Karel Kachyňa

Karel Kachyňa (1924, Vyškov – 2004, Říčany u Prahy, Czech Republic) was part of the first generation of FAMU graduates. Together with Vojtěch Jasný he made a series of documentaries that reflected the spirit of period propaganda. Towards the end of the 1950s he collaborated with writer and scripter Jan Procházka. Their films gradually fell foul of the regime since they controversially sought to uncover the fallacies of the communist interpretation of various historical events. These works include Long Live the Republic (1965), The Nun's Night (1967), A Ridiculous Gentleman (1969) and the extremely courageous The Ear (1970), locked away in the censor's vault for twenty years. After Procházka's death in 1971, Kachyňa still turned out another forty or so works in which he demonstrated his flair for storytelling and for finding poetry in real-life situations (The Doctor's Coming, 1981; Nurses, 1983; The Cow, 1994).

50. MFF Karlovy Vary