- Director
Marek Jícha ... - Producer
Marek Jícha - Co Producer
Thomas Hasler - Production company
LAMPA Film Production ... - Director of photography
Marek Jícha - Editor
Marek Jícha - IDF Events
2008 East Silver - WWW
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/iv...
The Immortal Balladeer of Prague
Písničkář, který nezemřel, Czech Republic, USA, 2007, 62 min, Digi Beta, Music, Portrait
This 62-minute documentary captures the search by the Czech-American journalist, Thomas Hasler from
Baltimore, for his famous father Karel Hašler, the legend of Czech music, theatre and cinema. In 2007,
Thomas visits the Czech Republic to trace the life of the father he never met. The Czech writer Arnost
Lustig guides him, while finishing a story about Karel Hašler’s death in the Mauthausen concentration
camp. Karel Hašler was an artist of the highest order. For over ten years, he was a member of Prague’s
National Theatre. He also managed the Havel family-owned Lucerna Cabaret, wrote plays, operettas and
acted in vaudeville and variety shows. His seditious songs incited the Czechs to rebel against Austria-
Hungary’s imperial rule, and, after the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic, Hašler’s songs targeted those
who betrayed the democratic ideal. With the advent of the talkies, Hašler became a prominent film music
composer, director, screenwriter and actor. After the 1939 German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia,
Karel Hašler, a member of the underground, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, and brutally murdered
in a concentration camp. The SS poured ice-cold water over him and left him outside in December frost
to freeze into an ice statue. Through Hašler’s songs, archival footage and rare witnesses, the documentary
reveals Hašler to be a grand persona of 20th century Czech history. By murdering Karel Hašler, the German
Nazis killed Czech culture for the six years of the occupation. By filming Hašler’s life and work, the
documentary attempts to resurrect the immortal balladeer.
Baltimore, for his famous father Karel Hašler, the legend of Czech music, theatre and cinema. In 2007,
Thomas visits the Czech Republic to trace the life of the father he never met. The Czech writer Arnost
Lustig guides him, while finishing a story about Karel Hašler’s death in the Mauthausen concentration
camp. Karel Hašler was an artist of the highest order. For over ten years, he was a member of Prague’s
National Theatre. He also managed the Havel family-owned Lucerna Cabaret, wrote plays, operettas and
acted in vaudeville and variety shows. His seditious songs incited the Czechs to rebel against Austria-
Hungary’s imperial rule, and, after the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic, Hašler’s songs targeted those
who betrayed the democratic ideal. With the advent of the talkies, Hašler became a prominent film music
composer, director, screenwriter and actor. After the 1939 German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia,
Karel Hašler, a member of the underground, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1941, and brutally murdered
in a concentration camp. The SS poured ice-cold water over him and left him outside in December frost
to freeze into an ice statue. Through Hašler’s songs, archival footage and rare witnesses, the documentary
reveals Hašler to be a grand persona of 20th century Czech history. By murdering Karel Hašler, the German
Nazis killed Czech culture for the six years of the occupation. By filming Hašler’s life and work, the
documentary attempts to resurrect the immortal balladeer.
Director:
Josef Lustig, Marek Jícha
Producer:
Marek Jícha
Co Producer:
Thomas Hasler
Director of photography:
Marek Jícha
Screenplay:
Arnost Lustig, Thomas Hasler
Editor:
Marek Jícha
Sound:
Michal Holubec, Jan Slejska
Music:
Karel Hasler
Languages:
Czech, English, Somali, Suahili
Subtitles:
English
LAMPA Film Production
Evropská 674/156
160 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic Haslerproductions Inc. 1410 Mason Street
Baltimore, USA
160 00 Praha 6, Czech Republic Haslerproductions Inc. 1410 Mason Street
Baltimore, USA
Phone:
+1 410 383 0820
43rd IFFKV
