Kundera's Prague

Milan Kundera y la ciudad de Praga

Milan Kundera i jego Praga

Milan Kunderas Prag

Praga secondo Milan Kundera

Prague selon Kundera

The elusive and enigmatic nature of Prague is captured in Milan Kundera’s cult novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Czech writer explores the philosophical vertigo of the difficult quest for freedom in human existence.

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Inspiring Places

City Country Culture

<p>The elusive and enigmatic nature of Prague is captured in Milan Kundera’s cult novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Czech writer explores the philosophical vertigo of the difficult quest for freedom in human existence.</p>

The elusive and enigmatic nature of Prague is captured in Milan Kundera’s cult novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 

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From its steep peaks to its wild coast, the Pyrenees is a wild land. During a pilgrimage on the way to Compostela, the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho got lost in these mountains. It was then that he entered into a strange pact with the mountain range that he would honour for years to come: he promised if he could write, he would return every year. He then went on to write his best-selling book The Alchemist.

Paulo Coelho, Alchemist of the Pyrenees

Discover the genesis of The Alchemist, the novel by Paulo Coelho.

Warsaw seems to have preserved the medieval architecture of its old town from the ravages of time. Following the destruction caused by the Second World War, certain districts were rebuilt exactly as they were before. Ernst Lubitsch experimented with this reconstruction in Hollywood in 1942 with To Be Or Not To Be, his comic film poking fun at the Nazis.

After the destruction of  World War II, some districts of Warsaw were rebuilt exactly ,brick by brick. Ernst Lubitsch experimented with a reconstruction Warsaw in Hollywood in 1942 in a comic film.

Ernst Lubitsch and the Warsaw Resistance

In the early 1990s, the wilds of Kenya inspired Walt Disney Studios to create one of their most famous productions: The Lion King.

Kenya: Lion King Country

A declaration of love from a New-York filmmaker to a Spanish city. Oviedo in Asturias, northern Spain served as the backdrop for Woody Allen’s comedic exploration of free love: Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

A declaration of love from a New-York filmmaker to a Spanish city. Oviedo in northern Spain served as the backdrop for Woody Allen’s comedic exploration of free love: Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Woody Allen Eroticises Asturias

In the 1950s, Havana was the Babylon of the Caribbean. At night it turned into a paradise for illegal business, hard liquor cocktails and wild parties. The traveler, journalist and occasional spy Graham Greene had already achieved notoriety with his work The Third Man, when he plunged into the turbulent nightlife of the Cuban capital with relish. His novel Our Man in Havana was published just a few weeks before Fidel Castro and his guerrillas came to power.

Journalist and spy Graham Greene plunged into the turbulent nightlife of Havana, the Babylon of the Caribbean

Graham Green's Havana

Vivian Maier was an impatient, perhaps incompetent nanny... but in her time off, she was one of the most talented and prolific photographers of her generation. But she never sold a single photograph, or exhibited her work. Often, she wouldn't even get her pictures developed. It was only by chance that her hidden photographic genius was finally brought to light after her death.

Vivian Maier never exhibited or got paid for her photographs, but after her death rocketed to fame for her work

Vivian Maier's Portraits of New York

Te Ika a Maui, the North Island of New Zealand, is said to have been plucked from the Pacific by the demigod Maui. Writer Witi Ihimaera’s fiction is filled with the myths of the Maori people, with his novels reaching an international audience.

Witi Ihimaera’s fiction is filled with the myths of the Maori people, with his novels reaching an international audience.

New Zealand: The Voice of the Maori

Volver (2006) starring Penelope Cruz is one of Pedro Almodovar’s most personal films. The iconoclastic director returns to his native region of La Mancha to pen a love letter to his mother who had recently died.

Volver - Almodóvar Returns to La Mancha

Volver (2006) starring Penelope Cruz is one of Pedro Almodovar’s most personal films, both a love letter to his mother and his home region of La Mancha.

Writer Marguerite Yourcenar brought ancient Rome to life, “with narrow streets, crowded forums, bricks the color of old flesh.” She wrote of the imagined life of Emperor Hadrian in her novel Memoirs of Hadrian, published in 1951, now thought of as one of her masterpieces.

Writer Marguerite Yourcenar brought ancient Rome to life, “with narrow streets, crowded forums, bricks the color of old flesh”

Rome with Hadrien and Marguerite Yourcenar

At 21 years old, Aurore Dupin visited the Pyrenees where she discovered a love of nature. It was the push she needed to emancipate herself and to become George Sand.

George Sand in the Pyrenees

On the Aegean island of Lesbo a women celebrates love between women for the first time in literature, around the 6th century BC. Sappho revealed a world of ardent desire and heartache through her lyric poetry.

Sappho and Lesbos

French writer Annie Ernaux grew up in Yvetot, a quiet small town in Normandy and studied in the regional capital of Rouen. It was here that she found the raw material for her literary work in novels such as Shame and The Years.

Annie Ernaux's Normandy

French writer Annie Ernaux finds inspiration for her novels from her native Normandy.

Robert Doisneau is famed for his photos of Paris city life. But he also captured the happiness and serenity of life in a part of southwest France that he loved, the Dordogne.

Robert Doisneau in the Dordogne

The Soča river valley in Slovenia saw bloody battles during the first world war. Witness to this violence was a young Ernest Hemingway whose experiences informed his novel A Farewell to Arms.

Slovenia: Hemingway's Farewell to Arms

In 1880, French writer Jules Verne published The Steam House, inspired by the landscapes and culture of northern India, a country he had never seen, which also portrayed the harsh realities of British colonialism. The novel narrates the duel between a fictional British colonel, Edward Munro, and real life rebel fighter, Nana Sahib.

In 1880, French writer Jules Verne published The Steam House, inspired by the landscapes and culture of northern India as well as the harsh realities of British colonialism. The novel narrates the duel between a fictional British colonel, Edward Munro, and real life rebel fighter, Nana Sahib.

Jules Verne's Extraordinary Indian Journey

Is Perpignan an espionage hotspot? A look at how a famous fictional spy came to be in the Capital of French Catalonia.

James Bond in Perpignan

When Asterix, Goscinny and Uderzo go to Corsica, it requires the cartoonists to go on a study visit to prepare, as they were careful not to upset the Corsicans, who are fiercely proud and notoriously anti-mainlander. The clichés in the comic are legion, but done with a sensitivity and humour.

Turning Corsica into a comic would require sensitivity and humour, but the creators of Asterix pulled it off 

Corsica: Asterix Island

Since the end of the 19th century, Deauville has been an upper class beach resort for France's well-to-do, and it was here that Gabrielle Chanel was inspired to create her characteristic style that freed women from the constraints of corsets, frills and many-layered frocks.

It was here that Gabrielle Chanel was inspired to create her characteristic style

Deauville, the Seaside Town that Inspired Coco Chanel

In the 1920s, Berlin recovered from the horrors of the First World War and began its roaring twenties. Bertolt Brecht, a young Bavarian playwright settled there. Immersed in Berlin's intellectual life, he had a heavily critical eye and wrote pacifist plays for a mainstream audience.

In the 1920s, Bertolt Brecht moved to Berlin where he began to write pacifist plays for a mainstream audience

Berlin, Bertolt Brecht's Urban Jungle

The novel The Remains of the Day charts the death throes of a bucolic, rustic England run by its aristocracy, on the eve of modernity. Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro writes from the perspective of a butler who tours the countryside as he reflects on the estates he has served.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The novel The Remains of the Day charts the death throes of a bucolic, rustic England run by its aristocracy, on the eve of modernity

Tokyo is a city that never sleeps with a nightlife like nowhere else. Photographer Daidō Moriyama has been capturing the city for decades, revealing the seedier side of Tokyo and showing the evolution of Japanese society.

The Seedy Tokyo of Daidō Moriyama

The East End of Paris is where artists and punks hang out and was also the setting for French writer Virginie Despentes acclaimed Vernon Subutex trilogy.

The Punk Paris of Virginie Despentes

Amid Provence’s olive groves and lavender fields stand ancient castles that dominate the landscape. It was in this timeless countryside that the Marquis de Sade wrote his most transgressive works on eroticism and libertinism that shocked 18th century society.

The Provence of the Marquis de Sade

With its ochre beaches and its Gallo-Roman remains, the Languedoc was a place full of inspiration for painter Gustave Courbet. The South of France, which he painted with realism, became for him a vast open-air workshop.

the Languedoc was a place full of inspiration for painter Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet and the Open Horizons of the Languedoc

Once upon a time, there were strange little creatures, somewhere between trolls and hippos, that inhabited a quiet green valley in Finland. The Moomins, created by the writer Tove Jansson, remain in the hearts of people the world over as an ode to family and childhood.

Tove Jansson and the Moomins

In a rural setting just to the north of Paris, Claude Monet made his home and created some of his best-known works, including his famous water lilies.

Giverny: Claude Monet's Water Lilies

Northwest of Paris, behind wheat fields and windswept plains, is the picturesque village of Auvers-sur-Oise, which depends on agriculture and tourism. At the end of the 19th century the painter Vincent van Gogh came to the village and spent the last few weeks before his death there. Despite his anguish, he created numerous works here in which he immortalised the nature of the village.

At the end of the 19th century, Vincent van Gogh spent the last few weeks of his life at this village

Auvers-sur-Oise: Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Fields

The chain of the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain, was a stunning backdrop for writer and poet Edmond Rostand. He visited the area throughout his life. It's here that he got his inspiration for his poetry collection Les Musardises, the work that heralded a series of successes.

The chain of the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain, was a stunning backdrop for writer and poet Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand in the Pyrenees

At the beginning of the 20th century, five-year-old Albert Cohen arrived in Marseille. His family had fled a pogrom in Corfu, and France became his new home. The future writer spent much of his youth in the city. Cohen's autobiographical works, such as “My Mother's Book”, often talk of his childhood experiences of anti-Semitism, but the Mediterranean is also ubiquitous, taking on a metaphorical maternal role.

At the start of the 20th century, Albert Cohen arrived in Marseille. His family had fled a pogrom in Corfu

Albert Cohen's Escape to Marseille

South of the Loire estuary, Pornic has everything to offer: beautiful summer walks on its beaches, its port, and its castle. In the 19th century, the painter Auguste Renoir came to the town to rest, and it was here that he reconnected with the impressionist painting of his early career.

It was at Pornic that Auguste Renoir reconnected with the impressionist painting of his early career

Renoir's Brittany

In the southwest of France, Pyrenees make a masterful setting appropriate for a literary giant. Victor Hugo was enchanted by them. In 1843, the writer traveled to the region with his mistress Juliette Drouet. Between the immensity of the ocean and the drama of the peaks, Victor Hugo was enchanted by the Pyrenees.

Between the immensity of the ocean and the drama of the peaks, Victor Hugo was enchanted by the Pyrenees

Victor Hugo: The Revelation of the Pyrenees

Albert Uderzo was one of the creators of Asterix, and spent part of World War II in Brittany. These Breton landscapes have become, under his pencil, the settings for one of the most famous comics in the world.

These Breton landscapes have become, under his pencil, the settings for one of the most famous comics in the world

Asterix's Brittany

The landscapes of Provence are integral to Paul Cézanne. It's here the artist gives himself over to his art, body and soul. He tirelessly strove to capture the essence and nuances of these beautiful landscapes. This commitment to his craft enabled Cézanne to revolutionise painting.

The landscapes of Provence are integral to Paul Cézanne and his art.

Cézanne, Master of Provence

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Tempelhof, Berlin’s disused airport close to the city centre has been housing refugees in a welcome centre since 2015. A focus on residents’ daily lives of waiting for applications to be processed and for dreams to become reality.

Berlin Tempelhof

Tempelhof, Berlin’s disused airport close to the city centre has been housing refugees in a welcome centre since 2015. A focus on residents’ daily lives of waiting for applications to be processed and for dreams to be made reality.

Field of Dreams

As a show of solidarity, Europe is displaying the colours of Ukraine, a country whose desire for democracy and freedom is perceived as a danger by Vladimir Putin's Russia. The pursuit of freedom is the subject of this episode of Twist. A desire shared by artists from all over the world.

The Pursuit of Freedom

The pursuit of freedom is the subject of this episode of Twist. A desire shared by artists from all over the world.

Twist

Since 1945 the democracies of Europe have lived in peace. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shattered our ideas of peace. Can we still dream of paradise and a future free of violence? Twist explores these ideas in Berlin and at the Venice Biennale.

Paradise Lost?

Can we still dream of paradise and a future free of violence? Twist explores these ideas in Berlin and at the Venice Biennale.

A look at the tormented life of Clara Haskil (1895-1960), and the dazzling purity and fluidity of her unique sound. Her 10 year professional career was short but disproportionately influential.

The Magic of Interpretation

A look at the tormented life of Clara Haskil (1895-1960)

Clara Haskil

Is Saint Thomas' touching of Jesus' wounds homoerotic? It's certainly in stark contrast to Mary Magdalene, who is told not to touch him and spends the rest of her life living in a cave.

The incredulity of Saint Thomas - Caravaggio

Is Saint Thomas' touching of Jesus' wounds homoerotic?

Look but Don't Touch

Triple Grammy Award Winner Angélique Kidjo was born in Benin. Her musical roots lie between South African music and Jimi Hendrix. Y'akoto has Ghanaian roots and grew up in Hamburg. And Nneka came to Germany aged 18, the daughter of a Nigerian father and German mother. Each woman explores each of her cultures, and uses them as a source for their unique sound.

Angélique Kidjo, Nneka, Y'akoto

Each woman explores each of her cultures, and uses them as a source for their unique sound

Soul Ladies

An author once described this work as a portrait of a woman done by a painter who had forgotten to paint the feet, legs, thighs, stomach, hips, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and head. 

The Origin of the World by Gustave Courbet

In the 1980s, a Japanese television channel financed the restoration of the Sistine Chapel and during that restoration, workers discovered the garish colours and parts of the body that had since been covered up. So which version of the painting is more important to preserve?

Original Sin by Michelangelo

The Sistine Chapel could have looked very different...

Depictions of Venus and nude women in general in art can be considered objectifying and insulting. In 1914, a suffragette even slashed a painting in the National Gallery in protest. But Venus is perhaps more inclusive than she looks at first glance. 

Aphrodite's Child

Depictions of nude women can be objectifying and insulting. But Venus is perhaps more inclusive than she looks

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Drockick Murphys are perhaps the most Irish of American bands. The Bostonians baptize their new album Turn Up That Dial at Hellfest 2022.

Hellfest 2022

Dropkick Murphys

As soon as weightlessness sets in in Earth orbit, everything floats, including bodily fluids. Most astronauts suffer from space sickness – similar to seasickness. You get sick, your eyes go crazy, your face swells up, your legs get longer and after a few sleepless nights (there is no day or night in space) many astronauts get severe back pain. Space researchers are trying to understand how the human body reacts without gravity. Could we need it to live?

Are We Ready for Mars?

What would happen to our bodies if we were all suddenly exposed to weightlessness in space?

42: The Answer to Almost Everything

Punk rock fans note: The Offspring have released a new album: The Californians perform tracks from their latest work at Hellfest, Let the Bad Times Roll.

The Offspring

Brazilian cult band Sepultura is back at Hellfest! They unleash their intense thrash metal in front of a white-hot audience.

Sepultura

What does it mean to be a man in the modern world? Jan goes in search of answers on the streets of Berlin where he meets barbecue grillers, American football players and queer foresters.

Be a Man! - But How?

Streetphilosophy

Known for their incandescent, fiery performances, Swedish black metal band Watain perform their pyrotechnics at Hellfest 2022.

Watain

JInjer are Ukraine’s official ambassadors of metal. Led by the voice and charisma of singer Tatiana Shmayluk, they are bringing their special blend of progressive groove metal to the world.

Jinjer

According to the myth, the Greeks managed to enter the city of Troy by building a wooden horse in which was hidden Greek soldiers. How much of this story is based on actual historical events? And if the story is true, was it even a horse?

The Mystery of the Trojan Horse

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Enclave

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland and is now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began.

ARTE Reportage

Hellfest invites a heavyweight of crossover and thrash metal: Los Angeles natives Suicidal Tendencies make the main stage tremble!

Suicidal Tendencies

The ‘Operation Hotel’ revelations back in 2018 revealed that the Ecuadorian government was spying on Julian Assange, taking refuge in their London embassy at the time. But recent evidence from Spanish authorities suggests that it was in fact American intelligence that sponsored the surveillance. With the USA currently trying to extradite Assange from his London prison to be tried for the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of top-secret documents on WikiLeaks, the global Assange story, murkier than ever, is ongoing.

Global Assange

The WikiLeaks founder is currently fighting extradition to the US where he faces charges that could result in a 175 year prison sentence

With their latest album Soul on Fire, The Last Internationale brings a rebellious spirit to the main stage of Hellfest 2022.

The Last Internationale

Drugs have a bad press. But scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial. The use of ecstasy, LSD and other hallucinogens could soon be authorised for therapeutic purposes. Should we change our relationship to certain drugs?

Are We Doing More Drugs?

Scientists have long been convinced that the use of psychedelics can sometimes be beneficial.

The trio led by Matthew Bellamy is one of the most explosive and creative forces in rock music over the past two decades. There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Tempelhof Sounds 2022

 There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Muse

In Jordan, on the site of one of the world's first settlements, archaeologists have unearthed treasures including a sumptuous pearl necklace for a little girl. An object that provides clues about life in the Neolithic period.

Neolithic Treasures from Jordan

In Jordan, on the site of one of the world's first settlements, archaeologists have unearthed treasures including a sumptuous pearl necklace for a little girl. 

The Mysterious Stone Age Village

Just a few weeks before the release of their new album, The Sick and the Dying… and the Dead! Thrash metal stars Megadeth perform at Hellfest 2022.

Megadeth

Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag have been going strong since the late 1980s. They bring their anthemic sound at Hellfest 2022.

Anti-Flag

The Staatsoper Hamburg’s new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera buffa "Don Pasquale" is directed by David Bösch.The plot of this turbulent comedy turns on the title character and his nemesis sung by Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri and Australian soprano Danielle de Niese respectively.The Philharmonische Staatsorchester Hamburg will be conducted by Matteo Beltrami.

From the Staatsoper Hamburg

David Bösch stages Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera "Don Pasquale".

Gaetano Donizetti: Don Pasquale

Fisherman Darren Kenyon is from Grimsby in north-east England. Like 70% of the people in the area, he voted for Brexit in the hope for a better deal for the fishing sector. But so far nothing has improved for the industry and the wider region. Former Boris Johnson supporters feel cheated.

Fisherman Darren Kenyon is from Grimsby in north-east England. He voted for Brexit in the hope for a better deal for the fishing sector. But so far nothing has improved.

Re: British Fishermen and Brexit

It has its own currency, flag and government. Yet the state of Transnistria is not recognised by the international community. Wedged between Ukraine and Moldova, 450 kilometres long and a few dozen kilometres wide, it claimed independence in 1990.

Transnistria: Back to the USSR

It has its own currency, flag and government. Yet the state of Transnistria is not recognised by the international community.

City Country Culture

Inspiring Places

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Paulo Coelho, Alchemist of the Pyrenees

Ernst Lubitsch and the Warsaw Resistance

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Kenya: Lion King Country

Woody Allen Eroticises Asturias

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Graham Green's Havana

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Vivian Maier's Portraits of New York

City Country Culture

New Zealand: The Voice of the Maori

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City Country Culture

Volver - Almodóvar Returns to La Mancha

Kundera's PragueCity Country Culture

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