The story of Václav Havel, renowned dissident and first president of the Czech Republic, is coming to cinemas across the country next month in the form of the simply-titled Havel, a new biopic directed by Slávek Horák and starring Viktor Dvořák in the titular role.
Yesterday, the first scenes from the film were glimpsed in a debut trailer unveiled by distributor Bontonfilm.
A dissident playwright during the artistic period of the Prague Spring and tumultuous later years of normalization in Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel was imprisoned numerous times by communist forces in the 1970s and 1980s before becoming a key figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that peacefully toppled the regime.
He served as the final president of Czechoslovakia until it was dissolved in 1992, and first president of the Czech Republic when it was established in ‘93.
Horák’s film will tell the early years of Havel’s life, before coming into the presidency. Dvořák is a dead ringer for a young Havel, and played the same role (though not explicitly credited) in last year’s The Prague Orgy, an adaptation of the Philip Roth novella directed by Irena Pavlásková.
The tagline for Havel, „Co byste obětovali pro pravdu a lásku?“ (“What would you sacrifice for truth and love?“), comes from the former president’s personal motto.
“Perhaps for some, [the tagline] will be too lyrical in today’s pragmatic, often cynical times, but I always liked Havel the most because he sincerely fought for positive human values,” director Horák stated in a press release.
“And because he was able to make great sacrifices for them, which is a great rarity today.”
Havel marks the second feature for director Horák, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Horák made his debut with 2015’s Domácí péče (Home Care), which received seven Czech Lion nominations including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.
Aňa Geislerová co-stars also Olga Havlová, Václav Havel’s first wife and fellow Czechoslovak dissident. Martin Hofmann, Stanislav Majer, Barbora Seidlová, and Jiří Bartoška also feature among the case.
Havel will be released in Czech cinemas from July 23. It will be among the first major releases following the coronavirus crisis and closure of most cinemas in the country; Cinema City multiplexes, among the last Czech cinemas still closed, plan to open from June 26.
