I’ve posted about this on my personal page, but thought I’d do a quick write up here as well. I’m just back from an impromptu trip to the Czech Republic this weekend, to the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. I went basically because my favourite actor, one who’s been the inspiration for many a main character, announced on Twitter that the new series he’s in for HBO Europe was doing a sneak preview at the festival. Just happens that this show’s premise, which I’d known about for ages as the actor had tweeted about it before and I’d read articles about it, was part of the inspiration for the project I’m about halfway through writing right now.

I’ve wanted to go to the festival for years, ever since I lived in Prague and first found out about it, back in 2012, 2013, but usually I remember about it just as it’s too late to go, so I was doubly excited to go.

Karlovy Vary is a lovely place, although a bit hard-going for someone with a bad back like me, and in 30 degree heat. I kind of overdid it on the first day, choosing to walk up the hillside (mountainside?) to the hotel rather than get a taxi from the station, and I suffered for it the next morning. I spent most of Friday in bed, thinking I was going to die, not that I’m overdramatic or anything.

The other slight downside was, when I arrived and went to check the box office, I was told the one remaining screening of the show was sold out, and the only chance I stood of getting in was to see if there were any last minute returns, which went on sale fifteen minutes before the show started.

I’m not obsessive or anything, but I basically staked out the last minute booking office, waiting for it to hit quarter to seven. About half six though, a guy wandered up asking the people in the queue if they wanted a spare ticket he had, and I heard the name of the show. Never jumped up and run over to someone so fast in my life! So, thanks to a stranger, I got my ticket, jumped in a taxi and headed up the hill to the Hotel Pupp. I had seen a load of pictures of this place on a Facebook page I follow, History of Cafes and Restaurants in Czechoslovakia , which seems to be run by someone based in Karlovy Vary, so it was exciting to see it up close. A lot of ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ vibes from the place.

KV itself is a spa town, known as Carlsbad in German, but it actually felt a lot like Paris to me in places, with some leafy boulevards and pretty buildings. Some pretty awful, concrete ones from the 20th century too, like the Hotel Thermal, where the festival has its sort of epicentre. Apparently it’s pretty bad inside and in serious need of renovation, though all I saw was the lobby, really, and the outside.

There was an amazing atmosphere around the town with the festival going on, more so than I’ve seen when I’ve been in Glasgow when the film festival’s on. Practically everyone you passed had either a t-shirt or bag with the festival logo on. Couldn’t help buying one of the messenger bags myself, as it was a weird little thing I’d always wanted after seeing someone with one from a previous festival once in Prague. I spent a lot of time actually sitting outside the Thermal, watching one of their video screens where they showed interviews with visiting directors and previews of some of their films. To be honest, sitting around was my main activity, as it was too hot to do much else!

As for the TV show itself, it’s called, in English, ‘The Sleepers’, or ‘Bez Vědomi’ in Czech, and is set partly in 1977 and partly in 1989, just before the Velvet Revolution. It’s a spy thriller, scheduled to be broadcast this November, and HBO were giving a preview of the first two episodes at this screening. It was actually quite funny, as several people obviously didn’t know this and actually got up to leave after the first one rolled its credits. But anyway… The first episode, as you’d expect, was a bit slow in getting started, but was having to introduce both a large cast of characters and also the situation and history / background in Czechoslovakia at the time for a non-Czech audience. They did this pretty well, though I found it hard to judge as I have a fair bit of knowledge of that period and so I’m not sure how someone who’d never heard of likes of Vaclav Havel or Charter 77 would keep up with it, or if you’d even need to know about those things to still enjoy it. My guess would be no. I think it’ll stand up on its own. Once the plot gets moving though it actually does become quite engrossing, and the only annoying thing I’m left with now is that I have to wait until November to see the next episode. I think it’s going onto the HBO streaming service in the US, judging from an interview with the director, but I’m not sure about the UK. We seem to be the only country with no dedicated HBO service, and have to rely on Sky Atlantic or Sky in general buying up HBO content if we want to see it.

The really good thing to come out of it though is that, as I said, when I first read interviews with the actor I like, and heard about this project, it sparked off an idea which I started to write, initially just to keep myself occupied while I let my other book sit for a while in between edits, and which is now over 100,000 words long. It had been a bit stuck for a while though, basically because I had added a lot of information, changed a few characters etc and I was a bit overwhelmed by the work I needed to do to get it back on track. I was hoping that both visiting the Czech Republic again and going to see this show would rekindle my enthusiasm for the project, and it has. Going to ČR always feels like going home to me, and for some reason I find it much easier to write either when I’m there or when I’ve recently been there. The WIP is a fantasy, though very low fantasy and set in a vaguely 1940s-ish setting, based very heavily on Czech history in the same sort of way ASOIAF is based on the War of the Roses. The difficulty is ignoring the temptation to add new storylines and characters based on ideas sparked by this last visit, as there is enough to complicate this book as is!

It’s funny, but no matter what tangents I go off on, I always end up coming back to the Czech Republic, figuratively speaking, and especially in my writing. Projects set in Prague and the likes just seem to flow so much better than even those I set in Scotland. I have often thought of that actor I mentioned as my muse, but maybe it’s the country itself. Either way, I’m looking forward to going back to Prague in December, both to see my favourite city again, and also because hopefully by then, the show will be out on DVD!