Vojtěch Jasný (30 November 1925 – 15 November 2019) was a Czech director, screenwriter and professor who has written and directed over 50 films. Jasný made feature and documentary films in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, USA &

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, and was a notable figure in the Czechoslovak New Wave movement of the 1960s. He is best remembered for his movies ''

The Cassandra Cat ''The Cassandra Cat'' ( cz, Až přijde kocour), also released under the titles ''When the Cat Comes'', ''The Cat Who Wore Sunglasses, One Day a Cat'' and/or ''That Cat'', is a 1963 Czechoslovak film directed by Vojtěch Jasný. The film won two ...

'' and ''

All My Compatriots ''All My Compatriots'', also known as ''All My Countrymen'' ( cs, Všichni dobří rodáci), is a 1968 Czechoslovak film directed by Vojtěch Jasný. Considered the "most Czech" of his contemporary filmmakers, Jasný's style was primarily lyrici ...

'', both of which won prizes at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

. In addition to his film career, he taught directing at film schools in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

Jasný was born in

Kelč Kelč (; german: Keltsch) is a town in Vsetín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

on 30 November 1925. His father was a teacher. In 1929 his father bought a movie projector for a local

Sokol The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a ...

club, which provided Jasný's first introduction to cinema. After watching Renoir's

The Little Match Girl "The Little Match Girl" ( da, Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne, meaning "The little girl with the sulphur-sticks", i.e. matches) is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dre ...

he decided to become a filmmaker. During his teens, he made amateur movies on a 9mm camera. During

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

his father was arrested and sent to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

where he died in 1942. After the war Jasný went to study philosophy and Russian language, but he switched to study filmmaking at newly founded FAMU in 1946. His professors were

Karel Plicka Karel Plicka (in Slovak: Karol Plicka) (14 October 1894 6 May 1987) was a Czechoslovak photographer, film director, cinematographer, folklorist, and pedagogue. He is considered a founder of Slovak film education and filmmaking. He helped establ ...

Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwrite ...

and hosting professors Cesare Zavattini and

Giuseppe De Santis Giuseppe De Santis (11 February 1917 – 16 May 1997) was an Italian film director. One of the most idealistic neorealist filmmakers of the 1940s and 1950s, he wrote and directed films punctuated by ardent cries for social reform. He was ...

. Since 1950 he co-directed many documentaries with

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, 1920, in Vyškov, Czechoslovakia. His father was a government officer. His mother wa ...

. His movies ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like " wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of ...

'' and ''

'' were nominated for

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

. In 1968, he directed ''

'' which won the award for Best Director at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival. After the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

following the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First ...

of 1968 he decided to leave the country. Jasný made movies and taught at film schools in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

until relocating to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in the early 1980s. In the USA, Jasný taught film directing classes at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

and

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former f ...

and made several documentaries about

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. His last feature film, ''Return to Paradise Lost,'' was made in 1999. In 2009 Arkaitz Basterra Zalbide made a documentary about Jasný called ''Life and Film (The Labyrinthine Biographies of Vojtěch Jasný)'' which was later released as a book. He died on November 13, 2019, aged 93.

Filmography

Feature films

Television films

* 1969: ''Warum ich Dich liebe'' * 1970: ' — (based on ' by Heinrich Böll) * 1972: ''Der Leuchtturm'' — (based on a story by

Ladislav Mňačko Ladislav Mňačko (28 January 1919 in Valašské Klobouky – 24 February 1994 in Bratislava) was a Slovak writer and journalist. He took part in the partisan movement in Slovakia during World War II. After the war, he was at first a staunc ...

) * 1972: ''Nasrin oder Die Kunst zu träumen'' — (based on a play by ) * 1974: ''Der Kulterer'' — (based on ' by

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civiliza ...

) * 1974: ''Frühlingsfluten'' — (based on ''

Torrents of Spring ''Torrents of Spring'', also known as ''Spring Torrents'' (russian: Вешние воды ''Veshniye vody''), is an 1872 novella by Ivan Turgenev. It is highly autobiographical in nature, and centers on a young Russian landowner, Dimitry Sanin, ...

'') * 1975: ''Des Pudels Kern'' — (screenplay by Ludvík Aškenazy) * 1976: ''Alexander März'' — (screenplay by Heinar Kipphardt) * 1976: ''Bäume, Vögel und Menschen'' * 1977: ''Fairy'' — (screenplay by Lotte Ingrisch) * 1977: ''Mein seliger Onkel'' * 1977: ''Die Rückkehr des alten Herrn'' * 1978: ''Die Freiheiten der Langeweile'' — (screenplay by ) * 1979: ''Die Stühle des Herrn Szmil'' — (based on a play by Heinar Kipphardt) * 1979: ''Die Nacht, in der der Chef geschlachtet wurde'' — (based on a play by Heinar Kipphardt) * 1980: ''Gospodjica'' ( ''Das Fräulein'') — (based on a novel by Ivo Andrić) * 1980: ''Ehe der Hahn kräht'' — (based on a play by ) * 1980: '' The Ideas of Saint Clara'' — (based on the play by Jelena and Pavel Kohout) * 1982: '' Wir'' — (based on '' We'', the 1921

Russian novel Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...

by Yevgeny Zamyatin). * 1983: ' — (based on ' by Georges Simenon) * 1984: ''Bis später, ich muss mich erschießen'' — (based on '' The Suicide'') * 1984: '' The Blind Judge'' (TV series about John Fielding, 13 episodes) — (screenplay by Günter Kunert)

Documentaries

* 1950: ''Není stále zamračeno'' * 1950: ''They Know What to Do'' (''Vědeli si rady'') * 1950: ''Za život radostný'' * 1952: ''Neobyčejná léta'' * 1953: ''Lidé jednoho srdce'' * 1954: ''Old Chinese Opera'' (''Stará čínská opera'') * 1954: ''From a Chinese Notebook'' (''Z čínského zápisníku'') * 1955: ''No Fear'' (''Bez obav'') * 1969: ''Czech Rhapsody'' (''Česká rapsodie'') * 1976: ''Ernst Fuchs'' * 1989: ''Miloš Forman: Portrait'' * 1991: ''Why Havel?'' * 1999: ''Gladys'' * 2002: ''Broken Silence'' (Segment ''"Hell on Earth"'')

References

External links

*
Jasný's Faculty Profile at SVAVojtech Jasny - a filmmaker in different eras
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jasny, Vojtech 1925 births 2019 deaths Czech film directors Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni Czechoslovak film directors German-language film directors People from Kelč Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States