We would like to introduce you to a very interesting project, which Martina Fialková introduced us to -Czech Roots. It is one of the nice private activities showing the importance of Czech compatriots living and promoting their original homeland abroad. Please get acquainted. And if you want to support the filming of the next episodes, you can find the link to Mrs. Fialkova at the end of the article.
Mrs. Fialková narrates:
…the website where you can find both the essentials of why we are making the films, what they are about is here www.ceskekoreny.cz . But there are also links to free downloads of the first two documentaries, Czech Roots in Sweden and in Switzerland. They are 60 and 72 minutes long, so it takes a while. The links are here for Sweden and here for Switzerland.
The Swedish one was a pilot, containing a medallion on Ota Štorch, a poet and former prisoner of Jáchymov, very active in Czech circles in Sweden. Each of our films contains 7 – 8 similar medallions.
Another, third film was made in Vienna, on our website you can click through to the CT archive. There we have added to the personal medallions the filming in a Czech school and in a Czech theatre, both of which have a tradition in Vienna for over 120 years.
The fourth Czech Roots in Vancouver – in two 80-minute parts, we consider to be our best work yet, where we managed to get some really admirable personalities and also a colleague did a great job in processing. I’ll be happy to supply the DVD, otherwise we’re waiting for inclusion in CT.
I will also be very happy if you read the letter from Mr. Novotny from Canada, formerly a film producer. And also the press release issued after the Vancouver premiere last September – see both attached. It will tell you the best about the film and summarize the successes of the project. The icing on the cake was the ending of our film by Mr. Jelinek, the Canadian Ambassador in Prague. This highly successful Canadian politician, multiple minister and then ambassador, began his career as the son of immigrants in Canada with his sister by rising to the top of the world figure skating pairs sport. They then famously won gold at the 1962 World Championships held in Prague, and as Czech compatriots from the West, they were celebrated thunderously there. We managed to get the Ambassador to put on his skates at the age of 76 and skate for us in the same hall where he won, and filmed the conclusion of this documentary.
And the future?
As I said, we are planning another shoot this spring, in Belgium and Luxembourg, and we would like to add the Netherlands, where I am still looking for good clues and personalities. But after the Canadian film premiered, we also received a very serious invitation to Australia, offering help with accommodation and other practicalities, and with excellent tips on personalities. However, this would have required longer preparation. We are considering such a documentary too, as the types include people over 80 years of age who may not be reachable any time soon. Here again, however, it is very financially demanding, probably even more so than Canada.
As far as the possibilities of cooperation are concerned, there is of course the classic promotion at premieres and other events connected with films, in press releases, on DVD covers, etc. All this is a matter of further negotiations with a potential interested party. However, it is clear to me that such a person (company), more than anything else, can gain reputation and status from supporting a meaningful cultural and social project that also preserves a certain important part of the “memory of the nation”. As said yesterday, we are just doing it in a different way, more accessible and probably more interesting for the general public.
Presenting this assistance to the Czech Roots project on the company website may also be interesting to promote the good face of the company. Other possibilities. – http://www.jaroslavsonsky.com/
(Jaroslav Šonský has supplied some of his own recordings and those of his string ensemble, which he leads here in Prague, free of charge for our films from the very beginning. The films thus have, besides music of other genres, also this very high quality musical component.) There is the possibility of organising a concert by the Martinů Strings or J. Šonský on any suitable occasion – an Advent company social event, a company anniversary celebration, anything….i in an international context, we cooperate with other musicians from France, Germany or Hungary. Such a concert can also be used to present the connection with Czech Roots.
If you have any idea, suggestion, we can discuss the matter more specifically. Thank you very much for your attention to this extensive information and I look forward to a possible further meeting, perhaps at Jaroslav Šonský’s concert in Prague, 25.4.2017.
Martina Fialková
Tel.:+420 603 930 074
www.listyprahy1.cz www.ceskekoreny.cz www.jaroslavsonsky.com