Petr Zelenka

Directing

Petr Zelenka

Born 1967-08-21 · Prague - Czechoslovakia

Petr Zelenka (born 21 August 1967 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech playwright and director of theatre and film. His films have been recognized at international festivals in Moscow and Rotterdam. In 2008, his film Karamazovi was the Czech Republic's official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film. An early notable work is a black comedy, Tales of Common Insanity (2004) (Czech: Příběhy obyčejného šílenství), which he directed at Dejvické divadlo. He received the Alfréd Radok Award for Best Play. The play was later staged in other Czech theatres as well as in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Germany. It was also published in English and translated to Russian. For his film Mnâga – Happy End he won the 1996 Findling Award at the Filmfestival Cottbus. In 2005, Zelenka adapted the comedy as a film, released as Wrong Side Up, which won two movie festival awards in 2006 and was nominated for six other awards. His second most notable play is Teremin, inspired by the life of Russian inventor Léon Theremin. His 2008 film, Karamazovi, was the Czech Republic's official Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film. His 2010 election advertisement "Přemluv bábu a dědu" caused controversy as critics believed it was offensive against elder people[1] and "an imperfect copy of Sarah Silverman's stand-up video."

Acting credits

Garden Store - Part 2: Deserter poster
5.7

In 1940s Prague, a former Nazi prisoner returns to run his posh hair salon and struggles with family, the rise of communism and his past.

Garden Store - Part 2: Deserter

2017

Darkness poster
4.1

A man leaves his busy city life for the peace of the country home where he spent his early childhood. His new life is soon disturbed by strange events.

Darkness

2009

Buttoners poster
7.0

It is a film consisting of six short stories, which mostly tell in a black humorous, ironic, often bitterly bitter form about an ancient curse, human infidelity, strange deviations, an unexpected miracle and hypocritical forgiveness. They have their own pointed structure, specific atmosphere and way of processing, and yet they pass on motives to each other that communicate with each other and observe the same things from different angles.

Buttoners

1997

No artwork available
NR

František Černý and Karel Holas take a trip through the colorful history of a band that keeps breathing, rehearsing, searching, and discovering. The documentary was made in 2018, when Čechomor celebrated its 30th anniversary. In the band's home recording studio on Barrandov Hill above Prague, the filmmakers did not find any fame-weary "distinguished artists" resting on the laurels of past successes, but instead met energetic and enthusiastic young men, František Černý and Karel Holas, who are currently working on something new...

Čechomor 30 let

2019

Mňága – Happy End poster
7.0

A crazy pseudo-documentary about Mnaga&Zdorp, a real (and much loved) Czech pop-rock group. It depicts their fictitious history of being created artificially, on demand of the musical market.

Mňága – Happy End

1996

Behind the camera

Loners poster
7.5

Robert works for a travel agency and helps to arrange scenes from the everyday lives of "ordinary" Czech families as an attraction for Japanese tourists. He also works as a kind of matchmaker and occasionally helps to put together some of his friends. He helps to separate his friend Hanka from Peter, an announcer for an independent radio station who tries to capture "real" life by recording the moments from "reality" and playing them over the air. Vesna, came to Prague from Macedonia because it is according to her the best place for UFOs to land, but her real reason for coming is somewhat different... Hanka is followed by the crazy Ondrej, until then a respected brain surgeon, and married with two kids. Through him she meets Jacob, who uses copious amounts of weed in order to be constructive in this gloomy world. On the other hand, this destroys his short-term memory - and he forgets that he already has a girlfriend...

Loners

2000

Lost in Munich poster
6.4

Sir "P" a 90 year old gray parrot, formerly living with Edouard Daladier, the French prime minister responsible for signing the Munich Treaty, comes to Prague to give his "account" of the past events. But can he do it, being just a bird? In a series of weird events sir is kidnapped by a Czech journalist undergoing his midlife crisis. The guy has him publicly say some really controversial statements, causing a diplomatic scandal. At the end of the day it is the French who decide to assassinate their own national hero....And that's only the half of the story.

Lost in Munich

2015

Lost in Munich poster
6.4

Sir "P" a 90 year old gray parrot, formerly living with Edouard Daladier, the French prime minister responsible for signing the Munich Treaty, comes to Prague to give his "account" of the past events. But can he do it, being just a bird? In a series of weird events sir is kidnapped by a Czech journalist undergoing his midlife crisis. The guy has him publicly say some really controversial statements, causing a diplomatic scandal. At the end of the day it is the French who decide to assassinate their own national hero....And that's only the half of the story.

Lost in Munich

2015

The Karamazov Brothers poster
7.0

Dostoevsky’s latter-day opus about the siblings and their father is among the masterpieces of world literature. It asks profound questions about ethics and religion. Is there a God? Does the devil exist? Is everything allowed because we live in a world without morality? And if so, does patricide even constitute a crime? One of the most interesting adaptations of the material is The Karamazovs by Czech director Petr Zelenka. We witness a group of thesps from Prague on a trip to Krakow in Poland to stage the novel as a play in a derelict steelworks as part of the Closer to Life Festival. The project, however, is born under the bad sign, apparently doomed from the start. When they arrive, the roof is about to cave in, so that the actors are told to wear safety helmets. Their sole consistent audience is a laborer (Andrzej Mastalerz) who rather follows each dress rehearsal than watching over his seven-year-old son who has suffered a tragic accident in the factory.

The Karamazov Brothers

2008

The Karamazov Brothers poster
7.0

Dostoevsky’s latter-day opus about the siblings and their father is among the masterpieces of world literature. It asks profound questions about ethics and religion. Is there a God? Does the devil exist? Is everything allowed because we live in a world without morality? And if so, does patricide even constitute a crime? One of the most interesting adaptations of the material is The Karamazovs by Czech director Petr Zelenka. We witness a group of thesps from Prague on a trip to Krakow in Poland to stage the novel as a play in a derelict steelworks as part of the Closer to Life Festival. The project, however, is born under the bad sign, apparently doomed from the start. When they arrive, the roof is about to cave in, so that the actors are told to wear safety helmets. Their sole consistent audience is a laborer (Andrzej Mastalerz) who rather follows each dress rehearsal than watching over his seven-year-old son who has suffered a tragic accident in the factory.

The Karamazov Brothers

2008

Buttoners poster
7.0

It is a film consisting of six short stories, which mostly tell in a black humorous, ironic, often bitterly bitter form about an ancient curse, human infidelity, strange deviations, an unexpected miracle and hypocritical forgiveness. They have their own pointed structure, specific atmosphere and way of processing, and yet they pass on motives to each other that communicate with each other and observe the same things from different angles.

Buttoners

1997

Buttoners poster
7.0

It is a film consisting of six short stories, which mostly tell in a black humorous, ironic, often bitterly bitter form about an ancient curse, human infidelity, strange deviations, an unexpected miracle and hypocritical forgiveness. They have their own pointed structure, specific atmosphere and way of processing, and yet they pass on motives to each other that communicate with each other and observe the same things from different angles.

Buttoners

1997

Wrong Side Up poster
7.3

A man who deals with parcels at an airport cargo company finds that he likes planes more than people.

Wrong Side Up

2005

Wrong Side Up poster
7.3

A man who deals with parcels at an airport cargo company finds that he likes planes more than people.

Wrong Side Up

2005

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Televize

1994

Visaci zamek 1982 - 2007 poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Visaci zamek 1982 - 2007

1993

Pes baskervillský poster
4.8

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles is a detective classic that never fails to delight, with its clever plot, charmingly arranged scary scenes, and dry humor. All of this has been preserved in the theatrical adaptation by Petr Zelenka and Olga Šubrtová. They wrote it specifically for the castle park in Český Krumlov, where it is performed in front of the Revolving Auditorium. It premiered in June 2015, at the beginning of the summer festival season. Czech Television recorded The Hound of the Baskervilles at the end of summer 2018 with Karel Roden as Sherlock Holmes, Viktor Limr as Dr. Watson, and Jiří Suchý from Tábor as Sir Henry Baskerville.

Pes baskervillský

2019

Pes baskervillský poster
4.8

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles is a detective classic that never fails to delight, with its clever plot, charmingly arranged scary scenes, and dry humor. All of this has been preserved in the theatrical adaptation by Petr Zelenka and Olga Šubrtová. They wrote it specifically for the castle park in Český Krumlov, where it is performed in front of the Revolving Auditorium. It premiered in June 2015, at the beginning of the summer festival season. Czech Television recorded The Hound of the Baskervilles at the end of summer 2018 with Karel Roden as Sherlock Holmes, Viktor Limr as Dr. Watson, and Jiří Suchý from Tábor as Sir Henry Baskerville.

Pes baskervillský

2019

Droneman poster
5.3

Droneman is about Chemist and Fly Navigator Pavel and his friend Bussinessman and free time Rapper Plech. Pavel has strong sense of justice and wishes to fix wrongs with the World while Plech dreams about Big money and secure life. Their common passion are Drones since School. Pavel returns from Foreign and meets again with Plech and together they use Drones to start Bussiness. They monitor Power Stations, wear luxury handbags at the show or spray the Petrin Tower from the air. Their clients even include Presidential candidate. Everything changes when one of them decides to misuse Drones.

Droneman

2020

Droneman poster
5.3

Droneman is about Chemist and Fly Navigator Pavel and his friend Bussinessman and free time Rapper Plech. Pavel has strong sense of justice and wishes to fix wrongs with the World while Plech dreams about Big money and secure life. Their common passion are Drones since School. Pavel returns from Foreign and meets again with Plech and together they use Drones to start Bussiness. They monitor Power Stations, wear luxury handbags at the show or spray the Petrin Tower from the air. Their clients even include Presidential candidate. Everything changes when one of them decides to misuse Drones.

Droneman

2020

Droneman poster
5.3

Droneman is about Chemist and Fly Navigator Pavel and his friend Bussinessman and free time Rapper Plech. Pavel has strong sense of justice and wishes to fix wrongs with the World while Plech dreams about Big money and secure life. Their common passion are Drones since School. Pavel returns from Foreign and meets again with Plech and together they use Drones to start Bussiness. They monitor Power Stations, wear luxury handbags at the show or spray the Petrin Tower from the air. Their clients even include Presidential candidate. Everything changes when one of them decides to misuse Drones.

Droneman

2020

Dabing Street poster
NR

Recording of the performance Dabing Street from the Dejvice Theater.

Dabing Street

2014

Dabing Street poster
NR

Recording of the performance Dabing Street from the Dejvice Theater.

Dabing Street

2014

Year of the Devil poster
6.8

Documentary maker Jan Holman follows the ultrafamous singer/songwriter Jaromír Novahica during his tour with the band Cechomor. The combination is very succesful, but it draws a heavy toll on the band members and Jan Holman.

Year of the Devil

2002

Year of the Devil poster
6.8

Documentary maker Jan Holman follows the ultrafamous singer/songwriter Jaromír Novahica during his tour with the band Cechomor. The combination is very succesful, but it draws a heavy toll on the band members and Jan Holman.

Year of the Devil

2002

Elegance molekuly poster
NR

It is often only a few hundred meters from the chemical laboratory to the nearest pharmacy. But on this journey, the drug molecule undergoes a process worth hundreds of millions of dollars, often involving thousands of people. That is, the molecule that is lucky enough to reach its destination. The play Elegance of the Molecule follows three such substances and their three "fathers," one of whom was the brilliant Czech chemist Professor Antonín Holý. It explores the creation and dramatic industrial development of substances from Czech chemical laboratories that today treat AIDS in more than sixty percent of patients worldwide. Otto Wichterle had his famous story about how he built a device for centrifuging the first contact lenses using a Merkur construction kit. Petr Zelenka's play looks for such a "Merkur" in the life of chemist Antonín Holý.

Elegance molekuly

2024

Elegance molekuly poster
NR

It is often only a few hundred meters from the chemical laboratory to the nearest pharmacy. But on this journey, the drug molecule undergoes a process worth hundreds of millions of dollars, often involving thousands of people. That is, the molecule that is lucky enough to reach its destination. The play Elegance of the Molecule follows three such substances and their three "fathers," one of whom was the brilliant Czech chemist Professor Antonín Holý. It explores the creation and dramatic industrial development of substances from Czech chemical laboratories that today treat AIDS in more than sixty percent of patients worldwide. Otto Wichterle had his famous story about how he built a device for centrifuging the first contact lenses using a Merkur construction kit. Petr Zelenka's play looks for such a "Merkur" in the life of chemist Antonín Holý.

Elegance molekuly

2024

Teremin poster
2.7

Lev Sergeyevich Theremin was a pioneering Russian inventor whose eponymous instrument, the thereminvox, revolutionized electronic music; between 1928 and 1938 he enjoyed triumphs in America - sold-out concerts, mass production of his instrument, and high society acclaim - before the Wall Street crash, personal upheavals, and waning fame led to his enigmatic 1938 return to the USSR. Against all expectations, after surviving Stalin’s notorious Magadan labor camp, he resumed work for Soviet secret services and lived on until 1993, passing away at the age of 97.

Teremin

2011

Teremin poster
2.7

Lev Sergeyevich Theremin was a pioneering Russian inventor whose eponymous instrument, the thereminvox, revolutionized electronic music; between 1928 and 1938 he enjoyed triumphs in America - sold-out concerts, mass production of his instrument, and high society acclaim - before the Wall Street crash, personal upheavals, and waning fame led to his enigmatic 1938 return to the USSR. Against all expectations, after surviving Stalin’s notorious Magadan labor camp, he resumed work for Soviet secret services and lived on until 1993, passing away at the age of 97.

Teremin

2011