Otakar Vávra

Otakar Vávra 28 February 1911 15 September 2011 was a Czech film director screenwriter and pedagogue Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague where he studied architecture During 192930 while still a student he participated in the making of a handful of documentaries and wrote movie scripts In 1931 he produced the experimental film Světlo proniká tmou The first movie he directed was 1937s Panenství His 1938 film The Merry Wives was praised in Variety for firstrate direction a salty yarn and elaborate production effort even though it had undergone certain cuts because it was considered too ribald by American censors Vávra was a member of the Communist Party from 1945 to 1989 After the Communists seized power in 1948 Vávra adapted quickly to the new political climate and produced films praising the current regime and supporting the new official interpretation of the past In the 1950s he filmed the Hussite Trilogy one of his most famous works consisting of Jan Hus 1954 Jan Žižka 1955 and Against All 19572 In the 1960s Vávra made his most celebrated films Zlatá reneta 1965 Romance for Bugle 1966 and Witchhammer 1969 Romance for Bugle was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Silver Prize In the 1970s Vávra produced his War Trilogy consisting of semidocumentary movies Dny zrady Sokolovo and Osvobození Prahy all being heavily influenced by communist propaganda The film Dny zrady Days of Betrayal 1973 was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Diploma In 1979 he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival Since the 1950s Vávra taught film direction at Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague Among his students were several directors of the Czech New Wave