This four-day festival marks the 90th anniversary of Václav Havel’s birth through film, theater, conversation, a children’s workshop, and gatherings around the table. Look beyond the presidential portrait to meet the artist, friend, and keen observer whose humor and imagination still resonate today.
Václav Havel would have turned 90 on October 5, 2026. Havel 90 Festival marks the occasion with a closer look at his creative world and personal life.
At its heart is a three-day Film Marathon. Intimate portraits of Václav and Olga Havel sit alongside Czechoslovak New Wave satire and Jan Švankmajer’s surrealist films. Works by Havel’s friends and artistic contemporaries explore freedom, conformity, and the absurdities of power, themes central to his own writing. Havel also makes a brief acting appearance, and the marathon closes with his directing debut, Leaving.
Artist Sylva Francová introduces children to Havel and Prague through storytelling and a creative workshop. A live recording of Dissent Lab, the Vaclav Havel Center podcast, explores what it means to stand up to authoritarianism today. The festival culminates on Havel’s birthday with a new production of Unveiling, followed by a discussion of his theatrical legacy and a gathering over goulash inspired by the cookbook Kančí na daňčím.
Get to know Havel through his art, his friends’ memories, and the questions his work continues to raise.
Friday, October 2
5:30 PM | Workshop: Discovering Václav Havel and Prague
A two-hour storytelling and creative workshop for children ages 7–14. Artist and illustrator Sylva Francová introduces children to Havel and Prague through stories, images, and hands-on creative activities.
6:00 PM | Film: Citizen Havel
Preceded by the three-minute archival film Václav Havel’s Address on Jan Palach’s Sacrifice. A drinks reception follows the main feature to celebrate the festival’s opening.
8:40 PM | Film: A Report on the Party and the Guests
Saturday, October 3
4:30 PM | Film: Every Young Man
6:30 PM | Film: Havel’s Audience with History
Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker and producer Michael Wolkowitz.
8:30 PM | Film: The Firemen’s Ball
Sunday, October 4
11:00 AM | Podcast: Dissent Lab with Sergei Lebedev
A live recording of the Vaclav Havel Center podcast with Russian writer and journalist Sergei Lebedev, exploring historical memory, authoritarianism, and personal responsibility.
3:00 PM | Film: Jan Švankmajer Shorts Series
Dimensions of Dialogue, Darkness, Light, Darkness, The Garden, and The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia.
5:30 PM | Film: Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me?
Monday, October 5
7:00 PM | Theater: Unveiling
A new English-language production of Havel’s darkly comic one-act play, followed by a discussion of his theatrical legacy and a birthday celebration with goulash inspired by Kančí na daňčím.
Havel 90 Festival is organized by Czech Center New York České centrum New York in collaboration with Václav Havel Center and with support from Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, and Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences, New York Chapter.
