In Quest of History: On Statehood and Identity with Jiří Přibáň and Pavel Seifter
As contemporary politics drift closer to totalitarianism, historiography from scholars and thinkers who have experienced twentieth-century totalitarian regimes is more important than ever. A professor of legal philosophy Jiří Přibáň and Pavel Seifter, historian and former Czech Ambassador to the UK, search for the roots of contemporary problems in our past, examining how we navigate history among the shifting tides of our national identity and what statehood and democracy mean 30 years after the fall of communism.
The Other Europe: The Power of the Powerless with Jacques Rupnik and Tom Roberts
30 years after the fall of Communism, leading historian and political scientist Jacques Rupnik and a multi-award winning documentary film director Tom Roberts re-visit their Channel 4 revolutionary documentary series which revealed the impact of 40 years of Communist rule on the nations of the ‘Other Europe’. Written and narrated by Jacques Rupnik, this programme examines power, ideology, resistance, art and the traumas of the totalitarian experiment using interviews with leading oppositionists and extracts of their work. Reminiscing what was it like for a Western crew to film in Communist countries on the brink of collapse, meeting filmmakers Andrzej Wajda, Jiří Menzel, writers Václav Havel, Josef Škvorecký, and young Viktor Orban, the panelists will discuss the notion of the Other Europe now after the changes of 1989 and in the current political climate.
Theatre on the Balustrade: Velvet Havel
Václav Havel - the dramatic genius, the persecuted dissident, the man of truth and ideals but also a lover of good beer and pretty women. A portrait of the first post-1989 Czech president presented as a modern-day musical, Velvet Havel is a multi-award-winning production from the cult Prague The Theatre on the Ballustrade.
