My Sweet Little Village | Vesničko má středisková
Dir. Jiří Menzel, 1985, 98 minutes, Czech with English subtitles

Otík, a mentally-challenged young man works with Pávek making deliveries in their small town. Pávek watches over Otik, but begins to tire of him messing up simple tasks and grows eager to be rid of him. Rather than work with another driver, Otík accepts a job offer in Prague. Soon, they both realize that they just might need each other. Throughout the film, there is a comparison between the cordial life of a small village as compared to the city. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the film retains its status as one of the most popular Czech comedies. 

EVENT DETAILS:
January 15, 2019, at 7 pm

Venue: Bistro Bohem
600 Florida Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008

RSVP required:
202/735-5895 or bistrobohem@gmail.com | Admission is free!
Guests must arrive by 6:45 pm to keep their reservation.
Website: www.BistroBohem.com

Admission is free.

About the series: This marks the eighth year of the Film and Beer Series at Bistro Bohem. This year, the series will focus on films by award-winning director, screenwriter, actor, and theater director - Jiří Menzel. All films will screen in Czech with English subtitles. Each screening includes one free beer as well as an introduction by a representative from the Czech Embassy. All screenings are subject to change.

About the Director:
Jiří Menzel studied filmmaking at the famous Film and Television Academy of the Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, Czech Republic. He was one of the leaders of the Czech New Wave. Most notably, Menzel won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his first feature-length film "Closely Watched Trains" (Ostře sledované vlaky, 1967).

With the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces in 1968, and the period of so-called ‘normalization’ that followed, Menzel was one of the first directors to be barred from filmmaking. Menzel’s controversial film "Larks on a String" (Skřivánci na niti, 1969) was banned by the government, but released twenty years later, in 1990, after the collapse of the communist regime. The film won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

His film "My Sweet Little Village" (Vesničko má středisková, 1985) was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film. Other renowned works include "Capricious Summer" (Rozmarné léto, 1968), "Cutting It Short" (Postřižiny, 1981) and "I Serve the King of England" (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále, 2006).

Menzel is a member of the Czech Film and Television Academy, the European Film Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He has received many prestigious awards, among them the French order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the Akira Kurosawa Prize for a lifetime’s achievement at the San Francisco Film Festival.