Czech culture at home: 5 tips for what to stream, eat, and read this weekend, Feb. 5–7, 2021

Award season is well and truly upon us with the Golden Globe nominees announced this week. While there are no Czech representatives in 2021, but a few have been nominated and even won an award over the years. The film Obecná škola (The Elementary School), directed by Jan Svěrák was nominated for one of those awards in 1992. The comedy-drama, made in then Czechoslovakia, the movie is set in 1945-46 and follows a boys school that is so indisciplined that their teacher quits and is replaced by the militant Igor Hnidzo. On top of the Golden Globes nomination, the film was also nominated for an Oscar, and per IMDB, picked up a Pilsen Film Festival Award.

The Elementary School is now on Netflix, it is available with English language subtitles.

This amazing new online exhibition is named after the motto used by Baťa motto "Not possible - does not exist!" and is available to look at across the weekend. The exhibit consists of twenty photos from Zlín photographers showing the various stages of time, compiled by the Tomáš Bata Foundation. The phenomenal photographs can be seen on a dedicated website and you can scroll to make the images black and white or bring them into full color. The timeline goes between the 1920s-1940s with descriptions and details available in either Czech or English. The exhibit is completely free but you can purchase posters and postcards to support the Foundation. You can view the photographs now.

It is cold, wet, and occasionally snowy outdoors, so is there anything better than something hot to eat at this time? Indian by Nature offers a range of tasty meals to warm you up this winter and well into the autumn. Whether it is a chicken vindaloo or something more vegetarian friendly on their dedicated vegetarian menu, they have a number of options to suit all diners. At this time under COVID restrictions, the restaurants aren't able to open to guests but you can order via the Wolt app or via Dáme jídlo. The full menu is available on the Indian by Nature website; enjoy!

The award-winning novel Gerta by Czech author Kateřina Tučková is set in 1945 and looks at how the allied forces liberate Nazi-occupied Brno, following the story of Gerta Schnirch, daughter of a Czech mother and a German father aligned with Hitler, She has been branded an enemy of the state, caught in the changing tides of a war that shattered her family—and her innocence—Gerta must obey the official order: she is to be expelled from Czechoslovakia. The book is the first by Tučková to be translated into English and is available to order now. The author will be on the latest Czech Next Wave podcast with Ian Willoughby so fans of her work will want to tune in! You can purchase the book Gerta from most local bookstores.

A relative newcomer to the podcasting world, Meet Brno sets out to make life easier for newcomers to the area, with seven episodes released so far exploring things such as volunteering in the area and giving tips on things to do when arriving in Brno. Episodes are between 11-30 minutes so listening is pretty easy and there is a lot to learn through each episode. It was created by the Brno For You organization. You can listen across a variety of platforms such as Spotify, Google Podcast, or Anchor FM. So whether you are new to Brno, want to explore more of the area, or plan to move in the future, this is a nice exploration of how to do things and what to do when you arrive!