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Summary for: Czech cinema spotlight: French Film Festival brings Cannes to Prague🎬 Prague Film Fest
French cinema takes over Prague this week as the 29th French Film Festival returns with 14 advance screenings, acclaimed selections from Cannes and retrospectives honoring French New Wave directors Agnès Varda and Claude Chabrol. Highlights include Violette (pictured above), the latest film from Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and Bruno Dumont's Red Rocks. The festival also pays tribute to actress Nathalie Baye, who died earlier this year.
PARTNER ARTICLE
Where to see the films: The festival runs Nov. 19–25 at Kino Lucerna, Kino Světozor, Edison Filmhub, Kino 35 and other Prague venues, with numerous screenings offering English subtitles. Not every festival film is English-friendly, so be sure to check individual listings before heading out to the cinema.
🎞️ The Throwback
Jiří Mádl's Waves brings one of the defining moments in modern Czech history to life through the journalists of Czechoslovak Radio during the Prague Spring and the Soviet-led invasion of August 1968. Set in the radio station's international news department and combining personal drama with real historical events, the film pays tribute to the broadcasters who risked their lives to keep the public informed.
Why watch now: Nov. 17 marks the Day of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy, commemorating the 1939 Nazi crackdown on Czech students and the 1989 demonstrations that sparked the Velvet Revolution. Although Waves depicts events two decades earlier, its themes of press freedom, resistance and the fight against authoritarianism make it a particularly fitting choice for the holiday. The film screens with English subtitles at Kino 35 on Nov. 17 as part of its Freedom Week program.
🇬🇧 This Week's English-Friendly Screenings
- Nov. 16: Gustav Machatý's groundbreaking 1932 Czechoslovak drama Ecstasy, starring the future Hedy Lamarr as a young woman escaping an unhappy marriage, screens with English subtitles at Kino Ponrepo.
- Nov. 16: Marcel L'Herbier's visually extravagant 1924 French silent sci-fi fantasy L'Inhumaine, a landmark of avant-garde cinema, screens in an English-friendly version at Kino Aero as part of its Legends series.
- Nov. 17: Amber Fares' award-winning documentary Coexistence, My Ass!, following Israeli comedian and peace activist Noam Shuster-Eliassi, screens with English subtitles at Kino 35.
- Nov. 17: Alexandru Solomon's documentary Capitalism: Our Secret Recipe, examining Romania's post-Communist elites and economic inequalities, screens with English subtitles at Kino 35 as part of Freedom Week.
- Nov. 17: Kino Aero presents a Javier Bardem double feature pairing the Coen brothers' Oscar-winning thriller No Country for Old Men with The Beloved, both in English-friendly versions.
- Nov. 17: Faraz Shariat's German political thriller Prosecution, about a young lawyer uncovering an extremist network within the justice system, screens with English subtitles at Edison Filmhub.
- Nov. 17–18: Robert Pattinson stars as controversial television journalist Chris Hansen in Lance Oppenheim's new crime thriller Primetime, receiving English-language preview screenings at Edison Filmhub.
- Nov. 18: Sofia Coppola's stylized historical drama Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the ill-fated French queen, screens in English at Kino Aero as part of its (re)fresh series.
- Nov. 18: Park Nam-ok's The Widow, the pioneering 1955 drama made by South Korea's first female film director, screens with English subtitles at Kino Ponrepo.
- Nov. 19: The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest installment in the dystopian franchise exploring an earlier Hunger Games tournament, opens in English across Prague cinemas.
- Nov. 22: Billy Wilder's classic 1954 romantic comedy Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden in a love triangle involving a chauffeur's daughter and two wealthy brothers, screens in English at Kino Ponrepo.
🍿 New Wide Releases
- Ebenezer ★★★½
- How to Rob a Bank ★★½
📺 The Streaming Watchlist
- Nicolas Cage transforms into legendary NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden, with Christian Bale as Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, in David O. Russell's biographical drama Madden, streaming Nov. 18 on Prime Video.
- Leighton Meester plays a no-nonsense bodyguard assigned to protect a charming action movie star (Jared Padalecki) over Christmas in romantic comedy Guarding Stars, streaming Nov. 18 on Netflix.
- Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle portray Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried in The Altruists, an eight-part drama about the rise and spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, streaming Nov. 19 on Netflix.
- Percy and his friends embark on a dangerous mission to rescue Annabeth from the forces of Kronos in Season 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, debuting with two episodes Nov. 20 on Disney+.
- Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu voice Cinderella's misunderstood stepsisters, with Amanda Seyfried as Cinderella and Daniel Radcliffe as the prince, in animated fairy-tale comedy Steps, streaming Nov. 20 on Netflix.
