CITIZEN HAVEL

Chicago premiere!
CITIZEN HAVEL
(OBCAN HAVEL)
2008, Miroslav Janek and Pavel Koutecky, Czech Republic, 120 min.

“Remarkably intimate.”—Eddie Cockrell, Variety

“An absorbing fly-on-the-wall record of an unusual head of state…enjoyable, engaging, often very funny.”—Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter

No stuffy biography, this free-wheeling documentary on Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, creates a complex portrait of a most unorthodox statesman and features an intriguing array of his associates ranging from Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac to the Rolling Stones. Filmmaker Koutecky (who died before the film was complete) had the kind of access most directors can only dream of, providing a humorous and casual look at the career of the dissident playwright and popular leader of the Velvet Revolution who became the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. Presented in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Czech Republic, Chicago, as part of the project Velvet Redux: 20 Years of Freedom in Central and Eastern Europe. In Czech with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)