Kolya 1996

type: Movie

language: Czech

duration: 101 min

genre: drama

director: Jan Svěrák

Score: 6 / 10

Kolya is a 1996 Czech drama film about a man whose life is reshaped in an unexpected way. The film was directed by Jan Svěrák and stars his father, Zdeněk Svěrák, who also wrote the script from a story by Pavel Taussig. Kolya earned critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Plot

The film begins in 1988 as the Soviet Bloc is beginning to disintegrate. František Louka, a middle-aged Czech man dedicated to bachelorhood and the pursuit of women, is a concert cellist struggling to eke out a living by playing funerals at the Prague crematoriums. He has lost his previous job at the Czech Philharmonic, having been half-accidentally blacklisted as "politically unreliable" by the authorities. A friend offers him a chance to earn a great deal of money through a sham marriage to a Soviet woman to enable her to stay in Czechoslovakia. The woman then uses her new citizenship to emigrate to West Germany, where her boyfriend lives.

Awards

Cast

More details

author	Pavel Taussig Zdeněk Svěrák
award	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Czech Lion for Best Film Golden Globe Award for Best Non-English Language Film
contentLocation	Prague
director	Jan Svěrák
editor	Alois Fišárek
events	parenting political repression sham marriage Velvet Revolution
genre	drama
keywords	antibiotic begin cellist cello crematorium czech language czech music czech philharmonic dedicate eastern bloc false friend má vlast meningitis old town old town square pregnant girl russian russian language soviet soviet bloc struggle suspect town square west germany
musicBy	Ondřej Soukup
nomination	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language European Film Award for Best Film Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film
producer	Eric Abraham Jan Svěrák
productionCompany	Česká Televize
publisher	Space Films
recordedAt	Anděl Crematorium in Nymburk Františkovy Lázně Libeň Castle Petřín Lookout Tower Prague Sterneggovský palác Úštěk