My Antonia (1995)

Starring: Elina Löwensohn, Neil Patrick Harris, Eva Marie Saint, Jason Robards, and Czech actor Jan Triska, one of the original signers of Charter 77.

My Antonia is based on the 1918 novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather. It is the third book of her “prairie trilogy” that also includes O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. Cather wrote about the struggles of pioneer families on the Great Plains. My Antonia is about a Czech family who moves to America and settle in Nebraska. The book, considered her best work, is patterned after the life of Cather’s life-long close friend, Anna Pavelka. It was written within the lifetime of it’s hero and has been considered to be very accurate to the way people of the prairie lived The story is similar in many ways to stories of the Czech immigrants to Texas at that time. As a result of stories such as this one, mutual aid fraternal societies flourished. (English audio. PG)

Anna Pavelka’s grandchildren talk about her in these interviews produced by the National Willa Cather Center in Nebraska.

About Czech Actor Jan Triska

Tříska emigrated in 1977 after signing a human rights manifesto inspired by his close friend, dissident playwright Václav Havel. He settled in Los Angeles and appeared in dozens of movies, including Ragtime, The Karate Kid Part III and The People vs Larry Flynt, which was directed by his fellow Czech Miloš Forman. Tříska also appeared on television, in series such as Quantum Leap and Highlander: The Series, and on stage, starring as the Devil in a New York Public Theater adaptation of The Master and Margarita. Tříska’s films were banned from Czechoslovakian cinemas and TV screens until the fall of communism in 1989.

After the anti-communist Velvet Revolution led by Havel, Tříska regularly returned home to appear in stage productions and films, including taking a lead role in 1991 comedy The Elementary School, which was nominated for an Academy Award. (The Guardian.com)