Między Pragą a Hollywood - kino Jana Svĕráka
Between Prague and Hollywood: Jan Svĕrák's films

Summary/Abstract: Jan Svĕrák is the most known – as the 1997 Oscar winner for "Kolya" – representative of the so-called young Czech cinema, the generation of thirty- and forty-year olds, mostly graduates of the Prague Film Academy FAMU to whom Czech cinematography owes its mid-1990 renaissance. Wajda essays to describe the director’s style, his earlier works (Zdenĕk Svĕrák, the screenwriter and Jan’s favourite actor, is of great importance), including his debut feature "Elementary School" (1991), then "Accumulator 1" (1994), The "Ride" (1994), "Kolya" and super production "Dark Blue World" (2001). According to Wajda, Svĕrák’s films owe their success – in terms of home box office revenue and international awards – to creative references to the poetics of the Czech school of the 1960s, with its tragicomic vision of the world and man, coupled with the skillful use of known conventions and genre patterns.

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