Jiří Menzel ([ˈjɪr̝iː ˈmɛntsl̩]) (born February 23, 1938, Prague) is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films are adapted from works by Czech writers such as Bohumil Hrabal and Vladislav Vančura.

He became famous in 1967, when his first feature film, Closely Watched Trains, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His controversial film Larks on a String was filmed in 1969, but was initially banned by the [Czechoslovakia] government. It was finally released in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime. The film won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Menzel was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film again in 1986 with his dark comedy My Sweet Little Village. In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1989 he was a member of the jury at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1995 he was a member of the jury at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival. He would be conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI in November 2013.

Biography

Son père, Jozef Menzel, est scénariste et écrivain. Jiří se rend célèbre dans les années 1960 en devenant le représentant de la Nouvelle Vague tchèque avec des chefs-d'œuvre comme Trains étroitement surveillés, inspiré d'un texte de Bohumil Hrabal qui reçoit l'Oscar du meilleur film en langue étrangère en 1968 ou Mon cher petit village nommé aux Oscars en 1986.

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