Petr Václav: Last News

The Czech composer who inspired Mozart is the subject of Il Boemo, a handsome period biopic that premiered in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Written and directed by Petr Vaclav (Marian), it’s an entertaining insight into Josef Mysliveček’s music and his hedonistic lifestyle, with an operatic running time of 140 minutes. While the film is mostly in Italian, it’s the Czech entry for the International Feature race at the Academy Awards and should attract an audience of mature music lovers.

Guy Lodge Film Critic At the height of his career, Czech-born composer Josef Mysliveček was the most prolific and sought-after figure in Italian opera, bound for immortal celebrity. Nearly three centuries later, his name isn’t forgotten to classical music scholars, but neither does it have anything approaching household status; the facts and records of his personal life, meanwhile, have largely been lost to history. Via a blend of free narrative speculation and exacting musical presentation, Petr Vaclav’s stately, sumptuous biopic “Il Boemo” seeks to restore a degree of iconic status to a talent latterly overshadowed by relative 18th-century contemporaries, albeit not with much swagger or modernity of its own: This is costume drama of a traditional, ornately brocaded stripe, a classical music lesson for classicists.

Liza Foreman Making its world premiere in the main competition at the San Sebastián Festival on Sept. 19, “Il Boemo,” the story of a forgotten Czech composer who rose to fame in the second half of the 18th century, has taken the award-winning filmmaker Petr Václav more than a decade to complete.  Known as Il Boemo, Josef Mysliveček’s fame was short-lived.  He died before reaching the age of 44, after a whirlwind career composing music for Italian courts and theaters.  But Václav, together with his DPs, Diego Romero and Suarez Llanos, costume designer Andrea Cavalletto, and a slew of top operatic singers, has created an action-packed period piece, celebrating his tumultuous life, operatic drama, and the aesthetic beauty of the era. 

Liza Foreman He died alone and abandoned, and today few people know his name, but in the second half of the 18th century Josef Mysliveček (1737-1781), the son of a Czech miller, broke family ties, and left Prague for Venice to become one of the go-to composers of opera of his time. The award-winning Czech director Petr Václav (“The Way Out”) has created a sumptuous period piece, rich in costume and the sounds of live music recorded for the film by the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704. Not to mention performances by real-life opera stars. Soloists from the music world include French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, Hungarian soprano Emöke Baráth, Italian soprano Raffaella Milanesi, Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, and opera singers Juan Sancho, Krystian Adam, and Sophie Harmsen.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Loco Films has acquired international sales rights to Petr Václav’s buzzed-about film “Il Boemo” which is world premiering in the official selection at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The epic period movie sheds light on the extraordinary life of Josef Myslivecek, one of the most prolific opera composers in 18th century Italy who inspired Mozart and became his friend. Speaking of the film, Václav’ said he “did everything I could in order to understand the daily life of Josef Mislivecek, his work, his social interactions, his feelings and opinions he could have had.”

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSebastian Lelio’s “Wonder,” starring “Black Widow’s” Florence Pugh, “Winter Boy” with Juliette Binoche and directors Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl will compete in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world.In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics. Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.The 12 competition titles announced on Tuesday by San Sebastian join its four Spanish contenders, unveiled last month.A brief breakdown on the new competition entries:San Sebastian Main Competition: Newly Announced Titles“Il Boemo,” (Petr Václav, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia)The passions and ambitions, breakthrough and tragic fall from grace of Czech opera composer, Josef Mysliveček,a mentor to Mozart.