PRESS RELEASE

The Czech Republic premieres of an award-winning documentary and short films will be presented in two, free-admission, evening screenings open to the public as part of an international cinema workshop March 6-9. The four-day event, “Cinema: going beyond the barriers,” is a cooperative effort of  the Film and TV School of the Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in conjunction with the Angelus International Student Film Festival, Priddy Brothers film producers, Windrider Forum, media alliance association NetOne. (websites added)

The theme was chosen as an exploration of the United Nations 2009, year-long theme of  reconciliation. the United Nations 2009. The event is under the patronage of the United States Embassy, the Department of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Italian Cultural Institute of Prague, among others.

The first time screening in the Czech Republic of the award winning HBO documentary To Die in Jerusalem  (www.todieinjerusalem.com) will take place on Friday, March 6 (8 pm), at the  Svetozor Theater in Prague. After two 17-year old girls – one an Israeli, the other a Palestinian suicide bomber – die in a Jerusalem market, their mothers confront each other, revealing a microcosm of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the complexity of reconciliation. Through the personal stories of the two families’ losses and by contrasting the lives and deaths of these two teenage girls, TO DIE IN JERUSALEM offers a unique personal human perspective that is all too often eclipsed by the political issues.

The film, which has been screened throughout the world, has won the US prestigious Peabody Award, the Paris Human Rights Festival Special Jury Prize, 2008, and was nominated for three Emmy awards, in addition to numerous other awards.  From a New York Times review of the film:

“The film traces the efforts to bring the two mothers of the dead girls, who live less than four miles apart, face to face for a meeting that Ms. Levy’s mother, Abigail Levy, said she believed would be cathartic as well as a symbol of hope, a chance to transcend entrenched hatreds… Dennis Ross, the former United States ambassador and Middle East peace negotiator under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, called the film both “powerful” and “poignant.”

(Oct 24, 2007)

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director and producers.

The second evening of screenings, Monday, March 9, will feature the five, short films that were the 2008 winners of the ANGELUS INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

FILM FESTIVAL, voted “best Student Film Festival” by MovieMaker Magazine – Hollywood. The international group of  award winning directors will be present for the screening. The program will also feature the presence of veteran film directors Ralph Winter (USA – Star Trek, X-Men), Krzysztof Zanussi, and Petr Zelenka.

Event Details:

Friday, March 6th, Svetozor Theater, 8pm

Monday, March 9th,  Municipal Library of  Prague , 7pm