinema provide cheaper concession tickets to allow every-body to experience film. All the money goes back to the cinema - for paying rent, electricity, stocking up the bar and so on. The cinema also pays for the film licences if is affordable.

Deptford Cinema is a project built by the community for the community.The Deptford Cinema is the only cinema in Lewish-am. The Deptford Cinema is the project designed to rectify this with a building of a new venue for film on Deptford Broadway.

Photo: Gabriela Zigova, Deptford cinema archive,2015

Photo: Gabriela Zigova, Deptford cinema, The Unbereable Lightness of Being screening and the lecture, 2015

Photo: Adriana Kytkova, Deptford cinema, Divid-ed we fall, 2016

Photo: Adriana Kytkova, Deptford cinema, The Cremator, 2016

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeptfordCinema/?fref=tsWebsite: http://www.deptfordcinema.org/Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeptfordCinema

Let us know if you have any questions : deptford@luciekordacova.com adriana@deptfordcinema.org gabriela.zigova@gmail.com