‘Czech Movie Gems’
It is exciting to know that the Czech Embassy in Manila partnered with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) to hold the first year-long film festival called “Czech Movie Gems.”
Hosted by Cinematheque Centre Manila, Czech Movie Gems will feature a line-up of films spanning from the 1950s to the 2000s. The film screenings will be held every second Wednesday of the month from January 2018 to January 2019. Movie genres include drama, comedy, romance, musical, sciencefiction, animation, historical and war.
The festival kicked off last Jan. 10 with the Academyaward winning Kolya (1996) directed by Jan Sverák. Another Sverák masterpiece that will be featured in the film festival is Dark Blue World (2001), set during World War II, which follows the intertwined fates of a group of Czech pilots fighting Nazi Germany alongside the British arms and the love struggle of two men as they both fall for the same woman.
For sci-fi and Star Trek fans, the film festival will also feature Ikarie XB-1 (1963). Its re-mastered version was recently screened as part of the Cannes Classics selection. Other films include King of Šumava (1959), a black and white communist political propaganda piece with great cinematography; Rebels (2001), a musical ‘60s retro movie of two star-crossed lovers; Beauty in Trouble (2006), which tells the story of a young, beautiful and troubled woman falling in love with a foreigner; and Marketa Lazarová (1967), a cult classic about a battle between a King and a minor clan against the backdrop of Christianity replacing Paganism during the medieval times.
Film screening will be held every second Wednesday of the month, 6:30 p.m., at the Cinematheque Centre Manila on Kalaw St., Manila City. Admission is free and on a first come-first served basis.