Zden\u011bk Sv\u011br\u00e1k’s relationship with the camera got off to a rocky start; in fact, he never really wanted to be an actor. Nonetheless, he’s become one of the Czech Republic’s most popular performers. This afternoon at Art Film Fest, he accepted the Actor’s Mission Award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of screen acting, fixing a brass plaque bearing his own name in Tren\u010dianske Teplice’s Festival Park, greeted by enthusiastic applause from festival visitors and fans.<\/p>\n
"Me and the camera weren’t friends at first. I was afraid of her. But later this changed when I came to realize that the camera is like a woman \u2013 you can’t lie to her, she’ll see right through you. She can recognize insincerity. And so I started acting in front of the camera sincerely, without pretense. I stopped being afraid, and she accepted me as an intimate friend," said the Actor’s Mission Award’s latest laureate Mr Sv\u011br\u00e1k, describing the beginning of his film career, which has encompassed seventy features and ten documentaries since his start in 1969.<\/p>\n
Both as an actor and as a scriptwriter, Sv\u011br\u00e1k has created a number of cult classics, not the least of which being the legendary Czech \u201chero\u201d J\u00e1ra Cimrman. He even brought the Czechs their first Hollywood Oscar in decades. All in all, he is one of the Czech Republic’s most talented actors and scriptwriters.<\/p>\n
Zden\u011bk Sv\u011br\u00e1k was born on March 28th, 1936 in Prague. Starting out as a Czech teacher and a radio editor, his first experience with the dramatic arts was as a cofounder of the now-infamous J\u00e1ra Cimrman Theatre. In 1967, Sv\u011br\u00e1k and Ladislav Smoljak laid the theatre\u2019s foundations, devising the greatest (imaginary) Czech hero of all time. Cimrman was a rousing success, and Sv\u011br\u00e1k has performed forty-three seasons of sold-out shows there, spanning over four decades. "My whole life I’ve worked with humour. It doesn’t have to be gut-busting; sometimes a smile is enough, but humour is the only defence against death," said the actor at today’s press conference.<\/p>\n
Sv\u011br\u00e1k has written concepts and scripts both alone and with Smoljak since 1970. Together, they brought Cimrman to the silver screen in pictures such as \u201cJ\u00e1ra Cimrman Lying, Sleeping\u201d. On his own, Sv\u011br\u00e1k made his mark with hits like \u201cMare\u010dek, Pass Me the Pen!\u201d, \u201cWaiter, Scarper!\u201d and \u201cThose Wonderful Movie Cranks\u201d. Together with Ji\u0159\u00ed Menzel, he earned the first Oscar nomination for a Czech film in nearly two decades with "My Sweet Little Village". Today in Tren\u010dianske Teplice, he reunited with his colleagues from the film, Hungarian actor J\u00e1nos B\u00e1n and Slovak actor Mari\u00e1n Labuda, as they signed autographs together during lunch.<\/p>\n
Zden\u011bk Sv\u011br\u00e1k’s greatest awards came after he formed the \u201cSv\u011br\u00e1k Duo" with his son Jan. Zden\u011bk wrote the screenplay for Jan’s first feature-length film, "The Elementary School", reminiscing on his own childhood and teaching career. In 1991 the picture was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film, but father and son had to wait a bit longer for their own golden figurine. In the end it was 1997\u2019s \u201cKolya\u201d, starring Zden\u011bk, that finally won the Oscar. And that wasn’t the last of its world-class awards \u2013 it won a Golden Globe, too.
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Art Film Fest 2011 \u2013 the 19th Tren\u010dianske Teplice\/Tren\u010d\u00edn International Film Festival is made possible by the financial support of the Audiovisual Fund.<\/p>\n
Organizers:<\/b> ART FILM, n.o., FORZA, a.s. <\/p>\n
Co-organizers:<\/b> The Town of Tren\u010dianske Teplice, Tren\u010dianske Teplice Health Spa<\/p>\n
General Sponsors:<\/b> Omnia Holding SE, AquaCity Poprad<\/p>\n
Main Sponsors:<\/b> Tatra banka, Slovnaft, VUJE, OHL \u017dS<\/p>\n
Official Transport Provider:<\/b> Lancia <\/p>\n
Logistics Sponsor:<\/b> DHL <\/p>\n
Free student cinepasses provided by:<\/b> Prv\u00e1 stavebn\u00e1 sporite\u013e\u0148a (First Housing-Construction Savings Bank)<\/p>\n
Sponsors:<\/b> TIPOS, Ernst & Young, AVI studio, Penzi\u00f3n Baske, Cinemax, Santovka<\/p>\n
Official Suppliers:<\/b> Pilsner Urquell, HUBERT J.E., the festival Pax Spa Hotel,
A Briliant, Philips, Esterle&Esterle, MF team, LampART, Lenovo, Stredn\u00e1 odborn\u00e1 \u0161kola polygrafick\u00e1 (Vocational School of Printing)<\/p>\n
Main Media Sponsors:<\/b> Slovensk\u00e1 telev\u00edzia, telev\u00edzia JOJ, R\u00e1dio FM, Pravda, zoznam.sk<\/p>\n
Media Sponsors:<\/b> Central Europe Television, Kino CS, Muzika CS, Doku CS, R\u00e1dio Europa 2, R\u00e1dio Hit FM, .t\u00fd\u017ede\u0148, Eurotelev\u00edzia, Pardon, OK!, Kine\u010dko, Kam do mesta, Focus, Boomerang Media, SITA, moviemania.sk, BlueSky, Telev\u00edzia Tren\u010dianske Teplice, Film New Europe, euroAWK, Willmark<\/p>\n
Partners:<\/b> The City of Tren\u010d\u00edn, the Tren\u010d\u00edn Self-governing Region, the Embassy of Israel in Slovakia, the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, the Embassy of the USA in Bratislava, the Office of the Embassy of Sweden in Bratislava, Sodec Quebec, the Slovak Film Institute, Cinecitta, the Italian Cultural Institute in Bratislava, Omnia, RONA, Celtima SK, jazykovepobyty.sk, Hotel Fl\u00f3ra, versity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zden\u011bk Sv\u011br\u00e1k’s relationship with the camera got off to a rocky start; in fact, he never really wanted to be