Arts news

Welcome to the programme. This week we take you to an unusual exhibition - a bold and daring endeavour and certainly nothing for the squeamish. But first of all we bring you the latest in the world of art in the Czech Republic.

Arts news

Nominations for Czech Lion film awards announced

Ondrej Trojan (right) and Jaroslav Chmelicek from Cinema magazine, photo: CTK

The Czech Film and Television Academy has announced nominations for the Cesky lev or Czech Lion film awards. The film "Zelary" - based on Kveta Legatova's novel "Jozova Hanule" and directed and produced by Ondrej Trojan grabbed 11 nominations out of twelve categories. In January "Zelary" also received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The other two most successful contenders for the Czech Lion film award are "Nuda v Brne" or "Boredom in Brno" by Vladimir Moravek, which was nominated in seven categories, and director Jan Hrebejk's retro comedy "Pupendo" which received six nominations. The winners of the Czech Lion film awards will be announced at an award ceremony on March 6th in Prague.

Government abandons plan to transfer cultural events to higher VAT rate

The coalition government decided on Wednesday to retain VAT on cultural events in the lower, five-percent rate. The original plan was to transfer the tax on cinema and theatre tickets to the standard 19-percent rate, a proposal which instigated sharp protests in the world of Czech culture. People in the cultural sphere feared that many theatres, concert venues and cinemas would simply be forced to close as people would no longer be able to afford to pay for tickets which are already quite expensive.

National Library presents Czech Writers' Union

Thursday saw the opening of an exhibition presenting Czech writers - members of the Czech Writers' Union, at a very appropriate venue - the historic Czech National Library. The exhibition, the first one in a cycle, portrays 35 Czech authors and presents some of their work. The head of the Czech Writers' Union Ivan Binar said the presentation was meant to bring the public's attention to Czech literature and its personalities. The first part of the exhibition features a random collection of names - writers Ivan Klima, Jiri Grusa, poets Pavel Srut and Ludvik Kundera and also literary historians and translators.