The year is 1985, and a British academic arrives in Brno via Mikulov on a bus from Vienna. In accordance with strict security protocols, he must first check into a hotel, leave his luggage there, and only then secretly disappear behind the closed doors of a private apartment, where more than thirty eager listeners are already waiting for him. This is how the carefully concealed network of the Brno underground university operated, a project initiated and directed by British philosopher Roger Scruton together with Jiří Müller, with the support of theater historian Barbara Day. Although Roger Scruton was arrested by the State Security and expelled from Czechoslovakia during his very first visit to Jiří Müller in the summer of 1985, the secret project continued. Over the next five years, around forty prominent Western figures arrived unnoticed in the Moravian capital to give lectures.
Behind this immensely risky act of resistance in Brno were, above all, dissident Jiří Müller and theater dramaturg Petr Oslzlý. It was in their apartments, amid a constant fear of police interrogations, that a unique space for free thought was born—one that the State Security never uncovered until the revolution. British professors secretly smuggled in hard-to-find books, films, and equipment, and through their courage helped restore democracy to our society. However, this fascinating chapter, which connected the Brno dissident movement with the British intelligentsia, has not yet been comprehensively documented, and the ranks of its eyewitnesses are slowly dwindling today. With your help, we want to preserve their valuable personal testimonies before these stories disappear forever along with them.
We decided to change that and make the documentary Underground Professors.
During the Communist “normalization” period, freedom of speech was a crime and education an act of resistance. After leading professors were expelled from their faculties following 1968, free teaching did not cease—it simply moved into living rooms and secret venues. This gave rise to the phenomenon of so-called “apartment seminars,” which grew into an entire underground university supported by professors from Oxford. This fascinating chapter of our history, which connected the Czech dissident movement with the British intelligentsia, has yet to be comprehensively documented. With your help, we want to preserve the slowly fading personal testimonies of these people for future generations.
Through previously unpublished testimonies from eyewitnesses, students, and professors, the film reveals how this secret network operated. The film features prominent figures from post-revolutionary cultural and social life.
The masterminds behind the entire operation were British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton and theater historian Barbara Day, who, under the auspices of the Jan Hus Foundation, organized risky trips by academics from Great Britain to socialist Czechoslovakia. In Brno, the avant-garde Divadlo na provázku theater, led by Petr Oslzlý, became a pillar of support for this secret network. The project operated in secrecy from the State Security until 1989. In addition to philosophers, professors of political science, ecology, music, and art history were also invited to Brno. The materials they smuggled in buses for these purposes—video and audio cassettes, art catalogs, and correspondence—are now housed in the collections of the Moravian Museum.
Help us share this extraordinary story about the power of education and free thinking with audiences.
We want to preserve these events before the memories of those who lived through them fade. To successfully complete the film and present it to the public in an engaging cinematic format, we need your support.
Who is behind the project?
The film’s director is Ivo Bystřičan, a renowned documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and dramaturge with extensive experience and a string of successful documentaries and miniseries, including Dál nic (2024), Příběhy 20. století (2019), Industrie (2021), Neviditelné krajiny (2022), and Česko na drogách (2024).
The film’s producer is Jan Bodnár (Jak jsem se stala partyzánkou, Jiříkovo vidění, Dajori, Co s Péťou?) from Safe Place Production.
We are developing the project in collaboration with Czech Television.
The Montefiore family (GRUT Trust) provided financial support for the project development.
Institutions such as Memory of the Nation, the Václav Havel Library, the Moravian Museum, the Museum of 20th-Century Memory, British Council and others are providing expert input on the project.
How will we use the funds raised?
Milestone 1 – 300,000 CZK
Your support will enable us to take a crucial step—to travel with a camera directly to the United Kingdom and film the testimonies of professors who risked everything for our freedom. But time is relentless; the generation of these eyewitnesses is slowly passing away, and with them, these fascinating personal testimonies are fading away. Without your help, these stories will disappear with them.
Milestone 2 – 600,000 CZK
Reaching this milestone will allow us to complete the film to the highest standard. It will enable us to secure professional post-production and purchase the rights to the original soundtrack. High-quality music is key for us—it will help us faithfully capture the period atmosphere and fully immerse viewers in the story of the underground university.
Milestone 3 – 900,000 CZK and more
The third milestone will pave the way for what matters most: sharing this story with the world. The funds will help us secure wider distribution of the film and organize a series of educational screenings with discussions specifically for students. This will give them the opportunity to meet eyewitnesses and the film’s creators face-to-face and engage in a discussion with them about the importance of free education.
Please support the production of the documentary Underground Professors. Thank you!
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