Culture this week: VR experience transports viewers to war-torn Ukraine

European film festival|The 30th edition of Days of European Film (DEF) takes place in Prague from April 20 to 25 at the Světozor, Lucerna, and Přítomnost cinemas. Screenings will also take place in Brno and Ostrava. A smaller version of the festival, called Echoes of DEF, will be in more Czech cities until April 30. Read more in our article.

Persistence of memory|The Czech-Ukrainian documentary Fresh Memories: The Look uses virtual reality for an immersive experience into the lives of people living in bombed-out Kharkiv. The immersive experience, whose impact is exacerbated by the characters’ lack of words, is at DOX until June 4.

Jazzy vibes|Slovak singer Tamara Kramar is at Café V lese on April 18. Inspired by the young London jazz scene or names like Erykah Badu, Kramar brings ”good energy, neo-soul grooves, sincere lyrics, and great emotion to the stage.” She was featured on the prestigious BBC Introducing Radio and Equal Spotify campaign.

Hardcore sounds|Canadian melodic hardcore band Counterparts is on April 19 at Rock Café, in an event presented by the summer rock festival Rock for People. For their seventh album, A Eulogy For Those Still Here, the band uses sound taken to the extreme to talk about the inevitability of change. Their special guests are Kublai Khan TX, Paleface, and Dying Wish.

Electric DJ trio|The Brandt Brauer Frick will perform at Meet Factory on April 21. The classically trained musicians, brought together by a passion for club music, call their style emotional body music. The evening will open with a concert by Tomáš Martínek aka TMA, whose live sets are accompanied by live piano and algorithmic projections, and close with a punchy set from NCOL.

Freedom in motion|Catch a performance of the Losers Cirque’s Unbounded at Divadlo Bravo on April 18. Mixing dance and acrobatics, the show deals with the topic of finding inner freedom by overcoming fear, in line with its motto "Sometimes I actually lose my freedom myself. For example, by postponing a decision when I'm afraid of what will happen."

Quintessentially French|Experience a modern take on French dramatist Edmond Rostand's Cyrano of Bergerac on April 19 at Švandovo divadlo na Smíchově. The play is a "new rewrite of a romantic story in a beatbox rhythm" that incorporates the classic themes of "word as a means of love" and "word as a weapon." The performance is in Czech with English subtitles.

Tragic love story|Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera La Traviata is at The State Opera on April 19, with a 20 percent discount if you add at least one more opera from the cycle VIVA VERDI to your cart. Based on 19th-century writer Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame aux camélias, the opera is based on the story of courtesan Marie Duplessis, who lived and loved in 1840s Paris.

For communication professionals|The Mouvo Conference 2023, featuring an all-star lineup that covers a diverse range of digital communication topics, takes place at UMPRUM Technology Centre on April 21 and 22. Focusing on the intersection of graphic design, film, animation, and technology, the event brings together the world’s leading creators for inspiring talks.