František Vláčil

Directing

František Vláčil

Born 1924-02-19 · Cesky Tesin, Moravian-Silesian, Czech Republic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia František Vláčil (February 19, 1924, Český Těšín – January 28, 1999, Prague) was a Czech film director, painter, and graphic artist. Between 1945 and 1950, he studied esthetics and art history at Masaryk University in Brno. Later he worked in various groups and ateliers (e.g. on animated films), but his main area became played film. His films are well known for extraordinarily high art quality. Vláčil was awarded many film prizes like the Prize of the International Film Festival 1998 in Karlovy Vary or the Czech Lion Prize for his longstanding contribution to world film culture.

Acting credits

My Sweet Little Village poster
7.4

The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík's inability to perform even the simplest tasks. Pávek demands that Otík be transferred to assist another driver, who happens to be a choleric and suspicious man named Turek (Turk in Czech). Rather than work with Turek, Otík decides to accept an offer of employment in Prague, but finds he does not fit in to the city life. After discovering that the transfer of Otík to Prague was a trick by a crooked politician to get a deal on Otík's large inherited house, Pávek agrees to give Otík a second chance and retrieves him from the city to resume their work together.

My Sweet Little Village

1985

The Snowdrop Festival poster
6.6

An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal.

The Snowdrop Festival

1984

No artwork available
8.0

The 50th anniversary of the Barrandov studios was celebrated with a spectacular show: many directors and other important people gathered in the expensive decorations of the Variety Theatre auditorium (built for the Circus Humberto series). They smiled and showed well-deserved relaxation after a job well done in managing socialist cinema. Vladimir Sís interspersed this with excerpts from films, mainly his own and also a little of others who had worked on the "Hill of Dreams".

Barrandovské nokturno aneb Jak film tančil a zpíval

1985

Spanilá jízda poster
7.0

In the Hussite times, religious truth was sifted even on the tips of weapons. When in 1430 the Hussites set out on a raid to Nuremberg, the so-called Spanila Cavalry, to defend their doctrine, the young commander of the cavalry, the landowner Keřský, whose bride had once been kidnapped by a vicious crusader, saw it as an opportunity for personal revenge. Although Oldřich Daněk has tried to establish a distinctive interpretation of historical events, he reflects on where the blinded desire to punish a bad deed with further cruelty leads, but his version seems too thesis-like and lifeless, it does not rise above the descriptively illustrated scenes from old Czech chronicles...

Spanilá jízda

1963

No artwork available
NR

Documentary about the making of the 1967 Czech film "Marketa Lazarova".

In the Web of Time

1991

No artwork available
NR

An interesting look at love destroyed by the demon of drugs, which uses opera singing instead of spoken word. A story about the relationship of two young people and drug addiction.

Rakovina vůle

1989

Pět z milionu poster
8.0

Five short stories: The Master and the Twentieth Disciple; Every Week is Sunday; It's Boniface's Fault; The Raggedy Song; The Spider's Web.

Pět z milionu

1959

Behind the camera

Marketa Lazarová poster
7.7

Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.

Marketa Lazarová

1967

Marketa Lazarová poster
7.7

Mikolás and his brother Adam end up with a young German hostage of noble blood during a robbery. While their clan prepares for the wrath of the German king, Mikolás is sent to pressure his neighbor Lazar into a defense pact. Persuasion fails and he abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa on the eve of her initiation as a nun in an act of vengeance.

Marketa Lazarová

1967

Clouds of Glass poster
7.0

A young boy’s infatuation with flight is the subject of Vláčil’s poetic, prize-winning early short, made for the Czechoslovak Army’s film unit.

Clouds of Glass

1958

Clouds of Glass poster
7.0

A young boy’s infatuation with flight is the subject of Vláčil’s poetic, prize-winning early short, made for the Czechoslovak Army’s film unit.

Clouds of Glass

1958

Shades of Fern poster
4.8

Based on the only extensive prose work by the surrealist painter Josef Capek, Shades of Fern most resembles the philosophical fairy tales and fables of Josef’s older brother, the legendary Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. Two young poachers, more boys than men, kill a gamekeeper when they are caught illegally hunting. Panicked, they retreat into a forest that grows steadily more forbidding and deadly as their fear for the future—and guilt over their action—mounts. Loosely based on hundreds of oral folk tales and legends that haunt the woods of Czechoslovakia, Vlácil’s contemporary updating artistically underscores the relationship between man and nature, crime and punishment, isolation and society, and guilt and memory.

Shades of Fern

1986

Shades of Fern poster
4.8

Based on the only extensive prose work by the surrealist painter Josef Capek, Shades of Fern most resembles the philosophical fairy tales and fables of Josef’s older brother, the legendary Czech novelist and playwright Karel Capek. Two young poachers, more boys than men, kill a gamekeeper when they are caught illegally hunting. Panicked, they retreat into a forest that grows steadily more forbidding and deadly as their fear for the future—and guilt over their action—mounts. Loosely based on hundreds of oral folk tales and legends that haunt the woods of Czechoslovakia, Vlácil’s contemporary updating artistically underscores the relationship between man and nature, crime and punishment, isolation and society, and guilt and memory.

Shades of Fern

1986

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Electricity Management

1950

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Electricity Management

1950

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pražský Odysseus

1991

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pražský Odysseus

1991

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Modrý den

1954

The Valley of the Bees poster
7.0

Cast out by his father, young Ondrej joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, where he is raised by strict monk Armin. After years of hardship, Ondrej escapes from the Order when he is wrongly punished, and sets out for his former home. Arriving to discover his father to be dead, Ondrej now not only assumes control of his father's properties, but seeks to marry his former stepmother.

The Valley of the Bees

1968

The Valley of the Bees poster
7.0

Cast out by his father, young Ondrej joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, where he is raised by strict monk Armin. After years of hardship, Ondrej escapes from the Order when he is wrongly punished, and sets out for his former home. Arriving to discover his father to be dead, Ondrej now not only assumes control of his father's properties, but seeks to marry his former stepmother.

The Valley of the Bees

1968

No artwork available
7.3

No synopsis available yet.

Art Nouveau's Prague

1974

No artwork available
7.3

No synopsis available yet.

Art Nouveau's Prague

1974

The Devil's Trap poster
6.9

A small town is one day visited by a priest who is there on a secret mission. He is a member of the Inquisition sent to investigate the activities of a local miller. The miller and his son are the descendants of an old family whose ancestral home burned down a century ago, but was rebuilt from scratch. The miller inherited much of his knowledge about the land, water, and a building's stability from generations of family experience. His reputation for finding water and predicting when a structure might collapse have come to the attention of the Inquisition -surely he must be in league with the Devil.

The Devil's Trap

1962

Albert poster
7.5

Story of an extraordinary musician, violinist, who was famous, but his alcoholism led him to poverty. Now he is playing time from time to rich people. Then Albert meets count Delesov, who tries to change Albert's life. Two different characters, two ways of life confront... Will Albert change? Should he?

Albert

1985

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Thermal Revolution

1951

No artwork available
NR

A film about injury prevention. It shows how there is a risk of electrical injury when one fails to observe safety regulations. It presents examples of poor work practices and their associated risks. Then viewers are shown correct and safe work practices as well as exemplary workers who should become their role models.

Electrical Injuries in Industry

1951

The White Dove poster
7.1

A poetic film about a dove getting lost on its way to Prague getting shot down by a paralyzed boy. An artist who finds the dove becomes friends with the boy. Together they take care of it bringing it back to recovery.

The White Dove

1960

The White Dove poster
7.1

A poetic film about a dove getting lost on its way to Prague getting shot down by a paralyzed boy. An artist who finds the dove becomes friends with the boy. Together they take care of it bringing it back to recovery.

The White Dove

1960

Adelheid poster
6.9

In the aftermath of World War II, a soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family and falls in love with the daughter, now a maid. Their relationship forces him to confront the tension between his love and his conscience.

Adelheid

1970

Adelheid poster
6.9

In the aftermath of World War II, a soldier takes charge of a manor formerly owned by a German family and falls in love with the daughter, now a maid. Their relationship forces him to confront the tension between his love and his conscience.

Adelheid

1970

No artwork available
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Remembrance

1954