Karel Vachek

Born 1940-08-04 · Tišnov, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]

Died 2020-12-22

A controversial filmmaker - a documentary filmmaker of a philosophical nature, whose films have either supporters or opponents. From 1958 to 1963, he studied at the Prague FAMU. Already during his studies, he became famous for his filmmaking complexity, high erudition and philosophical-sociological depth of his films, which also led to distaste among some teachers (the school film Kamil Lhoták). He graduated from school with the film Moravian Hellas. It was a polemical reportage from the folk festivals in Strážnice. The film was personally banned by president Novotný. It was only permitted in 1968 and won an award at the Karlovy Vary IFF. In 1968, he made the famous documentary Spřízněni volbou, an artistic documentation of the events surrounding the presidential election (awarded at the Oberhausen IFF in 1969). After that, Vachek was unable to film again. He worked as a screenwriter in Krátký film Praha, but none of the scripts were realized. In 1979 he emigrated to the United States. After 1989 he returned and made 7 feature-length documentary novels that deal with a variety of topics. These films are distinguished not only by their exceptional length, but also by their deep thoughtfulness and philosophical nature. From 1994 until his death he taught and also headed the Department of Documentary Filmmaking at FAMU.