Jerusalem, Oct 25 (CTK special correspondent) – Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman and Israeli State Secretary for Culture Yosef Sharabi yesterday discussed an agreement on film coproduction thanks to which film-makers would be able to ask for subsidies for joint films from the two countries’ national funds.
Herman and Sharabi also spoke about a new cooperation programme in the sphere of education, science and culture for 2016-2019.
Creative industries and artistic education are to be the new topics, Herman said.
“We largely spoke about previous cooperation in culture, which we evaluated as very good,” Herman said.
“A cooperation agreement in the sphere of cinematography is to be prepared for signing at the next meetings of the governments of the Czech Republic and Israel next spring,” Herman has told CTK.
The two countries’ officials are also getting ready for some anniversaries.
“2018 will be the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia, which may provide an interesting platform for an intensive presentation of Israel in the Czech Republic and vice versa,” Herman said.
“We also spoke about 2017, which will be the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967. This primarily offers cooperation between Prague and Jerusalem,” he added.
The Czech Culture Ministry is interested in negotiating a new cooperation programme in view of the extent of the Czech-Israeli cultural exchange. When it comes to the number of its events, it is on an equal footing with the Czech Republic’s closest neighbours, Germany, Poland and Slovakia, Herman said.
The agreement on film coproduction has been drafted since the last joint meeting of the two countries’ governments last November.
The Czech Republic does not have any similar agreement with any other country, the director of the department of international relations of the Culture Ministry, Petr Hnizdo, said.
There is a large interest in it on the part of Israeli creators, he added.
