This Sunday, 14 April 2013, sees the UK premiere of Jan Svěrák’s Kooky (Kuki se vraci 2010). It tells the tale of a teddy bear who leaves home…..

The screening is promoted by the Czech Centre London and takes place at The Little Angel Theatre, Islington.

Jan Svěrák is one of the top Czech directors, probably best know for Oscar winning Kolya (1996) starring and written by his father Zedenek Svěrák.
You can see Jan Svěrák’s very own posting of his English language trailer here:

You can find Czech language clips on the making of the film in the same place. The film is a combination of live action, stop motion and puppet animation. The animation was done at double speed to make the movement appear more realistic.

The Czech Centre London is bringing films from the Prague based One World (Jeden svět) Human Rights Film Festival to the UK between April and June

The One World Echoes season starts at The Frontline Club, on Thursday 11 April at 7pm with the screening of Amazing Azerbaijan! See an interview with Azerbaijani lawyer Intigam Aliyev following his Homo Homini award for promoting human rights at the opening ceremony of the 2013 One World  Festival in Prague.

One World Echoes London is part of an international tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of One World, Europe´s largest human rights film festival established in Prague in 1998 by Czech NGO People in Need.

A major retrospective of the films of František Vlačil begins in Prague tonight with a screening of Marketa Lazarová and finishes with the same film on 3 May 2013.

The cycle takes place at Bio Ponrepo, the cinema of the Czech National Film Archive. Between the two screenings of Vlačil’s most regarded film there is a season of many of his other films including documentaries and shorts.

The cycle is billed as “The Second life of František Vlačil” by the NFA, referring to the gradual rehabilitation of his reputation, which has been growing outside the Czech Republic before catching on there.