Oscar-winning architect Karel Černý will receive the Czech Lion

photo: ceskatelevize.cz

Prague - Film architect and artist Karel Černý, Oscar winner for Miloš Forman's film Amadeus from 1984, will receive the Czech Lion for his extraordinary contribution to Czech cinematography. The crystal statuettes will be awarded at a ceremonial evening on Saturday, March 2, at the Lucerna in Prague. The Czech Film and Television Academy announced this today.
     Ninety-year-old Karel Černý has worked on nearly a hundred films, a hundred television productions, 15 series including The Sinful People of Prague, and around sixty short films and commercials. He collaborated with Karel Kachyňa on five films, and in 1953 he worked with Karel Zeman on the internationally acclaimed special effects film Journey to the Beginning of Time. Ten years later, he met Miloš Forman and, starting with Černý Petr, collaborated on all his films made in what was then Czechoslovakia.
     When Forman wanted to make Amadeus, he approached him again. For this project, the interiors of historical buildings in Prague were costly remodeled. In 1985, he then attended the Oscar ceremony. He felt that he was invited only formally, but in the end it was Amadeus that won eight prestigious statuettes, one of which belonged to him.
     In previous years, the Czech Lion for extraordinary contribution to Czech cinematography has been awarded to Josef Somr, Zdeněk Svěrák, directors František Vláčil, Jan Švankmajer, Karel Kachyňa, Jiří Menzel, Miloš Forman, and Jiří Krejčík. Additionally, cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček, costume designer Theodor Pištěk, and actresses Stella Zázvorková and Jana Brejchová have also been honored.