10 Films to See Before You Visit Prague

The following is not a list of films shot in Prague, nor is it a list of Hollywood films where Prague is disguised as another European city. There is no Amadeus on this list (but we do recommend seeing it anyway!). These films are set in Prague. The Czech capital is the star of the show. Prague is a versatile character that boasts a multitude of faces, and many hidden talents. Incomers should watch these films for an education on the city’s lesser-known landmarks, complicated history, and fascinating culture.

1. Loners / Samotáři (2000)

2. Ice Mother / Bába z ledu (2017)

The most recent film on this list won Best Screenplay at the New York Tribeca Film Festival and is the Czech Republic’s official Oscar entry for next year. It was directed and written by Bohdan Sláma. Set in current-day Prague, Ice Mother sees modest widow Hana rediscover love when she meets a mysterious stranger with a passion for winter swimming.

3. Faust / Lekce Faust (1994)

It’s a fascinating adaptation set on the narrow backstreets of Old Town as well as Karlovo náměstí and a rather memorable scene in a Smíchov beer garden – Prague has never looked so grim on film. Švankmajer fans should make sure to check out his house at Černínská no.5 in Prague’s historic Nový Svět quarter, not far from Prague Castle.

4. Kolya (1996)

This critically acclaimed and Oscar-winning film is directed by the talented Jan Svěrák and stars his father Zdeněk Svěrák, one of the backbones of the Czech film industry. Kolya sees an old bachelor and cello player take in an abandoned Russian boy during toward the end of the occupation. The two develop an unlikely and heart-warming relationship despite a language barrier.

There’s a particularly famous scene in the Anděl metro station, but the film was, in fact, shot all over Prague, from Petřín Park to Vinohrady Cemetery and the Lesser Quarter, although Svěrák’s character’s romantic wood-beamed garrison at Lázeňská Street 9 was built in a studio.

5. Kafka (1991)

The work and life of Franz Kafka, author of ‘The Metamorphosis’ and The Trial and a seminal figure of 20th-century literature, has inspired numerous films. This one, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Jeremy Irons is an unconventional biopic that blurs the writer’s fiction with reality as an insurance agent is caught up in a murder mystery.

There’s quite a lot of Prague’s Old Town here, including an iconic shot of Jeremy Irons on Charles Bridge as well as brooding black-and-white views of Prague Castle, the New City Hall building in Mariánské Square, and Anenské náměstí near the legendary Divadlo Na zábradlí.

6. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Based on the novel by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an American film adaptation about a surgeon (Daniel Day Lewis) reduced to a window washer in 1960s Czechoslovakia and his complicated and very bohemian relationship with two different women.

7. Anthropoid (2016)

This British and Czech co-production is based on the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, aka Operation Anthropoid. Starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, and Czech actress Anna Geislerová, Anthropoid gives an insight into a defining moment in Czech history.

8. I Served the King of England / Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (2006)

Based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal and directed by Czechoslovak New Wave master Jiří Menzel, the film follows the rise of a waiter at the prestigious Hotel Paris in Prague. The viewer sees Prague during the Nazi occupation to the communist takeover through the eyes of Jan Dítě (Ivan Barnev) who becomes a millionaire and eventually a hermit reflecting on his life from his chata in the forest.

9. Prefab Story / Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliště (1981)

Directed by the avant-garde Věra Chytilová, Prefab Story is a satirical look at sídliště or panel house life in Prague. After all, these ubiquitous and unattractive high-rises are as much a part of the city’s history and character as its stunning Old Town.

10. Katka (2010)

Ryan Keating is a Prague-based writer and film blogger. Read more of his articles and reviews at moviebarf.com.