Karlovy Vary Film Festival to present award to actress Daniela Kolářová

The KVIFF President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinematography​ will be presented to actress Daniela Kolářová at the closing ceremony of the festival’s 57th edition.

Daniela Kolářová is one of the most distinctive Czech actors of the past several decades. She first appeared in front of the camera while still a student at DAMU, the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, specifically in an adaptation of Vladimír Páral’s novel Soukromá vichřice (Private Torment, dir. Hynek Bočan, 1967). In 1969, she first met her long-time acting partner Jaromír Hanzlík on the big screen in Slasti otce vlasti (Majesties and Cavaliers, dir. Karel Steklý). In 1971, the two played a married couple in the legendary Czech sitcom Taková normální rodinka (Such a Normal Family, dir. Jaroslav Dudek), and over the following years they appeared together in a number of popular films, including the musical Noc na Karlštejně (A Night at Karlstein, dir. Zdeněk Podskalský, 1973), the comedy Léto s kovbojem (Summer with a Cowboy, dir. Ivo Novák, 1976), and the television movies Otec nebo bratr and Dopis psaný španělsky (Father or Brother, 1978, and A Letter Written in Spanish, 1980, dir. František Filip).

In 1976, she began another long-term artistic collaboration – with actor and screenwriter Zdeněk Svěrák. The two played a married couple in Jiří Menzel’s comedy Na samotě u lesa (Secluded, Near Woods, 1976), and in 1978 she appeared alongside Josef Abrhám in one of the main roles of Svěrák and Smoljak’s comedy Kulový blesk (Ball Lightning, dir. Ladislav Smoljak, Zdeněk Podskalský). She and Zdeněk Svěrák again played husband and wife in Jan Svěrák’s Vratné lahve (Empties, 2007) and Betlémské světlo (Bethlehem Night, 2022). In fact, Kolářová has made regular appearances in the younger Svěrák’s films, even if in smaller roles, including Obecná škola (The Elementary School, 1991), Akumulátor 1 (Accumulator 1, 1994), and Tmavomodrý svět (Dark Blue World, 2001).

In 2009, Daniela Kolářová was awarded the Czech Lion for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Jan Hřebejk’s drama Kawasakiho růže (Kawasaki’s Rose). Other distinctive roles from recent years include a character in the mysterious reworking of the well-known Czech ballad Polednice (The Noonday Witch, dir. Jiří Sádek, 2016) and the sarcastic mother of one of the main characters in Patrik Hartl’s comedy Prvok, Šampón, Tečka a Karel (Bet on Friendship, 2021).

For many years, Kolářová has enjoyed as solid a position on Czech television screens as she does on the big screen, having appeared in a number of successful series, among them Nemocnice na kraji města (The Hospital at the Edge of the City), My všichni školou povinní (All of Us of Mandatory School Age), Život je ples (Life’s a Ball), Život a doba soudce A. K. (The Life and Time of Judge A.K.), Ulice (The Street), Sestřičky Modrý kód (Blue Code Nurses), and most recently Zlatá labuť (The Golden Swan).

After graduating from DAMU, Daniela Kolářová initially was an ensemble member of the S. K. Neumann Theatre, and after 1971 she spent many years at the Vinohrady Theatre, where she gave unforgettable performances in productions of The Robber, Hamlet, The Gingerbread Lady, and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Her performance in Destination at Divadlo Komedie Praha earned her the 2004 Alfréd Radok Award. She can currently be seen at a number of different Prague theaters, including Studio Dva, the MANA Theatre in Vršovice, and the Viola Theatre.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will honor Daniela Kolářová with a screening of her film Ball Lightning.