The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
The Czechs or the Czech people, are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, culture, history, and Czech language.
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object that might be shaped like a human, animal or mythical creature, or another object to create the illusion that the puppet is "alive". The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.
Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others.
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.
Mirsolav Trejtnar, is a master puppeteer and teacher of puppetry.
The Subotica International Festival of Children's Theatres is an international festival dedicated to children's theatre.
The Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU) is one of the three faculties of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. It was founded immediately after the Second World War. It was established in 1945 as part of the newly created arts university. Teachers at the faculty have included prominent personalities of modern Czech theatre including Otomar Krejča, set designer František Tröster, Ivan Vyskočil, director Jiří Frejka, and Miroslav Haller. DAMU is a member of the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) and the European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC).
Theatre of the Czech Republic has rich tradition in all genres, including drama, opera, ballet and dance, puppet theatre, black light theatre etc.
Lucerna is a Czech fairy-tale play based on a theme of writer Alois Jirásek. The stage play Lucerna, in four acts, was written by Alois Jirásek in 1905. It premiered on 17 November 1905 in National Theatre in Prague. The play was a best-seller.
Naši furianti is a Czech play based on a story by Ladislav Stroupežnický, performed for the first time in 1887. In 1937 a film adaptation was made, directed by Vladislav Vančura.
Mazaný Filip is a Czech comedy film. It was released in 2003. Based by stage play from Sklep Theatre.
Katalin Ladik is a Hungarian poet, performance artist and actress. She was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and in the last 20 years she has lived and worked alternately in Novi Sad, Serbia, in Budapest, Hungary and on the island of Hvar, Croatia. Parallel to her written poems she also creates sound poems and visual poems, performance art, writes and performs experimental music and audio plays. She is also a performer and an experimental artist. She explores language through visual and vocal expressions, as well as movement and gestures. Her work includes collages, photography, records, performances and happenings in both urban and natural environments.
Klára Melíšková is a Czech stage and film actress. She is the wife of actor Lukáš Hlavica, daughter-in-law of actor and painter Miloš Hlavica and actress Růžena Merunková and sister-in-law Anna Bendová.
Presidential elections were held in the Czech Republic in January 2018. The first round took place on 12 and 13 January. As no candidate won a majority, a run-off election between the top two candidates, Jiří Drahoš and President Miloš Zeman, was held on 26 and 27 January 2018.
The 2018 Czech presidential election debates were a series of debates held for the Czech presidential election, 2018. The incumbent president and front-runner Miloš Zeman declined to participate in debates for the first round. Zeman agreed to participate in debates against Jiří Drahoš for the second round.
František Gregor Emmert was a composer of classical and incidental music from the Czech Republic.
