The 10 best things to do in Prague this weekend: Oct. 13–15, 2023

The Beer&Fire Fest at the Riegrovy sady Park on Oct. 14 is a match made in beer and barbecue heaven and an opportunity to taste food straight from the grill and beer on tap, courtesy of  Weber Store and the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. Also on Oct. 14, warm up with an enticing selection of both Czech and international soup at Polívkování on Smíchovská Náplavka. If you are still hungry or curious to taste Japanese sandwiches, the Japanese Sandwich Festival at Café Sofa, also on Oct. 14, offers sweet and savory treats.

A mix of modern music such as hip hop, alternative electronica, songwriting, pop, and dance music, all accompanied by a symphony orchestra, Glorchestra: Christian Löffler is at the Rudolfinum on Oct. 14. Another original fusion of classical music and electronic tones, Worakls Orchestra is at Forum Karlín also on Oct. 14, with Czech electronic duo Bratři as the opening act.

After taking place last summer in the French city of Marseille, the FID Marseille International Film Festival makes its way to Prague. Screenings with English subtitles include Background on Oct. 13, How I Became a Communist, and Losing Faith on Oct. 14. On Oct. 15, a Lord of the Rings marathon at Kino Aero gives viewers a chance to (re)acquaint themselves with The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

See how one of the wealthiest and most influential dynasties of the flourishing First Czechoslovak Republic lived with a walking tour in English of the Petschek family houses organized by Open House Praha on Oct. 15. The tour will reveal a number of fascinating stories about an enterprising clan whose modern-day inheritors could well be the Roys of Succession, whose cunning marriage strategy ensured wealth across generations.

Celebrate the Prague Indian Film Festival’s 20th anniversary with Indian films offering a glimpse into the Indian subcontinent between Oct. 12 to 14 at Kino Světozor. This year’s edition of the annual festival presents a diverse selection of Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, and Bengali cinematography to local audiences with both Czech and English subtitles.

The dance performance Areal: In Search of the Lost Body's Prague premiere is at Studio Alta on Oct. 15. The collective work signed by the artists Alexandra Bălășoiu, Cristina Lilienfeld, Cosmin Manolescu and Valentina De Piante is a "unique, intimate and emotional experience" telling stories about "the bodies we lost and (re)found during the pandemic and after it."

The 11th Signal Festival will feature 20 light-based installations across various venues, the largest gallery zone in the event's history, as well as works by renowned Czech artist Jan Kalab and Mexican-Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. A special ticket grants access to seven installations in the new gallery zone, including pieces by Spanish studio Playmodes and Norwegian-Portuguese collaborative Entangled Others.

The 2023 International Festival Cirkus Cirkus will bring special performances and a star-studded jury to the O2 universe on Oct. 14. The sixth year of the "animal-free" circus project will see performers from all over the world present 13 exciting and very challenging numbers in front of a jury consisting of Jan Přeučil, Marian Roden, Petr Batěk, Tomáš Matonoha, Pavel Mang, Hana Gregorová, and Eugene Chaplin.

If you are a fan of Young Adult literature, the festival HumbookFest is a chance to meet both local and international authors such as Neal Shusterman, Brigid Kemmerer, and Stacey Marie Brown at the  O2 universum on Oct. 14. In addition to thematic discussions and workshops (mostly in Czech), the festival also includes a cosplay show.

The theater festival Palm Off Fest brings Central European productions to Divadlo pod Palmovkou this coming weekend. Performances include 24 by the Slovakian National Theater on Oct. 13, Midsummer's Night Dream by Divadlo pod Palmovkou, a new, original visual version of the Shakespeare classic on Oct. 14, and Siberian Flies, about Stalinist-era Siberian deportations, by the Mihai Eminescu National Theater from Chisinau, Moldova, on Oct. 15 (all of them with English subtitles).