9.3. at 21h | Cinematheque Tel Aviv, followed by Q&A with the actress Lenka Krobotova (Grushenka)
20.3. at 21:30h | Cinematheque Jerusalem

 

A theatre company from Prague arrives in Cracow to present a stage adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov at the city’s alternative drama festival. The production is to be staged in an unusual venue – the local steelworks. During rehearsals, the drama on stage spills over into real life, behind the scenes and front of house... In both his chosen theme and form, director Petr Zelenka has come up with an exceptional piece, oscillating between fiction and documentary and centred on the successful stage production presented by Prague’s Dejvice Theatre.

Petr Zelenka (b. 1967, Prague) is one of the Czech Republic’s most highly regarded screenwriters and directors. He studied scriptwriting and dramaturgy at FAMU (1991) and then worked as a script editor at Barrandov film studios. He wrote the script for the short Allenesque piece Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Experience (1999, dir. Jan Hřebejk) and for the box-office hit comedy Loners (2000, dir. David Ondříček). In 1993 he directed the fictional feature-length documentary Padlock (Visací zámek 1982-2007), which he followed with the similarly conceived Mňága – Happy End (1996). He then made his award-winning feature debut Buttoners (1997 – Czech Lion for Best Czech Film, among others), Year of the Devil (2002 — Crystal Globe at the KVIFF) and an adaptation of his own stage play which won the prestigious Alfréd Radok prize, Wrong Side Up (2005).

Czech Republic, 2008, Czech with Hebrew subtitles, 100 min
Director:  Petr Zelenka
Screenplay: Petr Zelenka based on the novel The Brothers Karamazov by F.M. Dostoyevski and stage adaptation by Evald Schorm
Director of Photography: Alexander Šurkala
Music: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Editor: Vladimír Barák
Cast: Ivan Trojan, Igor Chmela, Martin Myšička, David Novotný, Lenka Krobotová, Michaela Badinková