Karel Kachyňa

Karel Kachyňa
Karel Kachyňa during a visit of the Malmö Film Festival, 1990
Born(1924-05-01)1 May 1924
Vyškov, Czechoslovakia
Died12 March 2004(2004-03-12) (aged 79)
Prague, Czech Republic
Alma materFilm and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Occupation(s)Film director, Screenwriter
Years active1950–2003
Spouses
Eliška Kuchařová
​
​
(m. 1950; div. 1964)​
​
(m. 1993)​

Karel Kachyňa (1 May 1924 – 12 March 2004) was a Czech film director and screenwriter. His career spanned over five decades.

Early life

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He was born on May 1, 1924, in Vyškov,[1] Czechoslovakia. His father was a government officer. His mother was an art teacher. After spending first 4 years of his life in Vyškov, he moved with his family to Dačice and then Kroměříž. Kachyňa studied at Baťa School of Art in Zlín. During the WWII he was forced to work in a German factory Walter Georgi in Bernsbach.[2] After the war he was able to finish high school and work on commercials at the Baťa film studios in Zlín. Kachyňa was then accepted at newly founded Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) to study cinematography and directing. His fellow students were Vojtěch Jasný, Zdeněk Podskalský and Antonín Kachlík.

Career

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After the graduation he directed socialist realist propaganda documentaries with Jasný. Throughout the 1950s they both worked for the Czechoslovak Army Film. In the 1952 they traveled to China with Art Ensemble of the Czechoslovak People's Army and made three documentaries about the country.

Kachyňa made his most celebrated movies with a screenwriter Jan Procházka in relatively free period in the 1960s.[3]

After the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and in subsequent Normalization period, his politically critical movies Long Live the Republic!, Coach to Vienna, The Nun's Night and The Ear were banned.[4][5] Kachyňa was fired from his teaching job at FAMU, after the film Uninvited Guest by his student Vlastimil Venclík was interpreted as being a criticism of the Soviet Invasion.[5] From the 1970s he directed mostly historical movies focused on the lives of regular people, and children movies. After the Velvet Revolution he was re-hired at FAMU and continued to teach there until his retirement.

Personal life

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Kachyňa was married twice. He had one daughter, Eliška, with his first wife Eliška Kuchařová. He met his second wife Alena Mihulová during the filming of Sestřičky in 1983. Their daughter, Karolína, was born in 1994. He lived in the 16th century house in Nový svět neighbourhood near Czernin Palace at Hradčany, Prague.[6]

Filmography

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Feature films

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Year Name Notes
1954 Everything Ends Tonight
1955 The Lost Track
1958 At That Time, at Christmas...
1959 Smugglers of Death
1960 The Slinger
1961 Fetters Entered in 2nd Moscow International Film Festival.[7]
1961 Trials and Tribulations Special Jury Prize at 1962 Mar del Plata Film Festival[8]
1962 Vertigo
1963 Hope Best director at 1964 Mar del Plata Film Festival[9]
1964 The High Wall Silver Sail at 1964 Locarno Film Festival[10]
1965 Long Live the Republic! Best film at 1966 Mar del Plata Film Festival[11]
FIPRESCI prize at 1966 San Sebastián Film Festival[12]
1966 Coach to Vienna 3rd prize at 1966 Karlovy Vary Film Festival
1967 The Nun's Night Official selection of 28th Venice International Film Festival[3]
1968 Christmas with Elizabeth
1968 Our Crazy Family Kachyňa finished the film after its director Jan Valášek died
1969 A Ridiculous Gentleman
1970 Jumping over Puddles Again Silver Shell at 1971 San Sebastián International Film Festival[13]
1970 The Ear Released in 1990.
Official selection of 1990 Cannes Film Festival[14]
1971 The Secret of the Great Story-Teller
1972 The Train to the Heaven Station
1973 Love
1973 Hot Winter
1974 Pauline
1974 The Girl Robinson
1975 The Ugly Village
1976 The Little Mermaid
1976 Death of a Fly
1978 Waiting for the Rain
1978 Meeting in July
1980 Love Between the Raindrops
1980 The Little Sugar House
1981 Watch Out, the Doctor Is on His Round!
1983 Fandy, oh Fandy!
1983 The Nurses
1985 A Good Light
1986 Forbidden Dreams Entered into the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.[15]
1987 ...And What Now, Gentlemen?
1988 To the Knowledge of Your Beloved
1989 Young Girls, Crazy Guys
1990 The Last Butterfly Vienna Film Award at 1990 Vienna International Film Festival
1992 The Cow
1995 Fany
1999 Hanele

Television

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Documentaries

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  • Bratři (1975)
  • Legenda (1973)
  • Four Times About Bulgaria (1958)
  • The City Has Its Own Face (1958)
  • World Championship of Air Models (1957)
  • Crooked Mirror (1956)
  • Stará čínská opera (1953)
  • Z čínského zápisníku (1953)
  • Lidé jednoho srdce (1953)
  • Neobyčejná léta (1952)
  • They Know What to Do (1950)
  • Za život radostný (1950)
  • Není stále zamračeno (1949)

References

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  1. ^ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. (2007). 501 Movie Directors. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 276. ISBN 9781844035731. OCLC 1347156402.
  2. ^ Bergan, Ronald (17 April 2004). "Obituary: Karel Kachyna". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b Matušková, Magdaléna (15 January 2020). Murguía, Salvador Jimenez; O'Reilly, Sean; McMenamin, Amanda (eds.). A Cuban Cinema Companion. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-5381-0774-4. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  4. ^ Laudin, Radek (11 August 2017). "Před půlstoletím vznikla Noc nevěsty, hvězdní herci byli 20 let v trezoru". iDNES. Mladá fronta. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b Jachnin, Boris (1995). "Karel Kachyňa: Four Decades of a Great Czech Director". Kinema (Fall 1995). doi:10.15353/kinema.vi.765. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  6. ^ Dolejšová, Kristýna (20 September 2018). "Bydliště umělců, roubenka nebo domeček bez dveří. Nový Svět skrývá zajímavou podívanou". Český rozhlas Vltava (in Czech). Český rozhlas. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  7. ^ "2nd Moscow International Film Festival (1961)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Trials and Tribulations (1961)". Filmový přehled. NFA. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Hope (1963) – Filmový přehled". Filmový přehled. NFA. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  10. ^ "1964 / Locarno Film Festival". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Long Live the Republic! (1965) – Filmový přehled". Filmový přehled. NFA. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  12. ^ "14th San Sebastian International Film Festival". FIPRESCI. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  13. ^ "San Sebastian Film Festival :: 19 edition. Awards". San Sebastian Festival. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  14. ^ Brooke, Michael (27 August 2019). "The Ear is listening: Karel Kachyna and the resurrection of a banned classic". BFI. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  15. ^ "15th Moscow International Film Festival (1987)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.

Bibliography

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  • Melounek, Pavel (1984). Karel Kachyňa. Prague: Československý filmový ústav.
  • Kachyňa, Karel; Jasný, Vojtěch; Čech, Jaroslav (1954). Byli jsme v zemi květů. Prague: Naše vojsko.
  • Mihulová, Alena (2015). Můj život s Karlem Kachyňou : (i bez něj) (1st ed.). Prague: XYZ. ISBN 9788075050809.
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