New Czech national film museum to open in Prague in December

Prague, Czech Republic – After more than four years in the making, the Czech Republic’s first permanent national film museum dedicated to cinema will open its doors in Prague in December, right on time to take part to the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia. The NaFilM museum will be located in Mozarteum, on Jungmannova street in the city centre.

The brainchild of Charles University cinema students, NaFilM was founded a couple of years ago but had no permanent exhibition ground until now. Its exhibitions were held in other venues and museums across the Czech capital, including the Museum Montanelli and the Chicago Palace in Prague 1.

“Why doesn’t Czech cinema have its own museum? Hasn’t Czech film heritage been hidden in archives and depositories for too long?”. Considering the country’s strong cinema tradition and bustling film-making scene, the absence of a cinema museum seemed like a careless oddity and critical oversight.

Prague film museum NaFilM wants to rectify this error. Designed in constant “dialogue with theorists, experts and curators to work on the concept of a National Film Museum for the past two years”, the new cultural institution aims to answer those long-overdue questions and give the Czech Republic the cinema museum it deserves, in order to “examine, re-evaluate and publicly present the importance of the Czech Republic’s national film heritage, not only to the Czech people, but also to visitors from all around the world”.

The goal is to introduce the Czech film industry and history to a wide variety of visitors, from children to tourists and cinema professionals, shedding some light in an interactive and educational manner on the main technical aspects of filmmaking and provide an extensive overview of modern cinema history. After several months of scouting for a new location, the NaFilM crew, led by the trio Adéla Mrázová, Terezie Křížkovská and Jakub Jiřiště, recently announced they had found a permanent venue, thus bringing their project to a whole new level.

Earlier this year, NaFilM also organized, in cooperation with the Summer Film School, the first edition of the International Industry program dedicated to film and audiovisual education and hands-on training.

You can support this exciting endeavor here.