We would be honoured to invite Patti Smith to the 30th edition of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, taking place from October 23 to November 1, 2026.
The invitation is shaped primarily around Patti Smith’s work as a writer, poet and artist, especially in the light of her new memoir Bread of Angels. We imagine a 60–90 minute public evening of reading and conversation around memory, literature, art, freedom, grief, imagination and hope.
Why Ji.hlava and the Inspiration Forum
The Inspiration Forum is a civic and cultural space inside a major documentary film festival. It brings together writers, artists, thinkers, journalists, scientists and public voices from around the world to ask how we can understand the present without giving up on hope for the future.
For our 30th edition, Patti Smith would be an extraordinary guest. Her work speaks across poetry, music, literature, humanity and public conscience. She has a rare ability to hold beauty, pain, courage and tenderness in the same gesture. That feels very close to the spirit of the festival.
Over the years, Ji.hlava and the Inspiration Forum have welcomed, or been closely connected with, voices who bring literature, art and civic courage into public life: Nobel Prize-winning writer Gao Xingjian, poet and dissident Natalya Gorbanevskaya, and filmmaker Godfrey Reggio.
What we could offer beyond the event
If Patti were interested, we would love to shape her stay in the Czech Republic with great care, privacy and calm. We would protect her time and offer something beyond a standard festival visit: a literary and poetic encounter with places connected to memory, silence, dissent and spiritual attention.
Petrkov: a place of poetry and silence
Very close to Ji.hlava, we could offer a quiet visit or short stay in Petrkov, the former home of Czech poet and artist Bohuslav Reynek and French poet Suzanne Renaud. Petrkov is a rare place of poetry, landscape, silence and calm. It could offer Patti a few protected days away from the usual rhythm of travel and public appearances.
Václav Havel and the Czech underground
The year 2026 marks Václav Havel’s 90th anniversary. Havel’s world connects literature, dissent, theatre, underground music and civic courage. Across the Czech Republic, the year will bring many events dedicated to Havel’s work and the world around him. This could offer a meaningful Czech frame for Patti’s visit: literature, resistance, friendship, underground culture and the belief that art can help keep public courage alive.
Our wish is to create an event and a stay that would feel meaningful for Patti Smith, for the festival and for the public: a meeting of literature, memory, art and hope.