Kolya (1997)
General Information
Completed On: 24 Jan, 1997
Duration: 1 hr 45 min 0 sec
Genres:
Language: Czech, Slovak, Russian
Country: Cambodia
Submitted By: Anna Maurice
Festival Rating
As the Cold War winds down, former concert cellist Louka (Zdenek Sverák) barely makes ends meet providing accompaniment at funerals after being blacklisted from his much cushier job with the Prague Philharmonic. For a fee, he marries a Russian woman (Libuse Safránková) so she can become a Czech citizen, but she immediately emigrates to West Germany, sticking the bachelor with her sickly 5-year-old Kolya (Andrej Chalimon) and a host of official questions about the sham marriage.
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ProducersJan Sverak
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ProducersJan Sverak
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ProducersEric Abraham
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WritersPavel Taussig
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WritersZdenek Sverák
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Film Type
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GenresComedy,Drama,Music,Art House & International
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Runtime1 hours 45 minutes 0 seconds
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Completion Date24 Jan, 1997
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Production BudgetUSD
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Country of OriginCambodia
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Country of Filming
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Film LanguageCzech, Slovak, Russian
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Shooting Format
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Aspect Ratio
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Film ColorColor
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Student ProjectNo
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First-time FilmmakerNo
Director's Biography
Jan Svěrák is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the FAMU. He and his films have received awards including the Academy Award, Crystal Globe, Golden Globe Award, and Tokyo Grand Prix. He lives in Prague.
Jan Sverak spent his studies at FAMU Documentary Department and graduated in 1988. Sverak's talent first attracted attention through his short films Space Odyssey II and Oil Gobblers above all - documentary fiction dealing with "newly discovered species" received the American Academy's Student Oscar (1988).
Director's first feature film Elementary School (1991), a heart-warming period film set in post-war Czechoslovakia, engaged American Academy's attention again and brought a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was Kolya (1997) to confirm the international success of Sverak's films. Story of a five-year-old Russian boy humanizing a philandering middle-aged Czech cellist won both Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.