Ambassador Pavol Šepeľák in person introduced to a packed Laemmle’s Monica Film Center Theater the opening film of the festival, the compelling social satire TEACHER directed by Jan Hřebejk. Opening remarks were further delivered by festival’s sponsor, Pascal Ladreyt, the President of ELMA Foundation.

Exquisite reception followed the screening and was heavily attended by fans of international cinema of all ages. The tickets were sold out few days prior the screening and potential guests were calling the Consulate and the Theater as well with request for tickets. As we have witnessed the enormous demand, we have decided to include one more screening of the presenting movie Theacher in Los Angeles. We will show it again as a part of the Starring Europe Film Festival on May 10^th and we are also inviting the director Jan Hřebejk for Q&A session.  

The LA’s lag of the festival continues through April 17^th, 2017 and will be presented in several new venues across the town. On March 26^th, the leading figure of the Czech New Wave, Ivan Passer, will attend the double-feature screening of his 1965 masterpiece and feature debut, Intimate Lighting preceded by Milos Forman’s Firemen’s Ball - whose script Passer has co-written. This screening is taking place at the beloved New Beverly Cinema. The owner and head programmer of this theater is Oscar-Winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

Established Czech Director, Filip Renč, will introduce in person his latest feature, Devil’s Mistress, on March 30^th at the campus of the University of Southern California.

The Czech That Film program will further include a genre in which Czech filmmaking excels, showcasing the phenomenally crafted stop-motion animation feature Little from the Fish Shop, a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid.  

On April 13th, we will present in cooperation with Chapman University the social drama Snake Brothers, by Jan Prušinovský. The moviegoers will have the opportunity to enjoy the explosive comedy Tiger Theory in the presence of its director, Radek Bajgar. 

This year our team at the Czech Consulate in Los Angeles also achieved press coverage for Czech That Film Festival. Prestigious entertainment magazine Variety for example wrote an article about the festival. http://variety.com/2017/film/festivals/czech-that-film-festival-travels-to-north-america-1202014084/

For more information about the festival please see www.czechthatfilm.com