Archive of films Citizen Havel / Občan Havel

Czech Republic / USA
2008, 120 min

Section: Czech Films 2007-2008
Year: 2008

Would you like to watch Václav Havel practising his acceptance speech as president, judge how well he recites Šrámek’s The Silver Wind or see how Václav Klaus manages to talk his way into a jazz club to hear Bill Clinton on the saxophone? Havel’s political and private dramas behind the scenes were captured on camera from 1992 by director Pavel Koutecký, after whose tragic death the project was taken up by his colleague Miroslav Janek.


Synopsis

Writer and dramatist – but also a human rights activist and dissident who unexpectedly entered high politics and, after November 1989, became the country’s president. This documentary takes a look behind the scenes at the political and private dramas of Havel’s presidential tenure, a film Pavel Koutecký began shooting in 1992 – at a time when Havel was considering his second candidacy for the presidential office. A unique, intimate, sensitive and cultivated piece, it not only reveals a different side to one of the key figures in modern Czech history, but, in doing so, it also gives the viewer greater insight into the modern history of the Czech Republic. As in Havel’s life, his wives Olga and Dagmar also play an important role in the film, which also features some of his friends and colleagues, Czech and world politicians (Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Jacques Chirac), and also members of the band Rolling Stones... After Koutecký’s tragic death in the spring of 2006, the film material was processed and completed by director Miroslav Janek.

About the director

Miroslav Janek Miroslav Janek

Pavel Koutecký (b. 1956, Prague – 2006, Prague) was closely involved with the Film & Sociology Association where, apart from individual documentaries, he also worked on long-term projects. His best known films include Dear Maestro (1996), Forever and Ever (1998) or The Solid Point Seekers (2002).

Miroslav Janek (b. 1954, Náchod) from the age of 15 made amateur films which won various awards. In 1979 he began making his own films as an émigré and worked as an editor with Godfrey Reggio, among others. He returned to his native country in 1995. His filmography includes the documentaries The Unseen (1996 – Ecumenical Jury Prize and Best Documentary at the KV IFF 1997), Hamsa, I Am (1998), The Musicians (1999), Battle for Life (2000) or Kha-chee-pae (2005).

Contacts

Negativ
Ostrovní 30, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 777 697 543, +420 224 933 755
Fax: +420 224 933 472
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.negativ.cz

Film & Sociologie
Pod Zvonařkou 10, 120 00, Praha 2
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 222 561 410
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.filmasociologie.cz

Aerofilms
Milady Horákové 383/79, 170 00, Praha 7
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 947 566
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aerofilms.cz

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section: Czech Films 2007-2008
   
Director: Miroslav Janek
Screenplay: Pavel Koutecký
Dir. of Photography: Stano Slušný
Editor: Tonička Janková
Producer: Jarmila Poláková
Production: Film & Sociologie
Contact: Negativ, Film & Sociologie, Aerofilms
Distributor: Aerofilms
   
www: www.obcanhavel.cz

Guests

Pavel Strnad

Producer

Jarmila Poláková

Producer


John Riley

Producer, Sales Agent

Miroslav Janek

Film Director


Vladimír Hanzel

Film Crew

Jan Krása

Production Company


Zuzana Pudilová

Distributor

Ivo Andrle

Distributor


YouTube

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