Karel Vachek

Karel Vachek (b. 1940, Tišnov, Czechoslovakia) has headed the documentary film department at Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) since 2002, where he himself studied feature direction between 1958 and 1963. His graduation documentary Moravian Hellas (1964 – Honorable Mention at the Karlovy Vary IFF) quickly landed him in trouble with the authorities, who banned him from directing. His feature-length documentary on the spring of 1968, Elective Affinities (Grand Prix at the documentary IFF in Karlovy Vary, two main prizes at the Oberhausen IFF), met with the same stiff reception. After five years of immigration he returned home in the mid-1980s. In 1990 he won the Golden Camera award at the Berlinale and two years later he began his loose tetralogy The Little Capitalist. In 2010 his documentaries were presented at Karlovy Vary in the Tribute to Karel Vachek.

47. MFF Karlovy Vary