Documentary Mondays and Fiction Tuesdays, the established programs of the Czech Center in Bucharest, are set for new editions between May 19 and June 10, every Monday and Tuesday.

The Bucharest public can attend eight screenings of contemporary and classic European cinema, with free admission.

Documentary Mondays, the Czech Center’s longest-running film program, will present documentaries looking at current social and personal themes, while Fiction Tuesdays proposes a journey through the history of Czechoslovak and Czech cinema, from award-winning masterpieces to satirical comedies.

The common thread running through the selection of the two programs is how individuals confront the systems that shape their lives. The documentaries explore themes such as reproductive rights, the housing crisis, motherhood, and collective memory. The fiction films, presented in chronological order, reflect the transformations of Czech society over the decades, from the cinematic courage of the 1930s to approaches to historical film and contemporary satire.

The Documentary Mondays program includes Elina Psykou’s Stray Bodies (May 19), Tomáš Hlaváček’s Housing Against Everyone (May 26), Isabela Tent’s Alice On & Off (June 2), and Jan Šikl’s Reconstruction of Occupation (June 9).

The Fiction Tuesdays program will screen Gustav Machatý’s Ecstasy (May 20), Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos’s The Shop on Main Street (May 27), Jan Svěrák’s Dark Blue World (June 3), and Jiří Havelka’s Owners (June 10).

The screenings take place at the Czech Center Bucharest and start at 8:00 PM. The films are subtitled in English, except for the last two in the Fiction Tuesdays program, which will have Romanian subtitles. Some screenings within Documentary Mondays will be followed by Q&A sessions with the directors. Additional details are to be announced.

(Illustration: Czech Center)

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