Visegrad Cinema: Citizen Havel Is Rolling Barrels

Director and writer Jan Novák tells of an early chapter in the life of dissident playwright and former president of the Czech Republic Václev Havel in this documentary. In 1974 Havel needed a job, not for money, but so that the political police could not charge him with vagrancy. His plays had not been performed since the Soviet invasion of 1968, and an individual without a demonstrable source of income risked spending time behind bars. Havel finally found the solution with a job at the Trutnov brewery. He was 38 and spent nearly a whole year pushing barrels of beer. The film shows the atmosphere of the brewery among workers who inspired the play "Audience".

Length 72 minutes.

Directed by Jan Novák and Adam Novák.

With subtitles in English.