Marek Posival (born 1 April 1963 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) is a Czech Canadian screenwriter, producer, actor and film director.

Biography

Posival was born in

in what was then

communist Czechoslovakia The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech and Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czechoslovak Republic, or simply Czech ...

. He escaped the totalitarian regime in 1983 and lived for a year in a refugee camp in West Germany. He then emigrated to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, earning a Honours BFA in Film Production.

Film career

He is best known as a producer of

feature films A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film ( motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

, primarily of the thriller, horror or

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

. As well, he has produced a large number of Christmas movies. Posival wrote and directed a highly regarded short film called Hold-Up and worked with

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2 ...

as Associate Producer on the feature film

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

which was among the five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

. In 2007 he produced a feature film Phantom Punch, a period drama about the life of the controversial heavyweight boxing champion

Sonny Liston Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( – December 30, 1970), nicknamed "the Big Bear", was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion in 1962 after k ...

, which he produced together with Hassain Zaidi and

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames ( ; born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible (film series), ''Mission: Impossible'' film series (1996–2025) and crime boss Marsellus Wal ...

. A script penned by Posival, The Tortured, which was directed by

Robert Lieberman Robert Lieberman (July 16, 1947 – July 1, 2023) was an American film and television director. Career Lieberman was the founder of the commercial production company Harmony Pictures and directed close to two thousand commercials. He received ...

, was released in 2010. Posival also worked on the project as one of the film's producers, together with Mark Burg and

Oren Koules Oren Koules (born January 31, 1961) is an American entrepreneur and film producer. He is the co-founder of Evolution Entertainment and produced the Saw (franchise), ''Saw'' film series as well as the CBS television series ''Two and a Half Men'' ...

Twisted Pictures Twisted Pictures is an American production company and a division of Evolution Entertainment that specializes in horror and thriller films. The company was founded by Evolution's Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules and Mark Burg in 2004. The compa ...

.Teaser Trailer For Twisted Pictures The Tortured!
/ref> In 2018 he co-produced

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, a feature film about the bank heist that gave origin to the term

Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. Emotional bonds can possibly form between captors and captives, during intimate time together, ...

, starring

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

Noomi Rapace Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...

and

Mark Strong Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963) is a British actor best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (200 ...

. Between 2010 and 2021 he has served as producer or executive producer on over thirty Christmas-themed films for television. He is married to the talent agent Karen Williams-Posival of The Characters Talent Agency. They have a production company MP Productions where they develop feature film properties. Posival's trademark plot-line tends to involve brutal

violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

interrupting the banal lives of people inclined to "go with the flow." He has also directed numerous

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

and was a regular on the TV series The Best Years.

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Posival, Marek 1963 births Living people Male actors from Prague Czech screenwriters Czech male screenwriters Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Czech film producers Czech television producers Czech male television actors York University alumni Film directors from Prague