The Svěráks: An Oscar-Winning Family

Let’s recall some earlier winners: Ivan Jandl for Best Child Actor in Fred Zinnemann’s The Search (1948); The Shop on Main Street (1965) by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos in the Best Foreign Language Film category; Closely Watched Trains (1966) by Jiří Menzel in the same category; and two Best Director Oscars for Miloš Forman—for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Amadeus (1984).

But only one Czech family can boast two Oscars (well, one Student Oscar) and two nominations (well, one a bit of a stretch): the Svěráks. Zdeněk (b. 1936) and Jan (b. 1965).

It all began with a nomination for Jiří Menzel’s comedy-drama My Sweet Little Village (1985), for which Zdeněk wrote the screenplay and in which he also played one of the role —the somewhat eccentric one. Shortly thereafter, Jan received a Student Oscar for his graduation film Oil Gobblers (1988). And then father and son joined forces, resulting in a nomination for The Elementary School (1991) and a statuette for Kolya (1996), of course in the Best Foreign Language Film category. A strong decade, wouldn’t you say?

And so it continued: Zdeněk wrote and acted, while Jan directed, and was delighted that his father offered his scripts to him first. Jiří Menzel used to joke that the great failure of his life was that Zdeněk Svěrák had given birth to a director.

Zdeněk initially worked as a teacher. He soon became involved in theatre and radio, however, and his comedic talent came to the fore at the legendary Jára Cimrman Theatre in Prague, from where it was only a short step into film. He gave his teenage son an amateur camera as a gift. Later, Jan studied at FAMU and very quickly gained international recognition. Their collaboration is based on Zdeněk’s mastery of language and authentic acting, combined with Jan’s visual imagination and talent as a producer. They are united by an intelligent (if sometimes risky) sense of humor and a deep understanding of human frailties. In their films, the most important thing is the characters’ everyday experiences, even when major historical events unfold in the background.

And while we could indeed measure the Svěráks’ achievements by the number of golden statuettes they have won abroad, let us choose a different metric: audience interest. Four of their films drew over a million viewers in cinemas (in a country of ten million people!), and six became the most-watched films of the year. This perhaps best demonstrates that the Svěráks understand Czech audiences like no one else.

A celebration marking Zdeněk’s 90th birthday will be broadcast on March 28 from the Jára Cimrman Theatre to cinemas across the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He is a living legend, and still very much active. Although he no longer writes screenplays, he publishes short stories for readers of all ages and continues to perform on stage. Unfortunately, he is now reluctant to travel. Jan’s most recent films have not been based on his father’s original screenplays, but rather on adaptations of his short stories (Barefoot, 2017; Bethlehem Light, 2022).

The history of Czechoslovak and Czech cinema offers many significant screenwriter director duos: Kachyňa and Procházka, Menzel and Hrabal, Vorlíček and Macourek, Hřebejk and Jarchovský. But there is only one partnership of this kind within a family between father and son, enriched by acting. It is worth noting that a third generation of the Svěrák family has now entered the world of film: the sons of Jan and Eva. František (b. 1991) is an editor (Bethlehem Light, 2022), cinematographer, and illustrator, while Ondřej (b. 2001) occasionally appears on screen (Kooky, 2010). The dynasty continues.

Maciej Gil

Translated by Barbara Feliga

As part of the section, the following films will be presented:

• My Sweet Little Village (Vesničko má středisková, dir. Jiří Menzel, screenplay by Zdeněk Svěrák, Czechoslovakia, 1985),
• The Elementary School (Obecná škola, dir. Jan Svěrák, Czechoslovakia, 1991),
• Accumulator 1 (Akumulátor 1, dir. Jan Svěrák, Czech Republic, 1994),
• Kolya (Kolja, dir. Jan Svěrák, Czech Republic, UK, France, 1996),
• Dark Blue World (Tmavomodrý svět, dir. Jan Svěrák, Czech Republic, UK, Germany, Denmark, Italy, France, USA, 2001),
• Daddy (Tatínek, dir. Jan Svěrák, Martin Dostál, Czech Republic, 2004),
• Empties (Vratné lahve, dir. Jan Svěrák, Czech Republic, UK, Denmark, 2007).

The section is curated by Petr Vlček and Maciej Gil.

The section partner is the Czech Centre.