The Art of Dissent | Film screening & pre-film talk with Director James Le Sueur and Timothy Garton Ash
Award-winning film, The Art of Dissent celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary’s main protagonists – Václav Havel, band singer Marta Kubišová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) – became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into a hybrid network that eventually toppled the totalitarian regime in 1989. The movie combines rare archival footage with interviews with key dissidents filmed over three years in the Czech Republic, England, and the United States. The film speaks to our contemporary political malaise by underscoring the resolve and courage of dissidents who strove to rebuild a battered civil society with artistry, tolerance, and truth.

Event timings:
4.30pm- Pre-film talk with Film Director, James Le Sueur and Professor Timothy Garton Ash
5.00pm – 6.45pm – Film showing (1.45 hours)
Date: 31 October 2022, 16:30
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Investcorp Auditorium
Speakers: Professor Timothy Garton Ash (University of Oxford), Professor James Le Sueur (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Organising department: St Antony's College
Organiser contact email address: communications@sant.ox.ac.uk
Part of: St Antony's Looks at the World
Booking required?: Recommended
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-art-of-dissent-film-screening-pre-film-talk-tickets-429627596707?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&af
Cost: Free event
Audience: Public
Editors: Anna Dominey, Jane Hunt