The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (MFA) and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Oslo in cooperation with the University of the Arctic in Tromsø (UiT), Tromsø Sámi House (Romssa sámi viessu), Tromsø Municipal Library (Tromsø Bibliotek), Cinematheque (Verdensteatret/Cinemateket), the Bastard Bar, the Embassy of Sweden in Oslo, the Swedish Institute (Svenska Institutet), the Swedish Film Institute (Svenska Filminstitutet), FAMU, Czech Television, film producers SMK, Kuli film, Cinémotif Films and TenThousandImages, and the music group Už jsme doma organise the 6th edition of the Arctic Festival (AF), which is taking place in Tromsø, Norway, on 19-21 September 2024. The event is supported by the EEA and Norway Grants.
The AF 2024 programme (see attachment) traditionally consists of a sci-art conference and a cultural programme (film festival, exhibitions, concerts, etc.). A summary information and sub-programmes are continuously updated on the AF website www.arktickyfestival.cz. A FB page https://www.facebook.com/arktickyfestival for invitations to various AF events will be updated.
The AF will be officially opened on Thursday, 19 September at 10.30 at UiT’s Great Auditorium with the vernissage of the exhibition “Julius Payer: The North Pole Expedition”. H. E. David Červenka, Czech Ambassador to Norway, will open the subsequent Sci-art Conference with welcoming remarks. Professor Josef Elster (Centre for Polar Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice), will deliver a lecture on the development of low-temperature algal bioprospection and will shortly introduce the Czech Arctic Research “Josef Svoboda Station” in Svalbard. Dr Kim Holmén (Norwegian Polar Institute) will highlight the rapid changes in Svalbard’s natural environment due to climate change. Zdeněk Lyčka (MFA) will talk about the Czech-Austrian polar explorer, mountaineer and prominent painter Julius Payer. Lukáš Košner (UiT) will give a lecture about the efforts of Northern Norway’s historical minorities to reclaim their languages, Martin Hajman (UiT) will introduce the audience to an arctic-alpine plant species from the Czech mountains to Svalbard and Greenland. Ann Eileen Lennert (UiT) will deliver a lecture on kelp as the forests beneath the sea and Lauri Laanisto (Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu) will speak on Estonian polar research. Zdeněk Lyčka (MFA) will conclude the conference with a paper on the philosophy and history of the Arctic Festival.
The cultural programme will consist of film screenings, two exhibition openings and a concert of a punk-rock band Už jsme doma (UJD).
The Arctic Film Festival will open on 19 September at 16.00 at the Cinemateket biograph with a collection of short films by FAMU Nordic graduates – “Northerners at FAMU” (SE/IS/DK/FI/NO/CZ 2004–2024, 110 min.) and will continue on 20 September from 16.30 to 21.00 with the Swedish film “Historjá – Stitches for Sápmi” (SE 2022, 88 min.), the first Czech-Greenlandic co-production “The Price of a Story” (CZ/GL 2024, 17 min.), the documentary by Vladimír Šimek and Czech Television “Ice Adventure” (CZ 2024, 53 min.) and the Czech documentary “The Visitors” (CZ 2022, 83 min.).
The Municipal Library will host the exhibition “The Dog with a Bun – Greenlandic fairy tales and legends / Illustrations by Martin Velíšek” (opening on 19 September at 15.00) and the Sámi House will show the exhibition “Just Knud Qvigstad: Sámi Fairy Tales and Legends / Illustrations by Luboš Drtina” (opening on 20 September at 15.00). Both exhibitions will be on display in Tromsø until 20 October 2024, and then they will be shown in other locations in northern Norway and in Denmark.
The AF programme will be closed by a punk-rock concert by the band UJD at the Bastard Bar music club on 21 September 2024. Tickets.
13 August 2024
Zdeněk Lyčka, founder of the Arctic Festival and co-organizer of all its previous editions
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ARCTIC FESTIVAL 2024, TROMSØ – Programme
Thursday 19 September
10.30 UiT (Great Audit.) Arctic Festival 2024 opening
10.50–13.00 UiT (Great Audit.) Sci-Art Conference
15.00 Tromsø City Library “Velíšek” Exhibition Opening (until 20 Oct.)
16.00 Cinemateket Arctic Film Festival opening (FAMU)
Friday 20 September
15.00 Romssa sámi viessu “Sámi/Drtina” Exhibition opening (until 20 Oct.)
16.30–21.00 Cinemateket Arctic Film Festival
Saturday 21 September
22.00 Bastard Bar Concert by UJD