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FAMU at AU Night - March 8, 5:30 pm

(This article expired 02.03.2013.)

Enjoy a night of mutual inspirations in FILMMAKING at American University! Meet the Dean of FAMU and ask questions about the prestigious film school. Watch new student films shot on location in the Czech Republic and learn about the FAMU / AU experience.


American University (AU) presents FAMU at AU Night, an evening highlighting Czech and American student filmmaking with guests Pavel Jech, Dean of the Film and Television School of the Academy for the Performing Arts (FAMU), and Pavel Marek, Professor of Directing at FAMU, on March 8, 2012 at 5:30 pm in the Wechsler Theater at American University.      

During the event, Professors Jech and Marek will present the prestigious film school as well as the study abroad experience between AU and FAMU. The evening includes AU students showing their films shot on location in the Czech Republic over the coarse of their study abroad program at FAMU with insight into their experience and creative process. American University Professor Gary Griffin, Artist in Residence, will open the event. A Q&A session concludes the event. The public is welcome to attend and admission is free.

A reception with light refreshments follows the event.  

The evening is sponsored by American University’s School of Communication, The Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), and the Embassy of the Czech Republic.           

RSVP to czech_events@yahoo.com and put “FAMU at AU” in the subject line.
For additional questions, please call 202/274-9105.               

Location:
American University - School of Communication        
WECHSLER THEATER  (Mary Graydon Center, Room 315)           
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016      

Free Parking:       
Free Parking is available after 5 pm at the Katzen Arts Center Parking Lot or the Nebraska Avenue Parking Lot.        A campus map can be accessed at: http://www.american.edu/aumaps/upload/parking_map.pdf 
(PDF MAP for Parking – areas in yellow)     

Gary Griffin is an award-winning producer and cinematographer whose work includes Autism is a World, a documentary co-produced with CNN which tells the story of an autistic woman’s path to communication, and Gerrymandering, a film about the unfair legislative practice of redistricting. Griffin won the Sundance Film Festival’s 2005 American Excellence in Cinematography Award for his work on The Education of Shelby Knox, the story of a feminist’s coming-of-age. Griffin holds an MFA from Prague’s FAMU Film Academy of Performing Arts and is an Artist in Residence at the American University in Washington, D.C.

Pavel Jech has served as the Dean of the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) since 2008. He has extensive teaching experience in scriptwriting and dramaturgy, both in the Czech Republic and the US. He has also worked in the Czech Republic and internationally as a screenwriter, for such films as Grandhotel (2006) and Act of War (1998). Prior to taking on his latest post, he was chair of FAMU International, where he worked extensively with teams of international students. Jech was born in Prague but grew up in the United States, where his parents moved after 1968, when he was only two months old. After graduating from Columbia University in New York, Jech returned to Prague in 1990 and attended FAMU.  

Pavel Marek writes and directs for television and feature films, and is a faculty member in the Department of Directing at the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU). In 1988, he graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. From 1989, he studied direction at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU), where he started dealing primarily with feature film. During his studies, he made several short films together with his friends within the independent “BulšitFilm” company, primarily in cooperation with cameraman Roman Včelák. Inspired by the poetics of surrealism and the works by Jan Švankmajer and Luis Buñuel, the films received critical acclaim among film professionals.

THE FAMU INTERNATIONAL FILM PROGRAM
The FAMU International Film Program, established in 1991 in conjunction with American University’s School of Communication (SOC), is an enclave program designed for students highly motivated to produce and direct their own stories in super 16mm film. FAMU International students learn from masters in a conservatory-style environment.

FAMU, the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, is one of Europe’s oldest and finest film academies. Located in a cultural landmark, the Lažanský Palace, in the center of Prague, FAMU has played an integral role in Czech cultural history for the last sixty years, fostering the New Wave of the '60s, and serving as a headquarters for the student-led Velvet Revolution that helped end the Cold War.

The Academy is connected with such famous directors and writers as Jiří Menzel, Milan Kundera, Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, and Václav Havel. The presence of such luminaries allows FAMU International students an unparalleled experience.

Students in the FAMU International Film Program study in one of the most dynamic and compelling cities in Europe while earning a full semester of University credit.        

Mutual Inspirations Festival 2012-Miloš Forman

The event is a prelude to the Mutual Inspirations Festival 2012-Miloš Forman, which will take place September-October 2012, highlighting the mutual inspirations between Czech and American cultures. This year, the festival will celebrate Oscar-winning, Czech director Miloš Forman’s 80th birthday, the best of Czech cinematography, and the accomplishments of the transatlantic film industry, featuring over 30 films and events in prestigious venues throughout the Washington area. In addition, the festival will incorporate concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and theatrical performances related to film, photography, and/or the multimedia realm. For more information, please visit www.mutualinspirations.org. The Forman site will be launched on May 12, 2012.