Daddy

“It’s hard to say no to my dad. But on the other hand, he’s such an excellent screenwriter! And I have the advantage that he offers his works to me first”, said Jan Svěrák. It had to end this way: the son (together with a childhood friend) made a film about his father. But when you have such a subject at home, it would be absurd not to take it up. After the fruitful collaboration on The Elementary School, Accumulator 1, Kolya, and Dark Blue World, however, a creative stagnation set in. The gentlemen could not agree on the essence of the next script, and the press even reported on a dispute within the Svěrák family. The crisis was eventually overcome and Empties was created—but before that came Daddy, in which we get to know Jan’s father better, both literally and figuratively. It is a tender but not overly sentimental look at the personal and professional life of Zdeněk Svěrák. The film touches on childhood, the beginnings of a career on stage, the famous Jára Cimrman Theatre in Prague—operating continuously since 1967—and achievements in the world of cinema. It is no secret that our hero likes to weave characters and memories from his long and colorful life into his stories. This film portrait offers clues as to where those echoes of personal experience originate.

Maciej Gil

Jan Svěrák (b. 1965) – Czech director, screenwriter, and producer. Son of actor and screenwriter Zdeněk (born 1936), and father of editor František (born 1991) and actor Ondřej (born 2001). A graduate of the documentary film department at FAMU in Prague. He won a Student Academy Award for Oil Gobblers (1988) and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Kolya (1996). He was also nominated for The Elementary School (1991) and received the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for The Ride (1994), along with numerous Czech Lions and other awards. His films The Elementary School, Kolya, Dark Blue World (2001), and Empties (2007) rank among the biggest successes at the Czech box office. He has also appeared in cameo roles in films by his colleague Filip Renč.

Martin Dostál (b. 1962) is a Czech art historian, curator, director and screenwriter. A childhood friend of Jan Svěrák, he was introduced to cinema alongside him from an early age. He studied film production at FAMU in Prague and art history at Charles University. He has made documentary films and commercials, curated exhibitions, and published articles and monographs on contemporary art. He previously headed the East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice and is currently Artistic Director of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. He co-wrote the screenplay for Jan Svěrák’s The Ride (1994) and co-directed Daddy (2004).

Zdeněk Svěrák (b. 1936) – Czech actor, screenwriter, playwright, and author of numerous collections of short stories for children and adults (also published in Poland), as well as hundreds of song lyrics. Father of director, screenwriter, and producer Jan (born 1965), and grandfather of editor František (born 1991) and actor Ondřej (born 2001). Trained as a teacher of Czech language and literature. The recipient of countless awards, he has co-created films that won an Academy Award and received two further nominations. In 1967, he co-founded the Jára Cimrman Theatre, for which he wrote all the plays and where he continues to perform to this day. As a screenwriter, he has collaborated with some of the most prominent Czech directors, including Oldřich Lipský, Jiří Menzel, Vít Olmer, Ladislav Smoljak, and, of course, his son Jan. As an actor, he has appeared in films by the aforementioned directors as well as those by Věra Chytilová and Dušan Klein.

section partner