Compact archive June 11, 2007

Director Eli Roth who debuted with the low-budget horror Cabin Fever will come to the international film festival in Karlovy Vary to introduce his new film Hostel II (partly filmed in the Czech Republic) as well as Quentin Tarantino’s film Grindhouse:Death Proof in which he performed the title role.

Besides Renee Zellweger visitors can also look forward to 20-year-old Ellen Page known for films Marion Bridge, Wilby Wonderful or X-Men: The Last Stand. In Karlovy Vary she will personally present a film by Bruce McDonald The Tracey Fragments.

Other important guest of the festival will be Hal Hartley who will come to Karlovy Vary after 12 years to present the premiere of his latest film Fay Grim. Monte Hellman will come to Karlovy Vary with his retrospective dedicated to New Hollywood Two-Lane Blacktop. George Hickenlooper will introduce his latest film Factory Girl – a bibliography about the life of a close friend of Andy Warhol.

Four concerts of classical music will resound the III courtyard of Prague Castle and will offer a great atmosphere as well as good acoustics. The concerts are held under the auspices of the First Lady Livia Klausova.

The first and the last concerts will be performed by Prague Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiri Kout. The first concert (28th – 29th June 2007) will present the composition by Carl Orff Carmina Burana, the last one (9th September 2007) Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” (Op. 95).

The Philharmonic of Hradec Kralove conducted by Ondrej Kukal (25th July 2007) will perform Smetana’s Vltava and Vysehrad and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. The third concert (21st August 2007) will commemorate the 21st August 1968 (occupation of the Czech Republic by armies of the Warsaw Pact). The Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra of Pardubice conducted by Leos Svarovsky will play Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 in C Major and Mendelsohn – Barthody’s Symphony No. 4 in A Major “Italian”.

From yesterday people in the Czech Republic travel according to a new timetable of Czech Railways. However, the difference between the old one and the new one is not so big.

The biggest changes are in the regions around Usti nad Laben and Karlovy Vary. The changes concern especially the departure and arrivals of trains, the number of trains stays almost the same.

From today travellers can also use special discounts – CD Net and RegioNet which enables them to travel for the whole day (in the whole country or in one district) for special price. For planning your journey online, click here.

Today is the Tax Freedom Day in the Czech Republic, which theoretically means that Czech people stopped working for the state treasure and started to earn money for themselves. In other words, they have earned enough to pay the annual tax burden.

The Tax Freedom Day in the Czech Republic is counted by the Liberal Institute. In comparison with the last year, the Tax Freedom Day came three days earlier this year (after 161 instead of 164 days).

In the Slovak Republic the Tax Freedom Day was already on 6th May, in Poland on 4th June, in Germany it will be on 15th June, in Austria on 30th June. In Sweden it will be even at the end of July.

If you like Czech beer and you want to try as many kinds of beer as possible during your short stay, don’t miss the Pivobrani 2007. It’s organized by the city district Prague 3 in cooperation with Prague 9.

The meeting place for all beer lovers is the Vitkov memorial in Prague-Zizkov. Besides tasting beer and snacks you can enjoy many concerts of Czech bands or singers, such as Krystof or Anna K.

The programme will start on 15th June 2007 at 16:00 and will finish on 16th June before 22:00. The entrance is for free. You can use shuttle buses from Konevova street (also for free) to get to the memorial.