For me, it is a habit to spent beginning of the summer holidays in Karlovy Vary. It is not because of local renowned spa but of the international film festival. It is an extraordinary event for its selection of movies and for the atmosphere it brings to an otherwise calm city. In my blog I will try to bring some of the festival atmosphere.
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Petr Doležel, U.S. Embassy Prague

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Blog

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Discussion at the American Center: Blogs vs. Mainstream Media in the 21st Century

January 28, 2008 - Can blogs really be an alternative to established media? What role can blogs play in countries where free media doesn’t exist? What has been the evolution of blogging in the Czech Republic? How are blogs deployed at Czech news servers? Under what circumstances should public figures blog? Are bloggers responsible for the accuracy and impact of their reports? These and other questions were discussed by: Director of online magazine Transitions Online (TOL) Jeremy Druker, Czech journalist Miloš Čermák and Chief editor of major Czech news server idnes.cz Michal Hanák.

Geocachingová hra U.S. Army 1945 Rozhovor s geocacherem Václavem Kohoutem o speciální sérii cachí připomínajících osvobození západních Čech americkou armádou a geocachingu obecně.

President Obama said U.S. forces are taking risks to minimize Afghan civilian casualties, describing it as “a burden we’re willing to bear.”

President Obama said U.S. forces are taking risks to minimize Afghan civilian casualties, describing it as “a burden we’re willing to bear.”

Convoy of Liberty 2010

100 Anglo-American Books Offer Inspiration for Czech Filmmakers

May 3 — Cultural Attaché David Gainer awarded prizes to budding Czech filmmakers as part of ARGO Publishing House’s celebration of 100th  title of its “AAA”  series of Anglo-American Authors. The award ceremony on April 29 at the Municipal Library in Prague culminated several months of literary events based around these 100 important books which Argo has translated into Czech. Young Czech students from FAMU created 3-minute films based on one of the 100 titles.

Several filmmakers drew their inspiration from books by Cormac McCarthy - the most frequently published author of the AAA Series. His book “The Road” is the best selling title of the entire edition, along with Jack Kerouac’s classic “On the Road,” which opened the series fifteen years ago. 

The AAA edition is a major cultural project featuring a total of 58 authors:  American (36 writers with 60 book titles), British (15 writers with 27 books), Canadian (5 writers with 10 books) and Australian (2 writers with 3 book titles). On the Czech literary scene, Argo’s  AAA series represents a unique selection of authors and genres in quality Czech translations and with inspirational graphic layout. 

The U.S. Embassy which helped launch the project fifteen years ago, wishes the series many more titles as well as avid readers for the future!   

More on the series on www.edice-aaa.cz and http://www.argo.cz/.

65th Anniversary of Liberation of West Bohemia
May 10 — For this year’s WWII commemoration ceremonies around the country, soldiers of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division joined Embassy staff to honor American soldiers and all those who died in liberating Czechoslovakia 65 years ago. Among the infantrymen of the 1st Division was SGT Clancey Henderson, currently stationed in Basra, Iraq, who won the U.S. Army’s Best Soldier (Warrior) Competition of 2009.
During the final weeks of World War II, the task of freeing the western portion of Czechoslovakia fell to the soldiers of the American Third Army, led by General George S. Patton, Jr. American forces was ordered to halt at the Karlovy Vary - Plzen - Ceska Budejovice line. Altogether the Third Army liberated 3,485 square miles of western Czechoslovakia.
Related Information:
The Liberation of Western Czechoslovakia 1945 
Czechs mark anniversary of liberation by American troops in WWII  Silent witness: Raw footage of the Allied liberation of western Bohemia premieres in Prague 
Biography of Sgt. Clancey Henderson 
General George S. Patton, Jr. 
Czech film archives receive rare footage of American troops in Bohemia 
Patton Memorial Pilsen 
Liberation Festival in Pilsen 
U.S. Vehicles in WWII

65th Anniversary of Liberation of West Bohemia

May 10 — For this year’s WWII commemoration ceremonies around the country, soldiers of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division joined Embassy staff to honor American soldiers and all those who died in liberating Czechoslovakia 65 years ago. Among the infantrymen of the 1st Division was SGT Clancey Henderson, currently stationed in Basra, Iraq, who won the U.S. Army’s Best Soldier (Warrior) Competition of 2009.

During the final weeks of World War II, the task of freeing the western portion of Czechoslovakia fell to the soldiers of the American Third Army, led by General George S. Patton, Jr. American forces was ordered to halt at the Karlovy Vary - Plzen - Ceska Budejovice line. Altogether the Third Army liberated 3,485 square miles of western Czechoslovakia.

Related Information: