The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the Czechoslovak filmmakers who started making films in the 1960s. The directors commonly included are Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Pavel Juráček, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Evald Schorm, Hynek Bočan, Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, František Vláčil and others. The movement was sometimes called the "Czechoslovak film miracle".
The cinema of Slovakia encompasses a range of themes and styles typical of European cinema. Yet there are a certain number of recurring themes that are visible in the majority of the important works. These include rural settings, folk traditions, and carnival. Even in the field of experimental film-making, there is frequently a celebration of nature and tradition, as for example in Dušan Hanák's Pictures of the Old World. The same applies to blockbusters like Juraj Jakubisko's A Thousand-Year Old Bee. The percentage of comedies, adventures, musicals, sci-fi films and similar genres has been low by comparison to dramas and historical films that used to include a notable subset of social commentaries on events from the decade or two preceding the film. One of them, Ján Kadár's and Elmar Klos' The Shop on Main Street, gave Slovak filmmaking its first Oscar. Children's films were a perennial genre from the 1960s through the 1980s produced mainly as low-budget films by Slovak Television Bratislava. The themes of recent films have been mostly contemporary.
The Sun in a Net is a 1963 film that became a key film in the development of Slovak and Czechoslovak cinema from the mandated Socialist-Realist filmmaking of the repressive 1950s towards the Czechoslovak/Czech New Wave and socially critical or experimental films of the 1960s marked by a gradual relaxation of communist control. The Sun in a Net received multiple votes in a wide survey of Czech and Slovak film academics and critics in the late 1990s asking them for their lists of the 10 best films in the history of filmmaking in the former Czechoslovakia.
Anna Geislerová, is a Czech actress. She is best known for her role of Eliška in the Academy Award-nominated movie Želary (2003) and as Anna in Návrat idiota (1999).
Szidi Tobias is a Slovak actress and musician of Hungarian ancestry. While in her native country she successfully developed an acting career, in the Czech Republic Tobias established herself as a singer of urban chanson.
Zuzana Kronerová is a Slovak film, television and stage actress. She has been featured in more than twenty films to date.
Petra Brocková is a Slovak actress and stand-up comedian.
Eva Nová is a 2015 Slovak-Czech drama film written, directed and co-produced by Marko Škop. It was screened in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. It was selected as the Slovak entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Zuzana Mauréry is a Slovak actress working in film, television, and on stage, as well as a musical singer. A six-time nominee for national movie awards and a two-time winner of the Sun in a Net Awards, she lives in her hometown of Bratislava. She is also a member of the Slovak movie and television academy.
Judit Bárdos, married Pecháček is a Slovak actress of Hungarian ethnicity. She is the daughter of politician Gyula Bárdos and journalist Ágnes Bárdos. Bárdos won the Best Actress Award at the 2012 The Sun in a Net Awards for her performance in the 2011 film The House. In 2018, she won Best Supporting Actress Award at The Sun in a Net Awards for her role in Out.
The House is a 2011 drama film written and directed by Zuzana Liová and starring Miroslav Krobot, Taťjana Medvecká and Judit Bárdos. The film won the main prize at the 2012 Finále Plzeň Film Festival. At the 2012 ceremony for the Sun in a Net Awards, the film won in the categories of Best Film and Best Actress, for the performance of Judit Bárdos. Taťjana Medvecká's performance in the film won her the accolade of Best Supporting Actress at the Czech Lion Awards as well as the Sun in a Net Awards.
Soul at Peace is a 2009 drama film directed by Vladimír Balko and starring Attila Mokos, Roman Luknár and Helena Krajčiová. It was written by Czech writer Jiří Křižan. At the 2010 ceremony for the Sun in a Net Awards, the film won in five categories including Best Film, Best Leading Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography. The film won the Best Narrative award at the 2010 Kansas International Film Festival. Following its release in Slovakia, the film opened in July 2009 in the Czech Republic.
Helena Krajčiová is a Slovak actress and singer. At the 2010 Sun in a Net Awards she won the category of Best Supporting Actress, for her performance in the film Soul at Peace. Krajčiová was named Best Actress at the 14th OTO Awards.
Jana Oľhová is a Slovak actress. At the 2008 Sun in a Net Awards she won the category of Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Music. Oľhová won another accolade at the Sun in a Net Awards, again for Best Supporting Actress, in 2014 for her performance in the 2013 film Fine, Thanks.
Attila Mokos is a Slovak actor who holds Hungarian nationality. He is a two-time winner of the Best Actor award at the Sun in a Net Awards, having won it in 2010 for his role in Soul at Peace, and again in 2014 for his role in the 2013 film Fine, Thanks.
Zuzana Liová is a Slovak film director and screenwriter. Her first television film, Ticho, was broadcast on Slovenská televízia in December 2005. Her directorial debut was the 2011 film The House, which she also wrote. The House won six awards at the 2012 Sun in a Net Awards including Best Film, and Liová herself for Best Screenplay.
Marek Geišberg is a Slovak actor. He was born in the town of Rimavská Sobota, and studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Geišberg won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Sun in a Net Awards in 2012 for his role in The House. He is the son of Slovak actor Marián Geišberg.
Iveta Grófová is a Slovak film director. She studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (VŠMU). Her directorial debut was the 2012 film Made in Ash, which was nominated as Slovakia's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Grófová's second film, Piata loď, was screened at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. It went on to be nominated in 10 categories at the 2018 Sun in a Net Awards.
Soňa Norisová is a Slovak actress and singer. She received a nomination for Best Actress at the 2014 Sun in a Net Awards for her performance in the 2012 film In the Shadow. Her younger sister, Zuzana Norisová, is also an actress. They acted together in the 2001 film Rebelové.
Mira Fornay, also known as Mira Fornayová is a Slovak film director and screenwriter. Her film, My Dog Killer, won the main award at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. My Dog Killer won three awards at the 2014 Sun in a Net Awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
