Pavel Juráček

Screenwriter, Dramaturge, Director, Columnist, Prose Writer, Poet

Date of birth

2 August 1935

Place of birth

Příbram, Československo

Date of death

20 May 1989

Place of death

Praha, Československo

Alternative names

Pavel Čeněk Juráček (rodné jméno), Pavel Pecivál (pseudonym)

Biography

Pavel Juráček worked on many Czech New Wave movies as a screenwriter before he became a director. He completed only two features, one of which was banned for more than 20 years. Jurácek was born on August 2, 1935 in Příbram. After working for a local newspaper, in 1957 he enrolled at the Prague film school FAMU, where he studied dramaturgy. As a screenwriter he collaborated, among others, on the sci-fi Voyage to the End of the Universe (1963), Věra Chytilová’s Dadaist satire Daisies (1966) and the post-apocalyptic allegory The End of August at the hotel Ozone (1966). His first film as director was the medium-length Joseph Kilian (1963). That Kafkaesque portrait of everyday oddities, based on the hero's encounters with bureaucracy, was co-directed by his friend Jan Schmidt. During his military service, Juráček made his second film, Every Young Man (1965), linking together two fitting stories about army life. Juráček's most ambitious work, A Case for the Young Hangman (1969), was based on the third book of Gulliver's Travels. In this eerie, dark and brainy satire, Juráček captured the absurdity of life under a totalitarian régime with technical brilliance and blistering humour. Shortly after the Soviet occupation of 1968, Hangman was shelved and Juráček was never allowed to make another film because of his refusal to compromise with the government. He died of cancer in May 1989, only months before the fall of the Communist regime that had prematurely terminated his career. -mrš-

Filmography

The Situation of Wolf

1994

Original StoryWriter of LyricsScreenplay

The Ark of Fools

1990

Creative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

South-West Passage

1989

Cooperation

poradce při natáčení

The Ravens’ Stronghold

1977

Original Story

On the Big River

1977

Original Story

Indivisible Clan

1977

Original Story

The Bride

1970

Creative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

Case for the New Hangman

1969

Writer of LyricsDirectorShooting ScriptScreenplayCreative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

The Body of Diana

1969

Creative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

Larks on a String

1969

Creative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

We Eat the Fruit of the Trees of Paradise

1969

Creative Group

vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny

Oratorio for Prague

1968

Narration Written by

Kino-Automat – Man and His House

1967

ScreenplayOriginal Story

The Unfortunate Bridegroom

1967

Screenplay

dialogy

The End of August at the Ozone Hotel

1966

ScreenplayBased onOriginal Story

Daisies

1966

Original Story

Every Young Man

1965

Original StoryDirectorShooting ScriptScreenplay

The Finnish Knife

1965

Screenplay

A Jester's Tale

1964

ScreenplayShooting Script

Joseph Kilian

1963

DirectorOriginal StoryScreenplayShooting ScriptBased on

Ikarie XB 1

1963

Original StoryScreenplay

Between You and Me Who Are Thieves

1963

Screenplay

dialogy

A Bag of Fleas

1962

Original Story

Black-and-White Sylva

1961

ScreenplayOriginal Story

Ceiling

1961

Original Story

The Dynamite Watcher

1960

Screenplay

Skid

1960

Cast

Role: mladík u nehody v tunelu

Awards

Vítěz

Exhibition: Přehlídka maďarských filmů

1994
Praha / Czech Republic

Vítěz

Event: Peněžitá odměna za film v rámci hodnocení produkce Filmového studia Barrandov v roce 1967

1968
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Kino-Automat – Man and His House

Vítěz

Event: Cena Víta Nejedlého 1966

1966
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Every Young Man

Revue

Ikarie XB 1 in the West

The screening of Ikarie XB 1 as part of the Cannes Classic presentation was not the first opportunity foreign audiences ...