Jiří Menzel

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title: "Jiří Menzel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["jiří-menzel", "1938-births", "2020-deaths", "czech-theatre-directors", "czechoslovak-film-directors", "czech-comedy-film-directors", "german-language-film-directors", "film-directors-from-prague", "directors-of-best-foreign-language-film-academy-award-winners", "directors-of-golden-bear-winners", "recipients-of-the-medal-of-merit-(czech-republic)", "members-of-the-european-academy-of-sciences-and-arts", "academy-of-performing-arts-in-prague-alumni", "deaths-from-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-the-czech-republic", "chevaliers-of-the-ordre-des-arts-et-des-lettres", "burials-at-vyšehrad-cemetery"] description: "Czech film director (1938–2020)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiří_Menzel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Czech film director (1938–2020) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Jiří Menzel
image	Jiří_Menzel_2016.jpg
alt	A close-up of Menzel's face
caption	Jiří Menzel in 2016
birth_date
birth_place	Prague, Czechoslovakia
death_date
death_place	Prague, Czech Republic
occupation	Film director
spouse	Olga Menzelová
::

| name = Jiří Menzel | image = Jiří_Menzel_2016.jpg | alt = A close-up of Menzel's face | caption = Jiří Menzel in 2016 | birth_date = | birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia | death_date = | death_place = Prague, Czech Republic | occupation = Film director | spouse = Olga Menzelová Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was 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.

Early life

Menzel was born in Prague in 1938 to Josef Menzel and Božena Jindřichová. His father Josef was a journalist, translator and children's book writer. Menzel studied directing at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in Prague. His teachers at the academy included Czech Director Otakar Vávra.

Career

Menzel was a member of the Czech New Wave cinema in the 1960s. His first feature film, Closely Watched Trains, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1967. The film was a World War II drama based on a book by Bohumil Hrabal. His film Larks on a String was filmed in 1969, but was banned by the government censors. 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 in 1990. The film was also based on a book by Bohumil Hrabal, and spoke about life in a re-education camp in Czechoslovakia under the communist rule in the 1950s.

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 was awarded an IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2013. He was also awarded the French title of Knight of Arts and Letters and the Czech Lion for lifetime artistic contribution.

In the 1980s he was offered by a West German television studio to make a television series version of The Good Soldier Švejk with Rudolf Hrušínský. He didn't get the permission from the Czechoslovak government however.

His last appearance in a feature film was in the 2018 Slovak film, The Interpreter, which was based on the story of a man's interactions with an SS soldier who had executed his parents. The film was Slovakia's official entry to the Oscars.

Death

Menzel died on 5 September 2020, aged 82, after battling a prolonged illness. He had undergone a brain surgery earlier in 2017. He is survived by his wife Olga Menzelová, and daughters, Anna Karolina and Eva Maria. Menzel's wife confirmed on 9 November 2020 that Menzel died as a result of COVID-19 pneumonia.

Filmography

Sources:

As a director

::data[format=table]

Year	English title	Original title	Notes	Prefabricated Houses	Our Mr. Foerster Died	Something Different	Concert '65	Crime at the Girls School	Pearls of the Deep	Closely Watched Trains	Crime in a Music Hall	Capricious Summer	Larks on a String	Altered Landscapes	Who Looks for Gold?	Seclusion Near a Forest	Those Wonderful Movie Cranks	Cutting It Short	Tři v tom	Krasosmutnění	Dr. Johann Faust, Praha II., Karlovo nám. 40	Best Wishes From Planet Earth	The Snowdrop Festival	My Sweet Little Village	**	The End of Old Times	Audience	Beggar's Opera	Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin	Jacobowski a plukovník	Ten Minutes Older	I Served the King of England	The Don Juans
1960	Domy z panelů	School film
1963	Umřel nám pan Foerster	School film
1963	O něčem jiném	assistant director
1965	Koncert 65	Short documentary
1965	Zločin v dívčí škole	Segment "Crime at the Girls School", also screenwriter
1966	Perličky na dně	Segment "Smrt pana Baltazara" (The Death of Mr. Balthazar), also screenwriter
1966	Ostře sledované vlaky	also screenwriter, Academy Award winner
1968	Zločin v šantánu	also screenwriter
1968	Rozmarné léto	also screenwriter
1969	Skřivánci na niti	also screenwriter, banned and not released until 1990
1974	Proměny krajiny	Short documentary
1974	Kdo hledá zlaté dno	also screenwriter
1976	Na samotě u lesa
1978	Báječní muži s klikou	also screenwriter
1980	Postřižiny	also screenwriter
1981	TV theatre
1982	TV film
TV theatre
1983	Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule
1984	Slavnosti sněženek	also screenwriter
1985	Vesničko má středisková	Nominated for Academy Award
1986	Die Schokoladenschnüffler
1989	Konec starých časů	also screenwriter
1991	TV film
1991	Žebrácká opera	also screenwriter
1993	Život a neobyčejná dobrodružství vojáka Ivana Čonkina	Nominated for 8 Czech Lion Awards
1998	TV theatre
2002	Segment "One Moment"
2006	Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále	also screenwriter, nominated for 11 Czech Lion Awards, won 5
2013	Donšajni	also screenwriter
::

As an actor

• Strop (Short film) (1962)
• Place in the Crowd (1964)
• Obžalovaný (1964)
• Courage for Every Day (1964)
• If a Thousand Clarinets (1965)
• Pension pro svobodné pány (TV Movie) (1965)
• Pearls of the Deep (1965)
• Nobody Will Laugh (1965)
• Searching (1966)
• Volejte Martina (1966)
• Closely Watched Trains (1966)
• Flám (1966)
• Return of the Prodigal Son (1967)
• Hotel for Strangers (1967)
• Private Hurricane (1967)
• Dita Saxová (1968)
• Capricious Summer (1968)
• Crime in a Music Hall (1968)
• The Cremator (1969)
• Larks on a String (1969)
• Nevěsta (1970)
• Straw Hat (1972)
• (1972, voiced by Eberhard Esche)
• Thirty Maidens and Pythagoras (1973)
• The Apple Game (1976)
• Modrá planeta (1977)
• The Woman Across the Way (1978)
• Those Wonderful Movie Cranks (1979)
• Every Wednesday (1979)
• Hra na telo (1979)
• Koportos (1980)
• (1981)
• Tale of the Little Quarter (TV Movie)(1981)
• Szívzür (1982)
• Ferat Vampire (1982)
• Švédská zápalka (TV Movie) (1982)
• Babička se zbláznila (TV Movie) (1982)
• Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule (1983)
• Fandy, ó Fandy (1983)
• Sedm křížků (TV Movie)(1983)
• Felhöjáték (1984)
• Albert (TV Movie) (1985)
• Run, He Is Coming! (1987)
• Dámská jízda (TV Movie) (1988)
• Stvoření světa (TV Movie) (1989)
• Zvláštní bytosti (1990)
• (1990)
• Martha and I (1990)
• Zvonokosy (TV Movie)(1990)
• Pražský student (TV Mini-Series)(1990)
• The Elementary School (1991)
• Das lange Gespräch mit dem Vogel (TV Movie)(1992)
• The Little Apocalypse (1993)
• Všetko čo mám rád (1993)
• Joint Venture (1994)
• Revenge (1995)
• (1995)
• Too Loud a Solitude (1996)
• Truck Stop (1996)
• Drákulův švagr (TV Mini-Series) (1996)
• Franciska vasárnapjai (1997)
• Hospoda (TV Series) (1996-1997)
• All My Loved Ones (1999)
• Zimní víla (TV Movie) (1999)
• When Grandpa Loved Rita Hayworth (2000)
• The Sunken Cemetery (2002)
• (2002)
• (2004)
• Rokonok (2006)
• Teddy Bear (2007)
• A bárány utolsó megkísértése (TV Movie) (2008)
• Setkání v Praze, s vraždou (TV Movie) (2009)
• Operation Dunaj (2009)
• (TV Series) (2009)
• The Door (2012)
• (TV Series) (2012–14)
• The Interpreter (2018)

References

References

1. (6 September 2020). "V osmdesáti dvou letech zemřel režisér Jiří Menzel".
2. (2016-12-11). "Menzel receives lifetime achievement award".
3. "CILECT".
4. (1999). "The International Who's who 2000". Europa Publications Limited.
5. "Josef Menzel". Czech National Library.
6. (17 September 2011). "Vávra mě naučil vše, co má filmař umět, vzpomíná Menzel - Novinky.cz".
7. "The 40th Academy Awards (1968) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org.
8. "Berlinale: 1990 Prize Winners". berlinale.de.
9. (2020-09-07). "Jiri Menzel: Oscar winning Czech director dies at 82". BBC News.
10. "The 59th Academy Awards (1987) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org.
11. "Berlinale: Juries". berlinale.de.
12. "16th Moscow International Film Festival (1989)". MIFF.
13. "19th Moscow International Film Festival (1995)". MIFF.
14. "IFFI 2013 to open with Malayalam Film Kanyaka Talkies". Biharprabha News.
15. "Rudolf Hrušínský".
16. TZ. (7 August 2018). "Film Tlmocnik to Compete in 2019 Oscars Race {{!}} NEWS NOW".
17. Ramos, Dino-Ray. (2020-09-06). "Jiri Menzel Dies: Oscar-Winning Czech Director Of 'Closely Watched Trains' Was 82".
18. (2020-09-07). "Jiri Menzel, Oscar-winning Czech film director, dies at 82". The Guardian.
19. (9 November 2020). "Jiří se před smrtí nakazil covidem-19, prozradila vdova Olga Menzelová".
20. (9 November 2020). "Oscar-winning Czech filmmaker Jiří Menzel died with COVID-19, reveals widow".
21. "Reni Santoni".
22. "Jirí Menzel". British Film Institute.
23. "Jiri Menzel List of Movies and TV Shows".
24. "Prefabricated Houses".
25. "Jiří Menzel".
26. "Tři v tom".
27. "Krasosmutnění (TV film) (1982)".
28. "Dr. Johann Faust, Praha II., Karlovo nám. 40".
29. "Český lev / 1994 / Nominace".
30. "Jacobowski a plukovník (divadelní záznam) (1998)".
31. "Český lev / 2006 / Nominace".
32. "Český lev / 2006 / Držitelé ceny 14. Český lev".
33. . ["Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze: Donšajni"](http://www.csfd.cz/film/320688-donsajni/).
34. "Sedm křížků (TV film)".
35. "Truck Stop".
36. "Világszám! (2004) {{!}} Galerie".
37. "Vyprávěj (TV seriál)".
38. "Až po uši (TV seriál)".

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