The
Institute
for Human Sciences
at Boston
University
cordially invites you a documentary film
screening
Monday, February 13, 2006
6:30 PM
Citizen
Vaclav Havel Goes on Vacation
Film screening and
discussion with
director, Jan Novak
This 90-minute
documentary recreates
a trip around Czechoslovakia that its
future president Vaclav Havel took in 1985
when he
was still the country’s most prominent dissident. In the course of one
week, he was twice thrown into jail for 48 hours of preventive
detention and followed
by over 300 plainclothed policemen, who
would
helpfully point out to him the right way whenever he got lost.
Contrasted with
the authentic Czech TV news of the period (the harvest was going
swimmingly),
the stories of Havel and his
dissident hosts show that you can live a great life even under the
staggering
pressure of a totalitarian juggernaut.
Photonics Center
Room 206
Boston University
8 St. Mary’s Street, 2nd floor
[Reception to follow]
Jan
Novak
was born in the Czech Republic and emigrated
to the United
States at the
age of 17. He was educated
at the University of Chicago and has
been making his living as a writer. Most recently he was awarded the
Czech
Republic's most prestigious prize, the Magnesia Litera,
for So
Far, So Good, Petrov, the
Book of the Year of
2004. He has also won two Sandburg Prizes for Chicago's Book of
the Year (The
Willys Dream Kit, Hartcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1985, fiction; Commies, Spooks,
Gypsies, Crooks
& Poets, Steerforth
Press,
1995, non-fiction). Among his other books are a novel, The Grand Life,
and the
co-authored autobiography of Milos Forman,
Turnaround,
which was translated into sixteen languages. His play Ax murder in St.
Petersburg
was the finalist for the Slovak Play of the Year in 2001 and has been
playing
in the repertory of Bratislava's Astorka
Theater ever
since.
Upcoming
Events:
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The
Future of Europe with Mark Leonard, Center for
European Reform
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Europe and the Muslim World with Olivier Roy, Research Director,
CNRS
Details forthcoming
All
events are free and open to
the pubic
Inquiries:
617-358-2778 or ihs@bu.edu