Prague Talk

Radio Prague International
  • 4.5 (4)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

A regular interview series hosted by Ian Willoughby

  1. 6H AGO

    “You don’t think, you just do”: Reporter Darja Stomatová on four years of covering Ukraine war

    TV journalist Darja Stomatová has been reporting from Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Last week Stomatová received the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize, perhaps the most prestigious honour in Czech journalism, for her coverage of the conflict. I spoke to the 34-year-old at our studios in Prague.

    21 min

  2. JAN 30

    Radovan Síbrt on Mr. Nobody Against Putin, the Oscar-nominated documentary exposing war propaganda in Russian schools

    Czech interest in this year’s Academy Awards will centre on Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a Danish-Czech production nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category. The film contains footage shot surreptitiously by a teacher, Pavel “Pasha” Talankin, who wanted to expose war propaganda in schools in Russia. Talankin had no choice but to flee his native country before the documentary’s release and is now based here in Czechia. Radovan Síbrt is one of Mr. Nobody Against Putin’s two Czech producers – and I spoke to him just days after it also earned a BAFTA nomination.

    15 min

  3. JAN 16

    “I’m interested in the female experience”: Photographer Bet Orten on art, motherhood and moving on from fashion

    Bet Orten studied fashion photography in London after a stint as an assistant to a well-known celebrity photographer in New York. But for the last decade and a half Orten, whose Instagram profile describes her as a “female photographer taking pictures of other females”, has been living here in her native Prague. We spoke at our studios ahead of an exhibition she has coming up in the Czech capital this spring.

    23 min

  4. JAN 9

    “Threats alone are disaster for NATO”: Michal Smetana on Trump, Greenland and future of European security

    The Trump administration’s refusal to rule out taking the Danish territory of Greenland by force has caused shockwaves in Europe, with the threat to a fellow NATO member raising grave questions about the alliance’s future. If NATO does cease to exist in its current form, what will that mean in practical terms for European countries such as Czechia? I discussed that and related questions with Michal Smetana, a security expert at Prague’s Charles University.

    22 min

  5. JAN 2

    Historian Cynthia Paces on when Prague really was heart of Europe – and her own family’s close ties to city

    Cynthia Paces is the author of Prague: The Heart of Europe, which traces the city’s fascinating history from the 10th century to the modern era. The US historian also has strong personal ties to the city, from which the Pačes family were forced to flee after the 1948 Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia.

    26 min

  6. 12/27/2025

    Markéta Irglová on reviving The Swell Season with Glen Hansard, 20 years of Falling Slowly, life in Iceland – and musicals ambitions

    Musician Markéta Irglová has had a busy 2025, releasing a new album and touring with Glen Hansard under the name The Swell Season, a joint project that had been dormant for some years. The Czech-Irish pairing famously won an Oscar in 2007 for their song Falling Slowly. First recorded in a studio near Prague, it reached international audiences in Once, as well as a successful musical based on the hit low-budget film. After a full-band tour with The Swell Season earlier in the year, Irglová and Hansard returned to Czechia for a short series of intimate shows in late November. And it was then that I caught up with the former, who lives in Iceland, for a wide-ranging interview.

    27 min

  7. 12/19/2025

    Colin Stuart on helping shape ‘90s Czech indie music – and much-loved Colorfactory

    Colin Stuart has been a fixture on the Prague music scene since the early 1990s, when he produced the Ecstasy of St. Theresa and several other local bands. He also worked with musicians from those groups on Colorfactory, a project that reached large audiences when the music was used in the era-defining film Šeptej (Whisper). I spoke to Stuart at his studio just around the corner from Prague’s Dancing Building.

    21 min

  8. 12/05/2025

    Katherine Kastner on fascinating Czech family history – and building one of Prague’s top independent galleries

    US-born Katherine Kastner is co-owner of Hunt Kastner, an independent Prague gallery that has helped develop the international careers of many Czech artists. Kastner herself has deep Czech roots: Her grandmother was related to Karel and Josef Čapek and in the 1980s she regularly visited Prague, where she was introduced to the local art scene through relatives, and notable artists, Pavel Brázda and Věra Nováková. I spoke to Katherine Kastner, who is known to all as Kacha, at our Prague studios.

    21 min
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About

A regular interview series hosted by Ian Willoughby

Information

  • Creator
    Radio Prague International
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    120
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Radio Prague International
  • Show Website
    Prague Talk

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