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If asked to picture Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in your mind’s eye, odds are you will conjure up one of two images of the Austrian composer – both of which have Czech rather artistic roots, albeit centuries apart. If not the lead actor from Miloš Forman’s Oscar-winning film Amadeus, the image in your head is likely a posthumous portrait by Jihlava native Barbara Krafft.

The 23rd edition of the annual Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival gets underway on Thursday evening. Over the course of the next five days, the festival will showcase a total of 277 films, including a section dedicated to the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. I spoke to Marek Hovorka, the festival’s director, and asked to tell me more about the opening film, a tribute to the great Czech cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera:

Cross-country skiing is becoming the thing "to do" in the Czech Republic. In the past two or three decades, more Czechs preferred downhill skiing either at home or in one of Europe’s Alpine countries, such as neighbouring Austria. Nowadays, the number of cross-country skiing enthusiasts matches those who prefer to head for the slopes and lifts. Radio Prague’s Vít Pohanka visited one of the country’s popular ski resorts - Vysočina Arena in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands.

Up to 20 centimetres of fresh snow could fall in South Bohemia, Vysočina and north-eastern parts of the Czech Republic on Monday, the Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute has warned. Most of the snow will be in highland areas but it will also be seen in some low-lying parts.

According to a regular four-week forecast issued on Saturday, temperatures in the coming week should hover just above 0 degrees Celsius during the day. While those values will be below average, the following weeks are expected to see average daytime highs for the time of year. Precipitation will also be around average for most of the coming month, forecasters predict.

This year’s edition of the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival gets underway on Thursday. While the country’s top documentary event opens with a film focused on the Czech presidential elections, many international works are also promised – along with a selection of stimulating speakers.

Central Europe abounded in thriving Jewish communities for many centuries. They were frequently a target of official discrimination and had to try very hard to carve out their place in societies that were often hostile to their culture and religion. But there are many examples of peaceful coexistence of the Jewish diaspora in the predominantly Catholic Czechia. One of them can be found in the heart of the Highlands region.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and several other cabinet ministers will visit the Vysočina region on Monday to meet with the locals and discuss pressing problems in the region.

Education Minister Robert Plaga is to meet with the coach of Czech speed-skating champion Martina Sábliková to discuss plans to build a speed-skating rink in the region, while Environment Minister Richard Brabec will debate environmental problems with the local authorities. Agriculture Minister Jiří Milek has a separate program with farmers.

Opposition parties have criticized these trips, accusing the ANO party of preparing the ground for early elections.

This year, Prague, along with Telč and Český Krumlov, celebrates 25 years as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the first edition of our miniseries marking this special anniversary, we visit the town of Telč in the Vysočina region.

The city of Jihlava hides a well-kept secret. Not many people know that one of the best known and admired composers of late 19th century spent the forming years of his life right here. Our reporter Vít Pohanka traveled to the heart of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands to find out more.

The 21st edition of the annual Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival has got underway. The festival opened with a film by Tereza Nvotová called The Lust for Power about the controversial Slovak politician Vladimir Mečiar. The former Slovak prime minister is not the only politician focused on by documentary film makers this year.