2024-03-15 01:54:26
English musician Pete Doherty will visit the Days of European Film in Prague. The musician, who became famous for his work in the band The Libertines and excesses associated with drug addiction, will present a documentary called Peter Doherty: A Stranger in His Own Skin on April 7 at the Akropolis Palace. After its screening, he will perform live.
The audience will see the film Peter Doherty: A Stranger in His Own Skin on April 7 at the Akropolis Palace. | Video: Wendy Productions
Those interested will be able to meet not only Doherty, but also his partner and director of the documentary, Katia de Vidas. She shot the portrait for more than ten years, during which time she accumulated over 200 hours of material.
“The documentary is about an intimate search for freedom between spotlights and darkness, shine and misery, pleasure and pain,” says the author. “It’s a film about hope, about a man who has to choose between recovery and the life of a pain-torn drifter who records new songs that he dreams will redeem him,” he adds.
The English musician will come to Prague at a time when his best-known band The Libertines, founded in 1997, is coming to life. In early April, the rockers want to release their fourth studio album called All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade. Doherty once again collaborated on it with colleagues including guitarist and co-vocalist Carl Barât.
The 31st European Film Days will take place from April 4 to 9 in Prague, Brno and Ostrava, and from April 10 to 14 as part of the festival’s echoes in other cities. In addition to the portrait of Doherty, the program will include a new documentary by Wim Wenders called Anselm. This is a portrait of one of the most important artists of the 20th century, the 79-year-old German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer.
The audience will also see Blažina’s lessons, which won last year at the Karlovy Vary festival. The film by the Bulgarian director Stefan Komandarev deals with the current topic of the vulnerability of the elderly to fraudsters.
Mainly in the Czech premiere, the festival will present over three dozen works by established directors as well as debuts that have won awards from festivals in Cannes and Venice, as well as national film awards.
“In this year’s selection, intergenerational relations resonate. Their unease and search for reconciliation are offered by the comedic and dramatic finale,” says festival dramaturg Šimon Šafránek.
The main competition will focus on debuts. The upcoming generation has a section called First Time, viewers can look forward to, for example, a black comedy with elements of the thriller Vincent Must Die by French director Stéphane Castang. Swedish director Mika Gustafson’s film Paradise in Flames, with two prizes from Venice for directing and screenwriting under 40, will also head to Prague.
Another competition section, Film & Music, will be occupied by documentaries, feature films and animated films revolving around rhythm and melody. This section will offer, for example, a portrait of Daaaaaalí!, in which the musician and director Quentin Dupieux offers a story as fantastic as the paintings of the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
The festival will pay tribute to the Austrian director Jessica Hausner. It will offer her successful films Lovely Rita, Hotel, Lourdes and, in the Czech preview, the novelty Club Zero. The event will also include a masterclass with this author.
The Days of European Film will also present films dedicated to ecology and the relationship between man and the environment, to which he will dedicate a separate section called Living Planet. The accompanying program will include discussions, screenings for seniors and schools, seminars for professionals and workshops for children.