Karel Kachyňa

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

Early life He was born on May 1, 1924, in Vyškov, 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. 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 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.

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. 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 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.

Filmography Feature films 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. 1961 Trials and Tribulations Special Jury Prize at 1962 Mar del Plata Film Festival 1962 Vertigo 1963 Hope Best director at 1964 Mar del Plata Film Festival 1964 The High Wall Silver Sail at 1964 Locarno Film Festival 1965 Long Live the Republic! Best film at 1966 Mar del Plata Film Festival FIPRESCI prize at 1966 San Sebastián Film Festival 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 1970 The Ear Released in 1990.Official selection of 1990 Cannes Film Festival 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. 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 Cesta byla suchá, místy mokrá (2003) Kožené slunce (2002) Otec neznámý aneb cesta do hlubin duše výstrojního náčelníka (2001) Three Kings (1998) TV series Prima sezóna (1994) TV series Městem chodí Mikuláš (1992) Vlak dětství a naděje (1989) TV series Duhová kulička (1985) Velký případ malého detektiva a policejního psa Kykyna (1982) Počítání oveček (1981) Zlatí úhoři (1979)

Documentaries 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)