Jiří Menzel

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Jiří Menzel (Template:IPA) (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020)<ref name="Death">Template:Cite web</ref> was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of these films are adapted from works by Czech writers such as Bohumil Hrabal and Vladislav Vančura.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" />

Early life

Menzel was born in Prague in 1938 to Josef Menzel and Božena Jindřichová.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His father Josef was a journalist, translator and children's book writer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Menzel studied directing at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in Prague. His teachers at the academy included Czech Director Otakar Vávra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Menzel was a member of the Czech New Wave cinema in the 1960s. His first feature film, Closely Watched Trains, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967.<ref name="Oscars1968">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" /> The film was a World War II drama based on a book by Bohumil Hrabal.<ref name=":1" /> His film Larks on a String was filmed in 1969, but was banned by the government censors. It was finally released in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival in 1990.<ref name="Berlinale 1990">Template:Cite web</ref> The film was also based on a book by Bohumil Hrabal, and spoke about life in a re-education camp in Czechoslovakia under the communist rule in the 1950s.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref>

Menzel was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film again in 1986 with his dark comedy My Sweet Little Village.<ref name="Oscars1987">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.<ref name="Berlinale 1987">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1989 he was a member of the jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival.<ref name="Moscow1989">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1995 he was a member of the jury at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival.<ref name="Moscow1995">Template:Cite web</ref> He was awarded an IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also awarded the French title of Knight of Arts and Letters and the Czech Lion for lifetime artistic contribution.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

In the 1980s he was offered by a West German television studio to make a television series version of The Good Soldier Švejk with Rudolf Hrušínský. He didn't get the permission from the Czechoslovak government however.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

His last appearance in a feature film was in the 2018 Slovak film, The Interpreter, which was based on the story of a man's interactions with an SS soldier who had executed his parents. The film was Slovakia's official entry to the Oscars.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

Menzel died on 5 September 2020, aged 82, after battling a prolonged illness.<ref name="deadline_2020-09">Template:Cite web</ref> He had undergone a brain surgery earlier in 2017.<ref name=":2"/> He is survived by his wife Olga Menzelová, and daughters, Anna Karolina and Eva Maria.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="deadline_2020-09"/> Menzel's wife confirmed on 9 November 2020 that Menzel died as a result of COVID-19 pneumonia.<ref name="Jiří se před smrtí nakazil covidem-19, prozradila vdova Olga Menzelová">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Oscar-winning Czech filmmaker Jiří Menzel died with COVID-19, reveals widow">Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Sources:<ref name="Rotten Tomatoes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="TVG Filmography">Template:Cite web</ref>

As a director

Year	English title	Original title	Notes
1960	Prefabricated Houses<ref>Template:Citation</ref>	Domy z panelů	School film
1963	Our Mr. Foerster Died<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>	Umřel nám pan Foerster	School film
1963	Something Different<ref name=":4" />	O něčem jiném	assistant director
1965	Concert '65<ref name=":4" />	Koncert 65	Short documentary
1965	Crime at the Girls School	Zločin v dívčí škole	Segment "Crime at the Girls School", also screenwriter
1966	Pearls of the Deep	Perličky na dně	Segment "Smrt pana Baltazara" (The Death of Mr. Balthazar), also screenwriter
1966	Closely Watched Trains	Ostře sledované vlaky	also screenwriter, Academy Award winner
1968	Crime in a Music Hall<ref name=":4" />	Zločin v šantánu	also screenwriter
1968	Capricious Summer	Rozmarné léto	also screenwriter
1969	Larks on a String	Skřivánci na niti	also screenwriter, banned and not released until 1990
1974	Altered Landscapes	Proměny krajiny	Short documentary
1974	Who Looks for Gold?	Kdo hledá zlaté dno	also screenwriter
1976	Seclusion Near a Forest	Na samotě u lesa
1978	Those Wonderful Movie Cranks	Báječní muži s klikou	also screenwriter
1980	Cutting It Short	Postřižiny	also screenwriter
1981	Tři v tom<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>		TV theatre
1982	Krasosmutnění<ref>Template:Citation</ref>		TV film
	Dr. Johann Faust, Praha II., Karlovo nám. 40<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>		TV theatre
1983	Best Wishes From Planet Earth	Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule
1984	The Snowdrop Festival	Slavnosti sněženek	also screenwriter
1985	My Sweet Little Village	Vesničko má středisková	Nominated for Academy Award
1986	Template:Ill	Die Schokoladenschnüffler
1989	The End of Old Times	Konec starých časů	also screenwriter
1991	Audience<ref name=":4" />		TV film
1991	Beggar's Opera	Žebrácká opera	also screenwriter
1993	Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin	Život a neobyčejná dobrodružství vojáka Ivana Čonkina	Nominated for 8 Czech Lion Awards<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1998	Jacobowski a plukovník<ref>Template:Citation</ref>		TV theatre
2002	Ten Minutes Older		Segment "One Moment"
2006	I Served the King of England	Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále	also screenwriter, nominated for 11 Czech Lion Awards,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> won 5<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2013	The Don Juans	Donšajni<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	also screenwriter

As an actor

• Strop (Short film) (1962)<ref name=":4" />
• Place in the Crowd (1964)<ref name=":4" />
• Obžalovaný (1964)<ref name=":4" />
• Courage for Every Day (1964)<ref name=":4" />
• If a Thousand Clarinets (1965)<ref name=":4" />
• Pension pro svobodné pány (TV Movie) (1965)<ref name=":4" />
• Pearls of the Deep (1965)<ref name=":4" />
• Nobody Will Laugh (1965)<ref name=":4" />
• Searching (1966)<ref name=":4" />
• Volejte Martina (1966)<ref name=":4" />
• Closely Watched Trains (1966)<ref name=":4" />
• Flám (1966)<ref name=":4" />
• Return of the Prodigal Son (1967)<ref name=":4" />
• Hotel for Strangers (1967)<ref name=":4" />
• Private Hurricane (1967)<ref name=":4" />
• Dita Saxová (1968)<ref name=":4" />
• Capricious Summer (1968)<ref name=":4" />
• Crime in a Music Hall (1968)<ref name=":4" />
• The Cremator (1969)<ref name=":4" />
• Larks on a String (1969)<ref name=":4" />
• Nevěsta (1970)<ref name=":4" />
• Straw Hat (1972)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (1972, voiced by Eberhard Esche)<ref name=":4" />
• Thirty Maidens and Pythagoras (1973)<ref name=":4" />
• The Apple Game (1976)<ref name=":4" />
• Modrá planeta (1977)<ref name=":4" />
• The Woman Across the Way (1978)<ref name=":4" />
• Those Wonderful Movie Cranks (1979)<ref name=":4" />
• Every Wednesday (1979)<ref name=":4" />
• Hra na telo (1979)<ref name=":4" />
• Koportos (1980)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (1981)<ref name=":4" />
• Tale of the Little Quarter (TV Movie)(1981)<ref name=":4" />
• Szívzür (1982)<ref name=":4" />
• Ferat Vampire (1982)<ref name=":4" />
• Švédská zápalka (TV Movie) (1982)<ref name=":4" />
• Babička se zbláznila (TV Movie) (1982)<ref name=":4" />
• Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule (1983)<ref name=":4" />
• Fandy, ó Fandy (1983)<ref name=":4" />
• Sedm křížků (TV Movie)(1983)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Felhöjáték (1984)<ref name=":4" />
• Albert (TV Movie) (1985)<ref name=":4" />
• Run, He Is Coming! (1987)<ref name=":4" />
• Dámská jízda (TV Movie) (1988)<ref name=":4" />
• Stvoření světa (TV Movie) (1989)<ref name=":4" />
• Zvláštní bytosti (1990)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (1990)<ref name=":4" />
• Martha and I (1990)<ref name=":4" />
• Zvonokosy (TV Movie)(1990)<ref name=":4" />
• Pražský student (TV Mini-Series)(1990)<ref name=":4" />
• The Elementary School (1991)<ref name=":4" />
• Das lange Gespräch mit dem Vogel (TV Movie)(1992)<ref name=":4" />
• The Little Apocalypse (1993)<ref name=":4" />
• Všetko čo mám rád (1993)<ref name=":4" />
• Joint Venture (1994)<ref name=":4" />
• Revenge (1995)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (1995)<ref name=":4" />
• Too Loud a Solitude (1996)<ref name=":4" />
• Truck Stop (1996)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Drákulův švagr (TV Mini-Series) (1996)<ref name=":4" />
• Franciska vasárnapjai (1997)<ref name=":4" />
• Hospoda (TV Series) (1996-1997)<ref name=":4" />
• All My Loved Ones (1999)<ref name=":4" />
• Zimní víla (TV Movie) (1999)<ref name=":4" />
• When Grandpa Loved Rita Hayworth (2000)<ref name=":4" />
• The Sunken Cemetery (2002)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (2002)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (2004)<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Rokonok (2006)<ref name=":4" />
• Teddy Bear (2007)<ref name=":4" />
• A bárány utolsó megkísértése (TV Movie) (2008)<ref name=":4" />
• Setkání v Praze, s vraždou (TV Movie) (2009)<ref name=":4" />
• Operation Dunaj (2009)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link (TV Series) (2009)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Door (2012)<ref name=":4" />
• Template:Interlanguage link(TV Series) (2012–14)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Interpreter (2018)<ref name=":4" />

See also

• CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
• List of Czech Academy Award winners and nominees