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Czech viewers will finally get the chance to see Anthropoid at the end of September, when the much-anticipated movie hits cinemas around the country. Exploring the daring operation to assassinate Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942, the film was directed and co-written by Englishman Sean Ellis. However, Anthropoid had considerable Czech input, including from Zdeněk Špitálník of Prague’s Military History Institute, who served as historical adviser on the movie. When we met at his office, I asked the young historian when he had first

Earlier this year the Czech government made international news with its plan to promote “Czechia” as a snappy alternative to the cumbersome “the Czech Republic”. So far how has successful has this rebranding exercise actually been? I discussed that question and more with Professor Petr Pavlínek, a geographer who teaches at Charles University and at the University of Nebraska. He’s a member of the group Initiative Czechia, which began by advocating for the Czech-language name Česko before focusing on its English equivalent. I first asked Professor

Though the next Czech presidential elections don’t take place until the start of 2018, Marek Hilšer has already thrown his hat into the ring. A doctor by profession, the 40-year-old is perhaps best known for his eye-catching civic activism, such as when – protesting Russia’s treatment of Ukraine – he and a colleague stripped to the waist and held up NATO and EU flags at the Office of the Government. When we spoke I asked Hilšer to tell me a little about his background.

Struck as a PhD student by the philosophical language used by Václav Havel in his famous 1990 speech to the US Congress, Aviezer Tucker went on to write The Philosophy and Politics of Czech Dissidence from Patočka to Havel. More recently Tucker, whose wife is Czech, has turned his attention to what really happened when communism fell at the end of the 1980s. We discussed his latest book The Legacies of Totalitarianism – and his call for a new kind of dissident today – when the Israeli-born political philosopher visited our studios recently. But

Over 100 Czech athletes are set to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, an event that for some will no doubt be the pinnacle of an entire lifetime in sport. But what would be a satisfactory medals haul from the perspective of the Czech Olympic Committee? And why hasn’t the team adopted the name Czechia? I discussed those issues and more with COC chief Jiří Kejval, himself a former international rower. But I first asked Mr. Kejval for his reaction to tennis stars Tomáš Berdych and Karolína Plíšková pulling out of the Olympics, citing

For the last decade the independent label Starcastic has been releasing much of the best Czech and Slovak alternative music, including in recent times from the likes of Please the Trees, Bonus and Mayen. The man behind the label is Slovak-born Marek Čulen, a well-known figure on the Prague music scene. Ahead of events celebrating Starcastic’s 10th anniversary, I asked Čulen what had led him to establish the label back in the mid-2000s.

Královské (Royal) Cookie is a shop on Prague’s Vinohradská St. with a number of regal connections. The district has traditionally been known as Royal Vinohrady and, says UK-born co-owner Steve Gray, there is also a link between the business and the Queen of England. Gray runs Královské Cookie – whose flagship huge cookies are decorated according to customers’ requests – with his Czech boyfriend Petr, whom he met in London. When we spoke recently at the cosy shop, the Englishman filled me in on its origins.

To regular visitors to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, interpreter Helena Koutná is an extremely familiar face. Koutná has been appearing on stage alongside some of the world’s biggest movie stars at the festival for two decades now and is known for her excellent work and ability to cope smoothly with any situation. When we caught up just prior to this year’s KVIFF, I asked what had initially drawn her to interpreting.

Grzegorz Ekiert is director of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. An expert on democratisation, the Polish-born political scientist recently gave a talk at Prague’s Václav Havel Library exploring the unraveling of the pro-European consensus in the Visegrad states and the major challenges facing the region. Our conversation – which took place prior to the UK’s seismic Brexit vote – began with the issue of how ready Central and Eastern European states were for democracy when communism collapsed.

Gulag.online is a freshly-launched interactive virtual museum of the infamous Soviet system of labour camps. The unique project comes from the group Gulag.cz, which documented the remains of camps in remotest Siberia and converted the results into maps and a 3D camp tour that are accompanied by the testimonies of Czechoslovak survivors. Gulag.cz is headed by Štěpán Černoušek, who worked at Radio Prague’s Russian section in the early 2000s. When we met, I asked Černoušek where his interest in all things Russian had come from.