Welcome to the Staropramen Prague On Film festival presented by the Czech Centre London. The festival has finished now but the webpage will remain active as a Czech cinema reference page.

Prague is a remarkable and haunting city. Since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, millions of visitors have been attracted by its unique atmosphere, its striking architecture, its history, and its culture. But, since the turn of the century, the city associated with Dvorak, Mozart and Kafka has also been home to the Czech film industry.

In this unique festival, films by both documentary and feature directors reflect the life of the city in different decades from the 30s to the present. The locations extend from Prague Castle to areas less explored by foreign visitors, with a range of approaches that embrace the absurd, the comic, the surreal, and the realist. From the slapstick comedy of Voskovec and Werich in the 30s to the classic 'New Wave' films of the 60s, and recent successes such as Kolya, Buttoners, and Loners, filmmakers have sought their inspiration in its life and atmosphere. A remarkable range of documentaries examines the city and its architecture, including the Baroque and Art Nouveau, with no less than three films on Prague Castle itself.

A number of features will be screened in London for the first time. Prague Stories is a multi-director approach to life in the city inspired by the French Paris vu par while the controversial and experimental Angel Exit, based on Jachym Topol's much acclaimed novel, presents a decidedly unfashionable view of life in the city.

The festival also presents the first British retrospective of Vera Chytilova, one of the Czech Republic's leading filmmakers. It features Chytilova's visually stunning Prague-Restless Heart of Europe as well as Prefab Story, one of the most controversial works made in the years after the Soviet suppression of the Prague Spring.

Peter Hames