Central Europe Review: politics, society and culture in Central and Eastern Europe
Vol 1, No 11
6 September 1999

E V E N T S:
Coming Up in the UK

Andrew J Horton

Details of selected Central and East European cultural events in the UK over the next few weeks, a Central European cultural detente, women playwrights in translation, a Polish actor's list of adultresses, and a Romanian history of pandas.

Information about the autumn season of cultural events is slowly trickling in as all the press offices get back from their holidays. Watch this space for details of more events as they come in.

In this week's Coming Up section we have:

Click on the appropiate heading or just scroll down to browse.


13th Leeds International Film Festival


Plenty of Central European film scheduled for this festival, which takes place from 7 to 23 October 1999. A finalised programme was still not available at the time of writing, but the festival will be showing treasures from the National Archive in Prague, a retrospective of films by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski and classic animation films. Check out their website or e-mail them to request a brochure. More information will be posted here as it comes in.

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Literature Events


A series of unconnected events which coincide with the launch of new translations of Central European literature into English.

Eastern Promise
22 October 1999,
POSK, 238-246 King Street, London W6 0RF
Tel: 0181 940 24 67

Eastern Promise is billed as the first ever collection of Central European plays in English-language translation by women. To celebrate the publication of this book, the Polish and Belorussian embassies are working together on a joint event featuring readings from The Umbilical Cord by Krystyna Kofta and The Chosen One by Elena Popova.

The book itself is edited by Sian Evans and Cheryl Robinson and published by Aurora Metro. Price: GBP 11.99. ISBN 0-9515877-9-X.

Central Europe is Back!
21 October 1998, 7.30pm
Cinema 3, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS
Tel: 0171 638 8891

Timothy Garton Ash will discuss the re-emergence of Central Europe as a cultural and literary reality in relation to the latest titles from the Central European Classics series, which he edits. This is part of a series of events in the UK to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall which will see translations of recent works from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria and Bosnia promoted at bookshops around the country.

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Czecho-Slovak Events


The split of Czechoslovakia in 1993 led in the first place to a split in cultural programmes abroad, symptomatic of greater rifts between the two countries. But now, the two embassies in London, which are in fact located in the same building, are now co-operating on promoting Czech and Slovak culture. Here are a few events which have resulted from the detente.

The Garden
7 September - November (Special events only)
The Czech and Slovak Embassies, 26 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QY
Tel: 0171 291 9920

In the spirit of open government, the Czech and Slovak embassies have turned their shared patch of garden into a sculture gallery which will be available for view to those attending concerts and other special events which take place at shared embassy building. The large-scale works span from the 1960s up to the present day and artists represented include Stanislav Kolibal (whose watercolours are also on display), Petr Lysacek, Petr Pisarik, Jiri Cernicky, Jiri David, Frantisek Matousek, Petra Ondreickova-Novakova and Lukas Rittstein.

If you prefer to just see the works without having to attend another event, then you'll have to turn up between 12 and 6pm on Saturday 11 September. Arriving at 3pm will enable you to join the curator's tour. Alternatively, if you really want to find out about the works, ask the artists themselves. They will be present for the opening ceremony which takes place on 7 September.

Slovak and Czech Film Days
21 - 24 October 1999
Various locations, Soho, London
Tel: 0171 351 2714

A season of classic films from the Czechoslovak era, many of which have not been shown in Britian for over a decade. Histories of Czechoslovak film tend to be biased to the Czech side, and this short season aims to rectify this be concentrating on Slovak classics. The times and locations of the films will be confirmed in the coming weeks and announced on the FilmWorld website. All the films listed below are Slovak unless otherwise stated.


Little Birds, Orphans and Fools(Juraj Jakubisko), 1969
See You In Hell, Fellows! (Juraj Jakubisko)
I am Sitting on the Branch and I am Fine (Juraj Jakubisko), 1989
Click here for Kinoeye's review of the above film.
Millennial Bee(Juraj Jakubisko), 1983
Sun in a Net (Stefan Uher), 1962
The Sixth Sentence (Stefan Uher)
She Kept Asking For the Moon, 1983 (Stefan Uher), 1983
Wild Lilies (Elo Havetta), 1972
I Love, You Love (Dusan Hanak), 1980
Pictures of the Ancient World (Dusan Hanak), 1972
Tinted Dreams (Dusan Hanak), 1976
Click here for Kinoeye's overview of Dusan Hanak's career
Signum Laudis (Martin Holly), 1980
Highwayman Jurko (Viktor Kubal), 1976
LEA (Ivan Fila), 1997, Czech Republic

Short and Documentary Films:
Film School, Zlin, Czech Republic
Prachsi (Cyril Podolsky), 1999, 5 min.
The Pilgrimage (Veronika Bakosova), 1999, 3 min
Defector (Vaclav Kadrnka), 1998, 9 min
Water Closet (Michael Carrington), 1996, 5 min
In the Forest (Lenka Minarikova), 1996, 5 min

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Czech Events


Cinema

Something from Alice
Czech Animation and the work of Jan Svankmajer
25 September 1999, 9.45am - 3.30pm
Wedgewood Memorial College, Barlaston (nr Stoke on Trent) ST12 9DG
Tel: 01782 372105

A Svankmajer day dedicated to the master animator's most famous film, Alice, inspired by the work of Lewis Carroll. The event is in the form of an all-day illustrated lecture session.

See also the Leeds Film Festival for more Svankmajer.

Literature

Ivan Klima in Conversation

Klima will be in the UK to promote his latest book, a collection of short stories entitled Lovers for a Day. The collection draws on previously untranslated stories by Klima, including works from the 1960s, when he was an exiled dissident, and his most recent stories. Catch him at:

Cheltenham Festival of Literature
18 October 1999, 7.30pm
Tel: 01242 237 377

Swiss Cottage
19 October 1999, 7pm
Swiss Cottage Central Library, 88 Avenue Road, London NH3 3HA
Tel: 0171 413 6535

…And More Czech Culture in the UK

The Czech Cultural Centre in London has just gone electronic! Look here if you want to see a full calendar of Czech related events in London.

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Hungarian Events


Hungarian Culture in the UK

Check out the website of the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London. As well as listing events of international importance, the site also carries details of their support network for Hungarian au pairs working in the UK and Catholic mass in Hungarian.

Look here if you want to see a full calendar of Hungarian events in the UK.

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Polish Events


Cinema

Spis cudzoloznic (The List of Adultresses, 1994) by Jerzy Stuhr
7 September 1999, 6.30pm
Polish Cultural Insitute, 34 Portland Place, London W1N 4HQ
Tel: 0171 636 6032 or e-mail.

Stuhr is one of Poland's most famous actors and is a star of both screen and stage. Here, he leads in his film directorial debut, playing a bitter and disillusioned academic who is forced into showing a visiting Swedish colleague round the city of Krakow.

Theatre

Perfect Wedding by Robin Howdon
10-12 September 1999
POSK Theatre, 238-246 King Street, London W6 0RF
Tel: 0181 741 0398

A production by the award winning Teatr Ludowy of Krakow.

...And More Polish Culture in the UK

Check out the website of the Polish Cultural Institute in London.

Look here if you want to see a full calendar of Polish events in the UK.

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Romanian Events


Theatre

The History of Pandas Told by a Saxophonist with a Girlfriend in Frankfurt
17 August - 12 September 1999, Tues - Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm
Baron's Court Theatre, The Curtain's Up, 28a Comeragh Road, London W14
Tel:0181 932 4747

Matei Visniec's award-winning play, given its UK premiere by the Blue Orange Theatre Company, is a taste of the poetically absurd. The performance of Mon 6 Sept 1999 will be in aid of Art-Inter Romania, which supports an orphanage for HIV positive children near Bucharest.

...And More Romanian Culture in the UK

There is the website of the Romanian Cultural Centre based in London. Click here if you want to see a their diary page.

If you are a Romanian academic or student working in the UK or have links to Romanian studies you might be interested Romanul's site. It aims to give wider support to educational, scientific and cultural issues and has pages devoted to the Romanian community's acitivities in the UK. Click here to have a look.

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Slovak Events


Cinema

you haven't already done so check out the Czecho-Slovak events which offer the opportunity to see some rarely seen Slovak cinematic classics

Cartoons

Funny Money
29 September - 31 October 1999, 11am - 4pm
Embassy of the Slovak Republic, 25 Kensington Palace Gardens,

London W8 4QY
Tel: 0171 727 94 32

The Slovak Union of Cartoonists teaming up with the British Cartoonists' Association to present an exhibition at the Slovak Embassy. Admission free.

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Compiled by Andrew J Horton

 

 

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