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The 27th Made in Prague Festival presents the UK premiere of Kapr Code, a docu-opera featuring turbulent political, personal and creative transformation of controversial composer Jan Kapr, ‘Czech John Cage'.
A documentary opera featuring the contradictory life of the ‘Czech John Cage‘, progressive composer and prominent communist Jan Kapr (1914-88), a Stalin award laureate, later banned in socialist Czechoslovakia. The film explores the nature of memory and narration, using Kapr’s personal, never-before-seen amateur films illustrating his humour, inner struggles and desire to leave traces for eternity while Kapr’s music with libretto provided by Jiri Adamek illustrates the pivotal moments of his life as it moves inexorably towards his fate. Combining deep research into Kapr’s archive with a humorous libretto and playful editing this is an unusual celebration of creativity that shakes up our idea of biography.
World premiere Visions du Réel 2022
The Best Czech Film at the 2022 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
The Best Documentary Czech Film Critics‘ Awards 2022
Part of the 27th Made in Prague Festival, 3 Nov – 10 December 2023 organized by the Czech Centre London.