In Prague, the film Eye over Prague premiered

Prague - The film documentary Eye over Prague premiered last night at the Lucerna cinema in Prague. It depicts the story of architect Jan Kaplický following his victory in the competition for the construction of the Czech National Library. The film enters theaters today in regular distribution with a relatively high number of 14 copies for a documentary film.
    In addition to director Olga Špátová and producer Eliška Kaplický, friends and colleagues of Kaplický, including Eva Jiřičná and Pavel Bobek, the former director of the National Library Vlastimil Ježek, who came up with the idea for the new building, and several supporters of Kaplický's construction from the public eye, attended the premiere. Former President Václav Havel, who publicly supported the project as one of the few politicians, canceled at the last moment.
    The film Eye over Prague premiered three years after the announcement of the competition results for the library's construction, two years after the project was rejected by politicians, and exactly one year and three months after the death of its author. In four days, Kaplický would have celebrated his 73rd birthday; his life was abruptly ended on January 14, 2009, the same day that he and producer Eliška Kaplický welcomed their daughter.
    After the first screenings, some reviewers stated that the film is not a documentary because it is not objective. However, Špátová never concealed that she liked Kaplický and supported his project. However, her joy over the completed work is not optimal. "The joy will never be as it is when completing a film; we do not have the National Library, and we do not have Jan Kaplický," she said.
    The film about the last two years of Kaplický's life, filled not only with the struggle for a progressive building, begins on March 2, 2007, when Kaplický was announced the winner of the international architectural competition at the Klementinum in Prague with the Future Systems studio.
    "It is a surprise; it may be the most significant moment of my life. I hope that a circle has been closed since I was not accepted to the technical university in Prague in 1955 as an unsatisfactory student. It is an incredible honor to achieve something like this here,” said the visibly moved architect, who has been working in Britain since the late 60s.
    The film chronologically presents the developments around the project, including how radically the opinions of certain participants, especially Prague Mayor Pavel Bém, changed.
    However, the author also captured moments when Kaplický, despite being the unanimous winner of the international competition, had to defend his project alone in front of officials and politicians after President Václav Klaus publicly condemned the proposal. However, according to his wife, until the end of his life, he believed that his building would one day stand in Prague.
    Unlike the former director of the National Library Vlastimil Ježek, the current leadership of the library does not wish for the construction of a new building either; it wants to pursue the path of expanding the depository and renovating the historic Klementinum.