Acting

Jan Kotva

Born — Died

1943-04-28 — 1993-02-07

Known for

Acting

Credits

62 titles

Known for

Film credits

1990s · 5 titles

1980s · 21 titles

Where, Gentlemen, Where Are You Going? poster
5.6

A story of Jan Kolvara, forty years old architect, who is a little bit too obsessed with women in his life.

Where, Gentlemen, Where Are You Going?

1987

Pan Samochodzik i praskie tajemnice poster
7.3

A Polish criminalist specialises in various historical mysteries. He is aided by a miraculous car, with the help of which he also reaches Prague, where he unravels ancient cabalistic mysteries.

Pan Samochodzik i praskie tajemnice

1989

Ratili poster
7.0

Dreaming of creating a Czech musical theater, not recognized in his homeland, Josef Navratil, under the pseudonym of Iosif Ratili, one day comes on tour to Georgia.

Ratili

1984

Hubert the Smart Boy poster
5.6

Hubert Hrabe, known as Smart Boy, is a Prague dandy who is always skirting the edge of the law. Like every likable rogue, he has a worthy adversary - Police Inspector Mourek, who has long been trying in vain to put him behind bars. However, this defender of justice, who is constantly trying to outsmart his "own" criminal, ends up becoming the victim of his own zeal while hunting forgers that are as good as any in Europe, as Hubert the Smart Boy, sets a trap for Mourek

Hubert the Smart Boy

1985

The Medal poster
7.0

The trenches of World War I provide for a captivating backdrop to the drama of Corporal Hoferik. In his devotion to the Habsburg Monarchy, he fanatically carries out his military orders, but he ultimately suffers the Empire's disfavor.

The Medal

1980

Forbidden Dreams poster
7.6

Leo Popper is a happy family man living in rural Bohemia in the years preceding the Nazi invasion. Out of economic necessity he moves with his family to the big city and becomes an enterprising vacuum cleaner salesman. There he embarks on a series of adulterous adventures, has encounters with boxing pros and famous portrait artists, and schemes to purchase the perfect pond to fulfill his passion for fishing. When the Nazis gain control, the comedy turns sour - he loses his lake, his job, and finally, his family.

Forbidden Dreams

1987

Pan Vok odchází poster
8.0

The former reputed lover and bon vivant Petr Vok from Rožmberk was widowed at the age of sixty-three. The loss of his much younger wife is hard to bear and it seems that nothing in his life will please him anymore. His loyal friends and servants do everything possible and impossible to cheer him up, but sometimes interesting situations arise, such as when they get him a guaranteed real mermaid. Will anyone be able to cure the master of his lethargy?

Pan Vok odchází

1980

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Táta k příštím Vánocům

1989

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Dan

1987

No artwork available
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

V hlavní roli Oldřich Nový

1980

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bude řeč o penězích

1989

Man Overboard poster
3.8

Ten-year-old David joins a sailing club. He trains hard and helps repair the sailing boats, but people have to take turns actually sailing. The club chairman Vala wants David to sail with his son Olda. Olda's previous team mate Béda has grown too fast, but with little David Olda could win a place on the regatta to Finland. Olda is arrogant and accustomed to winning with little effort; he bullies David and calls him "Greenhorn". He makes David his servant and blames him when things go wrong.

Man Overboard

1981

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Devadesátjedna bílých koní

1987

On a Wayward Princess poster
5.8

Princess Julia doesn't want to marry an old prince Hubert so she runs away from home. She meets two old magicians and join the circus, where she meets lovely Franta Kuldan and evil devil performer.

On a Wayward Princess

1987

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Libeňský čaroděj

1989

Cena medu poster
10.0

Little Péťa visits his grandfather in the Krkonoše Mountains, where a swarm of bees settles on a tree. When Péťa disturbs it, the entire swarm attacks him, leaving him in a deep coma. Ordinary treatments fail, so Dr. Vrba insists on a beekeeper’s blood transfusion. Grandpa’s blood type doesn’t match, prompting a frantic search—ambulances, authorities, even foreign donors—to find a suitable beekeeper. After multiple transfusions from various volunteers, Péťa shows signs of recovery. With dawn breaking, hope returns as he awakens.

Cena medu

1987

Payment in Kind poster
6.2

In an unusual, apolitical approach, director Jaromil Jires has fashioned a standard drama that features an older lawyer with failing health who goes to practice in the countryside. His series of odd court cases reveals more about the human condition than about law. In one of these litigations a wayward nephew has cheated his elderly aunt out of her savings. In court, the nephew insists the money was a gift, but his aunt explains she only gave him the money as a loan. Although the lawyer technically wins the case, everything of value seems lost in the meantime. His services are paid for in rabbits because the aunt has no currency, and in the end, the nephew cons his aunt into parting with her savings anyway. Other cases expose similar types of petty corruption.

Payment in Kind

1980

Zlatá slepice poster
3.8

This fairy tale tells of a magical hen who lays golden eggs. When an enterprising taxi driver (greedy, of course) learns of such a miracle, he immediately realizes that he could easily and effortlessly get rich if he could get such a hen...

Zlatá slepice

1981

No artwork available
1.0

No synopsis available yet.

Čtvrtá strana trojúhelníku

1986

No artwork available
NR

It's New Year's Eve afternoon and Honza, Jana and Zdeněk decide to go out into the karst area. Despite the express ban, one of them goes down into an unknown underground tunnel. When he doesn't return for a long time, the others go looking for him. But they soon discover that they are not enough on their own. Only the best rescuer, Karel Nousek, can save him. However, he is dealing with a complicated life situation. He loves his colleague's wife and is about to solve a love triangle. That evening, Olga wants to tell her husband that she is breaking up with him because of Nousek...

Propast

1982

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Výjimečná situace

1986

1970s · 13 titles

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea poster
6.2

Former Nazi Klaus Abard survives to the 1990s by taking anti-ageing pills. He plans to use a time travel trip to return to Germany in 1944 and present Hitler with a hydrogen bomb, so that he can win the war. Unfortunately the pilot, woman-chasing Karel Bures, dies on the morning of the trip and his earnest twin brother Jan impersonates him, without knowing about the plot.

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea

1977

Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet poster
7.5

When famous detective Nick Carter visits Prague, he becomes involved in strange case of a missing dog and even stranger carnivorous plant. He becomes convinced that he is standing against his greatest enemy, the Gardener, who supposedly died years ago in a swamp...

Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet

1978

Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet poster
7.5

When famous detective Nick Carter visits Prague, he becomes involved in strange case of a missing dog and even stranger carnivorous plant. He becomes convinced that he is standing against his greatest enemy, the Gardener, who supposedly died years ago in a swamp...

Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet

1978

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Skokan

1974

Na startu je delfín poster
5.0

The teenage hero tries his best to meet the nomination limit for important races, but his coach's insensitive approach causes him to temporarily lose motivation and even give up on sports...

Na startu je delfín

1975

The Young Man and Moby Dick poster
4.2

Good-looking Edita Beningerová (Jana Brejchová) arrives at a chemical factory in the North Bohemian town of Ústí nad Labem together with her young assistant Nada (Zlata Adamovská). She is hoping that her ex-husband, outstanding practical chemical engineer Vik Panc (Eduard Cupák), will help her conduct an experiment to validate her proposed theoretical method of isolating cholesterol from lanolin. The success of Edita's invention is crucial for her career at the Prague Institute of Chemistry. Vik's roommate from his hostel Bréta (Ivan Vyskocil) is thrilled. He will finally meet the mysterious and fascinating Edita about whom he has learned so much from Vik.

The Young Man and Moby Dick

1979

Sázka na třináctku poster
9.0

A mail truck is robbed near the small town of Kostelec, during which the perpetrators steal CZK 2.5 million. The local police fail to solve the case. After some time, a young and capable lieutenant Charvát arrives from the Prague CID. While he is getting acquainted with the circumstances of the case and the evidence found, he makes friends with the handsome Květa, the daughter of the hostel manager Weisse. The complicated relationship that develops between the two lovers is in no way comparable to the complexity of the criminal case that brought Charvat to Kostelec. Things get even more complicated when someone murders Malásek, a local brawler and drunkard, with a shotgun. He is actually Květa's husband. And his death, according to Charvat, is connected to the mail robbery...

Sázka na třináctku

1978

The Moravian Land poster
7.0

The reason for making this film is clear: it was to cover up Vojtěch Jasný's famous chronicle "All the Good Natives", an account of the tragic consequences of forced collectivisation. The pro-regime director Antonín Kachlík also focuses on the socialisation of the Moravian village, accompanied by mistakes and coercion, but in his optimistic view he emphasises the hopeful prospects leading to a happy future. Although the united village lands were born in pain, they will serve for the benefit of all the working people... As with Jasný, Radek Brzobohatý embodies the stubborn peasant, who is only slowly acknowledging the benefits of communal farming. However, unlike the poetic exuberance and pithiness of Jasný's chronicle, here we encounter a vicious posturing.

The Moravian Land

1978

Půlnoční kolona poster
8.0

A group of soldiers is supposed to ensure the smooth nighttime passage of the military convoy through Prague, but things turn out differently. Eloquent young men convince the good-natured commander to sign a leave of absence, and the main character is left alone in the middle of a housing estate...

Půlnoční kolona

1973

Oil Lamps poster
6.0

In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.

Oil Lamps

1971

Dvacátý devátý poster
6.0

In the era of normalisation, a number of (pseudo)historical films were made, even described as reconstructions, which glorified the world-building mission of the Communist Party and attributed to it exclusively humanitarian intentions ("Days of Betrayal", "Sokolovo", "Liberation of Prague", "The Victorious People"). In 1929, when its fifth congress met, Klement Gottwald, who had taken the line of the Russian Bolsheviks, took over the leadership of the Communists...

Dvacátý devátý

1975

The Secret of a Great Narrator poster
5.0

The life of the famous French writer Alexander Dumas the Elder. Screenwriter Jaroslav Dietl did not hide his admiration for this literary giant, and in addition to the screenplay he also wrote a three-part TV play about Dumas (starring Vladimír Menšík). In Kachyn's film, Dumas played the father and son of the Štěpánková brothers, and it was a very difficult and difficult task for these young actors.

The Secret of a Great Narrator

1972

Zlaté rybky poster
NR

Police discover Eva Nejtková dead in her apartment and her husband Zdeněk unconscious from a shotgun wound. Captain Hora leads the investigation, noting that the killer struck Eva fatally and shattered her large aquarium, yet carefully transferred the goldfish into a smaller tank. Initial suspicion falls on Zdeněk’s apparent suicide attempt, but financial records and the absence of drugs at the scene shift focus. Detectives trace psychotropic medication supplies to Eva’s dealings with local addicts. As they question these “práškaři,” they uncover a network of illicit sales and potential motives tied to debts and blackmail. Clues from the supplier’s arrest and addicts’ testimonies gradually reveal whether Eva’s murder was linked to her clandestine drug trade or if a more personal betrayal lies at the heart of the crime.

Zlaté rybky

1978

1960s · 15 titles

The Finnish Knife poster
4.7

Two young men, thinking that they've killed someone, flee to Poland.

The Finnish Knife

1965

The Girl with Three Camels poster
10.0

The fates of the women are repeated: the 16-year-old daughter of a 32-year-old mother is also pregnant. Like her mother, the child remains unmarried and fatherless. From him, the girl receives only an exotic postcard with the titular three camels...

The Girl with Three Camels

1967

Jak se krade milión poster
6.3

The exemplary accountant Antonín Safránek lives his orderly life as a citizen of a small town. His wife Eliska brings up their three children and desperately tries to get by on her husband's low salary every month. At the same time, she sadly watches the luxurious life of their neighbor and other people like him who have no qualms about improving their standard of living by cheating. One day, the infallible Safránek makes a mistake in the cash clearance and there are nine one-hundred Crown bills left in the safe. An unexpected company control carried out the next day passes without problems and the account is closed. The temptation is too strong. The insufficient control enables Safránek to gradually steal one million Crowns.

Jak se krade milión

1967

Jarní vody poster
5.0

Sanin, an aging Russian nobleman, recalls his unfulfilled love for a simple girl with whom he fell in love during his youthful travels, but left her for a short-lived love affair with a selfish high society beauty.

Jarní vody

1968

Martin a červené sklíčko poster
7.0

Children's detective stories were very successful in the 1960s, and the stories of Martin the criminal even had several sequels. In this film, Martin investigates a mysterious ancient crime in a castle where today the guide mentions this fact only as a curiosity. He is led to this by a broken display case on which he finds a child's handprints. And in a seemingly mundane red slide, easily mistaken for a rare diamond, he finds an important clue...

Martin a červené sklíčko

1967

Six Black Girls poster
4.7

Detective Lieutenant Boruvka (Lubomír Lipský) is called to the State Scientific Library to investigate the loss of a precious manuscript, the Infernal Psalter of the Occult Sciences by Master Peregrinus from the eleventh century, written in a secret script which has only recently been deciphered by senior lecturer Zajíc (Josef Chvalina). Chaos is reigning in the labyrinth of passages and halls of the former monastery where the library is housed. In order to save space the director of the library has introduced a peculiar system. The books are arranged in the bookcases according to height and six girls dressed in black, the library assistants, are quite happy to cut volumes down to size in case of need. Boruvka refuses the case, since he is specialist in murders. He has to return to the investigation, however, when senior lecturer Zajíc disappears.

Six Black Girls

1969

Marathon poster
5.6

It is 5 May 1945 and the uprising against the hated German occupiers has broken out in Prague. The Czech guards open the gate of the Pankrác prison to allow the prisoners to escape en masse. Many of them are shot dead by the German guards but young Ruda (Jaromír Hanzlík) manages to run away. He is taken care of by one of the Prague fighters, concierge Kytka. Kytka hides him in the flat of the house's owner where only the young maid Karla (Jana Brejchová) is left, ordering her to take care of Ruda.

Marathon

1968

Christmas with Elisabeth poster
8.0

Surly solitary truck driver is given an assistant for his daily rounds: a young woman with a fondness for mini-skirts and boys, fresh out of prison.

Christmas with Elisabeth

1968

Every Young Man poster
6.7

Jurácek's feature debut is shot in two parts. In the first, a corporal accompanies a new recruit with a sore Achilles tendon for his physical, and all the girls or young women they see are played by the same actress (Ruzickova). In the longer second segment, shot with the help of the Czechoslovakia army, the soldiers pass the time during basic training and maneuvers by talking about girls.

Every Young Man

1966

Toni, You're Crazy poster
8.5

In the village cemetery, the funeral of a married couple - victims of a car crash - is ending. The relatives unscrupulously take away the facilities of the dead people's little cottage, totally ignorant of the fate of eight-year old Ruda, whom the childless couple took from a children's home and adopted. Fortunately, an elderly lonesome uncle named Tony remains in the empty cottage and decides to take care of the boy, nicknamed Münchie after Baron Münchhausen for his wild imagination.

Toni, You're Crazy

1969

Dva z onoho světa poster
6.0

A musical comedy about two indistinguishably similar siblings who love music, but each of them is completely different. Pavel Fořt is a professor of classical music at a pedagogical institute, his brother is a jazz musician and plays music in America. When the twin brother suddenly appears in Prague, they switch roles.

Dva z onoho světa

1962

The House of Lost Souls poster
4.5

An escaped inmate of a mental home, Franz Moose, has been found shot dead in the forest. In the course of their investigation, District Commander Havel (Jirí Adamíra) and Lieutenant Mares (Miroslav Zounar) slowly work their way through the complicated case. Havel learns from the employees' testimonies that Moose was facing trial for war crimes before he was finally sent to the hospital. There he shared his room with Kozdera, spent his time painting, and made several attempts to escape. Havel wants to interrogate Kozdera but the unfortunate patient gets killed before he can do so.

The House of Lost Souls

1967

Sign of the Virgin poster
8.0

The military airfield crew are not allowed to leave the area because alert level two has been declared. All walks have been cancelled and Private Standa Urban is looking forward to meeting his girlfriend who has come to visit him. His friends from the infirmary are sympathetic and conspiratorially organise the whole event...

Sign of the Virgin

1966

No artwork available
NR

An insight into the lives of adolescents, it is about an ordinary boy who falls in love with a student. But soon he faces a serious rival in the form of a local seducer...

Okurkový hrdina

1963

No artwork available
7.5

The group of mining foreman Kohut is about to enter the competition for the title of Brigade of Socialist Labour. All the men are in favour, only young Ondracka needs to be firmly re-educated...

Kotrmelec

1962

Series credits

Bakaláři poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Bakaláři

1972

Dobrodružství kriminalistiky poster
8.6

No synopsis available yet.

Dobrodružství kriminalistiky

1989

Chalupáři poster
8.0

Chalupáři is a Czechoslovak comedy TV series filmed in 1974 and 1975 by František Filip.

Chalupáři

1975

Malý pitaval z velkého města poster
7.3

No synopsis available yet.

Malý pitaval z velkého města

1983

Nejmladší z rodu Hamrů poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Nejmladší z rodu Hamrů

1975

The Physician of a Dying Time poster
8.0

Series about the life of Renaissance anatomist, scholar and politic Johannes Jessenius. Already legendary series today, was produced by Czechoslovak Television Bratislava, directed by Slovak director Miroslav Luther in the first half of 80's in Barrandov Studios in Prague. The story and screenplay of the series wrote Czech writer Vladimír Körner. Five-episodes epic historical narration is a biographical story of distinguished Renaissance scholar, anatomist and politic of Slovak origin, Johannes Jessenius (Ján Jesenský, 1566–1621). It displays his life from the first studies and successes. In 1594 he became professor of surgery and anatomy on Wittenberg University, which he had attended years before. From that moment, his life went through social and personal wins and losses, to the sad end on the Prague Old Town Square gallows, among 27 noblemen, knights and burgenses, after lose Bohemian Revolt in 1621. His destiny was coupled with key events of Czech history in the break of 16th and 17th century, when Renaissance and European humanism slowly fade out.

The Physician of a Dying Time

1984

Dynastie Nováků poster
8.8

No synopsis available yet.

Dynastie Nováků

1982

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Great Debureau

1990