Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ 7:30 p.m.

UNL’s Harris Center for Judaic Studies presents a free screening of the documentary THE ART OF DISSENT followed by a Q&A with filmmaker James D. Le Sueur, Alena Jirasek, Jacques Rupnik, and Veronika Tuckerova. Part of the Czech and Slovak Studies Workshop 2026. Tickets available at the Ross Box Office. 

ABOUT THE FILM

The Art of Dissent celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary’s main protagonists – Václav Havel, banned singer Marta Kubisová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) – became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into a hybrid network that eventually toppled the totalitarian regime in 1989.

The film underscores the resolve and courage of dissidents who strove to rebuild a battered civil society with artistry, tolerance, and truth. The Art of Dissent won five international film festival awards.

ABOUT JAMES LE SUEUR

James Le Sueur is an indie filmmaker and owner of Fox Hollow Films based in Lincoln. He is also Samuel Clark Waugh Distinguished Professor of International Relations and chair of the Department of History at UNL. Le Sueur’s first feature documentary film, The Art of Dissent (2020) is distributed by Gravitas Ventures. A co-production of Czech TV in Prague and NUtech Ventures at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, the film was produced in Prague and by Fox Hollow Films in Nebraska. The Czech version of the film, Umění disentu, was broadcast on Czech TV. His second feature documentary film, Seasons of COVID, tells the story of the pandemic in Nebraska and is currently in production. He plans to release the film in spring 2028.