Blok design magazine, Czech Film Center, arts news
In this week's Arts we have a round-up of the latest news, Ian Willoughby visits the Czech Film Center to find out how the organisation is working to bring films from this country to a wider audience and Dean Vuletic profiles a classy Czech design magazine which is making waves internationally.
Arts news round-up
After eight months, over 600 events and over a million visitors, the Bohemia Magica season of Czech culture in France ended in Paris last weekend with a gala concert attended by the Czech and French ministers of culture. It was the biggest undertaking of its kind in the last decade.
Among the most interesting of the many art shows on in Prague at the moment is an exhibition of 20th century Czech film posters, at the Manes gallery. It runs until February 9th.4
Benjamin Tucek's film Devcatko (called Girlie in English) has been selected for the Rotterdam Film Festival. Last year Bohdan Slama's Divoke Vcely, or Wild Bees, won first prize at Rotterdam, and is now the Czech nomination for the best foreign film Oscar.
Staying with film, the premiere of Jan Nemec's film Nocni hovory s matkou, which translates as Night Conversations with My Mother, has just kicked off this year's Project 100. The project distributes contemporary independent and classic films to cinemas around the Czech Republic.
The legendary underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe are playing a concert at Prague's Vagon music club next Thursday, January 23.
And the same evening at Divadlo Ponec you can usher in the Chinese Year of the Sheep with - among others - the Prague-based Chinese opera singer Feng-Jun Song, who you may have heard previously on our programme.
Czech Film Center aims to raise profile of Czech cinema abroad
"It has the same importance as for every country, because it brings you international acclaim and for a small country, which I think has not a bad film production, I think it's very important."
How would you assess both artistically and financially the state of the Czech film industry?
"I think that in the Czech Republic there is huge potential, there are ideas, there are people, skilled professionals, but I think like maybe everywhere a little bit, there is a lack of money. Especially now after the floods the public money, the money from state funds I think they have to look for other solutions how to get films financed."
The Czech Film Center is currently preparing a website, the address of which will be www.filmcenter.cz
Blok - a classy Czech magazine winning admirers at home and abroad
There is a stylish new kid on the block of Czech publishing that has been attracting the attention of admirers in the Czech Republic and internationally. Blok is a design, architecture and style magazine that has been informing and impressing since its first issue was released in 2001.
The magazine was started by Jiri Macek - currently its editor-in-chief - and a group of other Czechs interested in bringing a home-grown style magazine to the Czech Republic. Among its creators is Jana Semeradova, the director of Profil Media which publishes Blok with another group, Reforma:
"I think that it for sure reflects the situation. We saw that here there was a lack of a stylish magazine in the Czech republic. So that's why we started it, and we think that it simply reflects the situation in this country."
When she speaks of the situation in this country, Jana Semeradova means the increasing affluence and openness of the Czech Republic after the fall of communism. While Blok was one of the first, these days there are several magazines with glossy colour formats and arty photos that appeal to the aesthetic tastes of urbanites.
But Blok has found special niche in the Czech magazine market, one that is characterised by its ability to combine local creativity and international taste. Among its readers are the members of the international community that resides in the Czech Republic, and their interest in Blok has compelled the magazine's producers to change from a Czech language to a bilingual Czech-English format. Jana Semeradova again:
"The first issues were of course only in the Czech language, because we only focussed on the Czech market. But then we found out that there is quite a big group of people living in the Czech Republic that doesn't speak Czech, that only speaks English, this international community living in the Czech Republic. So we thought we could do the magazine in Czech and English, so that these people can read it as well, because we knew that they were buying it, and that they just looked at the photographs and the graphic design, but couldn't read it. So we have started this Czech-English version. And we didn't focus on any international market at the beginning, but then we found out that this magazine is also interesting for people abroad, so we have also begun its international distribution."
Blok's articles and photos give exposure to Czech artists and designers, not only locally but also internationally. While Blok started out with only the Czech market in mind, its catching graphic design and photos ensured that it also captured the attention of an international audience. And Blok is now also being sold outside of its home country, including the Czech Republic's neighbours and the United Kingdom:
"In Great Britain, in magazines like Design Week or Elle Decor, they have compared Blok to the Wallpaper of the east magazine, they called it. I think that it is somewhat interesting because it shows the style being present in the Czech Republic, as well as the older style which is like these anonymous designers who created during the communist era, which almost nobody knows anymore but which we are as well trying to present this design from the past years. And we try to get all the interesting information as well from the whole region, not only from the Czech Republic or not only from Prague. So I think that's why it's interesting as well for the people in other countries."
But while Blok enjoys introducing the world to designers from the communist era, the magazine itself is definitely a product of its own time. Its emergence and success is indicative of the changes that have taken place in Czech society over the last decade: as the country has opened up to the world, it has tuned in to global trends in design, and Blok is there to translate for a new generation that wants to speak the international language of style. You can take a look at Blok on its well-designed website, www.blok-online.cz
