These days we were to be meeting in our planetarium at the 6th Fulldome Festival Brno 2020. indulging in various vices. Czech beer, great Moravian wines, food full of fat and sugar, remember, for example, fruit dumplings, and to top it all, amazing digital planetarium shows from producers from all over the world. What more could you ask for?

 

With a bit of luck, there would be good weather and we would be sitting on the terrace, in the deckchairs in front of the main entrance to our building, or in outdoor seating of one of the many restaurants, pubs and cafes in the centre of Brno. On Wednesday we would go to the lake to see a spectacular firework, on Thursday we would have a glass of wine, and on Friday we would award several festival prizes during the original gala evening.

 

Unfortunately, none of this will happen this year. Mother Nature, the one we often tell stories about under our fulldome skies, has reminded us that we are no lords of creation. That by waving a magic wand, we can lose things which seem obvious to us. From day to day, from hour to hour.

 

Our festival is based on personal contacts and friendly atmosphere where we meet face to face cooking up plans and making deals. We simply try to make you feel at home in our planetarium.

 

But in the current situation, such meetings are impossible… The Fulldome Festival Brno 2020 isn’t going to take place this year. Not that there would be nothing to screen. On the contrary. We’ve received a lot of beautiful shows from many skilled producers. But how to make a festival if you can’t have producers and, of course, planetarians longing for new shows for their planetariums?

 

Personally, despite all the disasters, I hope that you and your loved ones are well. We all are going through a difficult time now. But every ending is always a new beginning. I promise we’ll meet again in Brno in 2021 at the extended, four day-long festival with the best of the fulldome world for the past two years! You’ll see all the shows accepted for this year’s festival as well as the shows that are yet to be made!

 

Before we meet again, thank you all who think about the future. After all, planetariums and science centres are one the most effective ways of making both children and their parents interested in science and technology. Who knows if one of our little visitors will become future Carl Sagan, Yuri Gagarin, Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and Chushiro Hayashi… or “just” a great elementary school teacher?

 

Believe me, my thoughts are with you!

 

I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Fulldome Festival Brno 2021.

Until then, let’s keep our washed fingers crossed.

 

Jiří Dušek

director of Brno Observatory and Planetarium

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We’ve decided to offer the whole fulldome world, free of charge, without any conditions, our show Cosmix telling a story of nothing but the most adventurous journeys of man. It’s free of charge, free to download and free to play as many times as you like. Just click on this link, fill in a short online form and download the data. The show is available in Czech, English, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian. We’ll be happy if you make your own language audio track and offer it to the others.

Just click here and download the fulldome show.