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In 1997, Czech filmmaker Jan Svěrák and UK-based producer Eric Abraham captivated the world when their heartfelt masterpiece Kolya won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Written by Jan’s father, Zdeněk Svěrák, Kolya became a landmark moment in their celebrated father-son collaboration. But Jan’s journey to Oscar glory began much earlier—with a Student Academy Award in 1988 for his inventive environmental mockumentary Oil Gobblers and the Oscar nomination for Elementary school in 1991.
Now, as Jan Svěrák celebrates his 60th birthday, join us for a special double bill of Kolya and Oil Gobblers, introduced by multi-award-winning producer Eric Abraham. Eric will share behind-the-scenes stories from their groundbreaking partnership, which began with Kolya and continued with acclaimed films like Dark Blue World, Kooky, and Empties. Don’t miss this opportunity to revisit two extraordinary films and celebrate Jan’s birthday with us.
Jan Svěrák, Czechoslovakia 1988, 22´
Cast: Emil Nedbal, Lubomír Beneš, Ivo Kašpar, Jan Rokyta, Jiří Němec
In 1987 northern Bohemia, a team investigates “Petroleus Mostensis,” a mythical creature devouring polyethylene in a toxic industrial wasteland. Blending satire and environmental critique, Jan Svěrák’s student film spotlights Czechoslovakia’s ecological destruction. Amid humour and drama, the mockumentary exposes the consequences of unchecked industrial exploitation. 60
Jan Svěrák, Czech Republic, 1996, 105´
Cast: Zdeněk Svěrák, Andrej Chalimon, Libuse Safránková, Ondrej Vetchý
“Enchanting…Kolya deserves all its international success.” The Times
“What makes “Kolya” special is the way it paints the details. Like the films of the Czech New Wave in the late 1960s, it has a cheerful, irreverent humour, and an eye for the absurdities of human behaviour.” Roger Ebert
Oscar® Winner Best Foreign Film (1996). The middle-aged Czech cellist Josef Louka is a skirt-chasing bachelor, who enjoys a lifestyle free of responsibilities. Strapped for cash he agrees to a marriage of convenience. But after his new bride skips town, he is left to father her five-year-old Russian son, Kolya. Neither could be more unhappy with their predicament, especially since they don’t even speak the same language. But time and patience form an unbreakable bond between this unlikely father-son duo.
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