Photos provided

"When you get into the Czech world, it's a small world," says longtime Orinda resident Bobbie Landers. About a year ago, Landers, who is half Czech, was urged by a Czech friend in Chicago to go to see a movie entitled The Accidental Army. The film, an independent documentary co-written and produced by Bruce Benninger and John Iltis, tells the story of 50,000 Czech and Slovak POWs who formed an allied army fighting for a country of their own in the middle of World War I.

"The film includes remarkable photographic documentation and narration," says Landers adding that during the Soviet occupation of what is now the Czech Republic the story was purged from the history books so many Czechs remain unaware of these events. Landers was moved by the concept of lost history re-found and immediately contacted the film's producers. Given Orinda's connection to the Czech Republic through its Sister City relationship with the city of Tabor, Landers successfully pitched Orinda as the perfect place for this independent documentary to make its west coast debut, which is scheduled for Thursday, May 13th (see below for complete screening details).

The screening of The Accidental Army will also feature the video Prague 1968 by Mill Valley resident Paul Goldsmith. Goldsmith went to Prague during the summer of 1968 and witnessed and photographed the Soviet invasion of the city. Goldsmith's photos, which have been compiled into both a book and a video, document a historic period for the Czech people known as the end of the Prague Spring.

The films will be shown on Thursday, May 13th at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, and $10 for students under 18 years and seniors over 65 years. Tickets may be purchased at the Orinda Association, 26 Orinda Way, Orinda, or by sending a check to: West Coast Premiere Orinda/Tabor Sister City Foundation, P.O. Box 265, Orinda, CA 94563. Checks must be received by May 7, 2010. Or purchase tickets by credit card online through Events.org:

https://www.events.org/

SCICAOT1/view-event.

aspx?id=26553.

Questions? 925-254-8260.