Jan Zajíček

Jan Zajíček (born 4 March 1977 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech film director, screenwriter and artist.

Jan Zajíček
Born 4 March 1977
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Nationality Czech
Alma mater Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Occupation film director, screenwriter

Early life

Skarf, TCP crew, ABX crew, 1997

Jan Zajíček was born on 4 March 1977, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He studied fine art at the High School of Arts of Wenceslaus Hollar and film directing at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). He grew up under the Communist regime during the late normalization period. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution, he discovered – as a form of a free artistic expression – graffiti art. He became one of the earliest pioneers of this new art form in Czechoslovakia and is considered in the Czech graffiti scene to be an iconic and legendary graffiti artist of the early 1990s (with pseudonyms including Scarf,[1] Skarf,[2][3] from TCP crew and ABX crew). His experience with graffiti later influenced his strongly visual cinematic style, which is typified by its experimental form, combining frequently live-action with animation and visual effects. Between 1993 and 2000 he was one of the leading members of the Czech hip hop band WWW (until the first break-up of the band in 2000), which established itself quickly on Prague's music club scene as one of the pioneers of Czech hip hop music (venues including Alterna Komotovka, RC Bunkr, ROXY, Rock Café) and which in 1996 supported the Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor. During his studies and subsequent to graduation, he was active as a lecturer of experimental audio-visual production at The Literary Academy of Josef Škvorecký. Since 2010, he has been a resident at the International Centre for Contemporary Art Meet Factory.

Career

Music videos

Still from The Sign of Punk (Czech: Známka punku), 2005

Zajíček is the author of several award winning music videos. The first one he ever directed, for the song The Sign of Punk (Czech: Známka punku) by the legendary Czech punk band Padlock (Czech: Visací zámek),[4] had more than 4.3 million views on YouTube and was awarded by the Czech Music Academy as The Best Music Video of the Year.[5] Besides other award-winning music videos (such as the internationally acclaimed Sunshine's Days Will Never Be the Same),[6] he directed a music video for the song Grinding the Coffee (Czech: Meleme, meleme kávu)[7] by the famous Czech hip hop artists Hugo Toxxx and Vladimir 518, which had more than 1.7 Million views on YouTube, received The Filter Mag Award as The Best Music Video of the Year[8] and in 2010 was selected by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen[9] for screening during its MuVi programme with OK Go, M83, Coldplay and Gorillaz.

Theatre and stage design

The Lucie 2014 Megatour, O2 Arena Prague

From 2004 to 2013, Zajíček had been co-operating as a director and animator with several theatre groups such as Theatre XXL, VerTeDance, The National Theatre (Czech: Národní divadlo) and The State Opera (Czech: Státní opera Praha). In 2012, he created the visual jingles for the special 60 metre mega screen at the Czech House for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. He is also co-author and co-director (with Tomáš Mašín) of the big-stage concert tour of the famous Czech rock band Lucie (The Lucie 2014 Megatour).

Film

Still from The End of the Individual (Czech: Konec jedince), 2002

Zajíček attracted attention in 2003 with his student short experimental essay, The End of the Individual (Czech: Konec jedince), which is a study of the social structure of society on a model of one's own death. The film, which is a combination of 3D animation, live-action and a non-linear narrative, is closer to a conceptual artwork rather than to a movie. Even if its film language was somewhat naive, it received several awards and was liked by an international audience. In 2010, he created the short futuristic video montage Polys and, harking back to his graffiti (Skarf) roots, he represented (with Cryptic 257, Masker, Point, Pasta and Tron) the Czech Republic at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China.[10][11] Besides films, he has directed several commercials (for GE, ING, Nike, Skoda Auto, Kia Motors) and has also cooperated as a film editor on several documentaries. In 2011 he edited a documentary movie concerning the impact of corporate psychopaths upon society and how the overuse of anti-depressants can result in erratic behavior; entitled I Am Fishead, it starred Peter Coyote, Philip Zimbardo, Václav Havel, Nicholas Christakis, Robert D. Hare and Christopher J. Lane.[12] He is a co-author (with the Czech rapper Vladimir 518) of conception of the popular Czech TV documentary series[13] about urban subcultures Tribes (Czech: Kmeny)[14] and in 2015 he wrote and directed the critically acclaimed episode Hackers (Czech: Hackeři).[15][16][17][18] In 2016 he wrote and co-directed (with the Czech female graffiti writer Sany) the world's first documentary[19] about female graffiti entitled Girl Power;[20][21] it starred Martha Cooper, Lady Pink, and others, and was screened at cinemas and festivals all around the globe.

Awards

Lady Pink in Girl Power, 2015

Work

Direction and screenwriting filmography

Still from Break My Heart Please! ('The Bride'), 2006
Still from Tribes - Hackers (Czech: Kmeny – Hackeři), 2015

Music videos

Still from Grinding the Coffee (Czech: Meleme, meleme kávu), 2009

Edit

Peter Coyote in I Am Fishead, 2011

Theatre performances (cooperation)

Festivals and exhibitions

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Scarf, 1995
  2. ↑ Skarf, TCP crew, ABX crew, 1997
  3. ↑ Koks by Skarf, 1997
  4. ↑ Ondřej Bezr: Visací zámek se vrací, tentokrát nabízí Klasiku. Poslouchejte, dívejte se 19 October 2010 (Czech)
  5. ↑ Honza Vedral: Nejlepší klip roku? Pusinka na prdel akademiků 28 February 2007 (Czech)
  6. ↑ Honza Vedral: Ceny Filteru ovládl raper Vladimir 518, večer věnoval zesnulému Kaplickému 15 January 2009 (Czech)
  7. ↑ Hugo Toxxx a Vladimir 518 za zrcadlem aneb Alenka tam nebyla sama 7 July 2009 (Czech)
  8. ↑ "FILTER prosinec 2009". issuu. Retrieved 2016-12-02. (Czech)
  9. ↑ 56. Internationale Kurzfilmtage: Meleme meleme kávu. International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.
  10. ↑ Czech artists aim to put their writing on the wall. 31 May 2010
  11. ↑ Eliška Dokulilová: Z prvních českých writerů jsou dnes úspěšní umělci, Češi přitom graffiti stále nechápou, říká režisér Jan Zajíček. 7 March 2016 (Czech)
  12. ↑ I Am Fishead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychopaths?, I Am Fishead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychopaths?
  13. ↑ Česká televize - Kmeny: Hackeři (Czech) Czech Television. 10 June 2015.
  14. ↑ Honza Vedral: Pankáči ani hackeři nejsou v TV cyklu Kmeny potěrem v akváriu exotů. 20 February 2015 (Czech)
  15. ↑ Kmeny.tv: Hackeři (Czech)
  16. ↑ Průvodce městskými kmeny: Hackeři 7 June 2015 (Czech)
  17. ↑ Zdeněk Malinský: Versus: Kmeny (Hackeři) 17 June 2015 (Czech)
  18. ↑ Romantika elektráren aneb Hackeři jako věční hračičkové (Czech)
  19. ↑ Michael Segalov: Celebrating female graffiti artists around the world 28 November 2016
  20. ↑ Diane Wong: Documentaries on Graffiti Culture you MUST Watch 5 April 2016
  21. ↑ Braucht man fuer Graffiti etwa einen Penis? Die Streetart-Doku 'Girl Power' beweist das Gegenteil Arte TV. 23 April 2016. (German)
  22. ↑ Kmeny.tv 14/16: Hackeři (Czech)
  23. ↑ Girl Power official website & Girl Power Trailer
  24. ↑ I Am Fishead Internet Movie Database
  25. ↑ Krabat - The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Čarodějův učeň)
  26. ↑ Brooklyn Film Festival 2008: Days Will Never Be the Same
  27. ↑ PechaKucha Night Prague 16 April 2008 (Czech)
  28. ↑ Metropolis - Cryptic 257, Masker, Pasta, Point, Skarf, Tron
  29. ↑ AFO Academia Film Olomouc: Kmeny: Tribes: Hackers (Czech)
  30. ↑ Girl power at One World. One World Film Festival
  31. ↑ Finale Pilsen: Girl Power 16 April 2016
  32. ↑ Girl Power at Red Gallery London. 8 May 2016.
  33. ↑ Mali Blues & Girl Power gewinnen den Preis (German)
  34. ↑ 29th Helsinki International Film Festival: Girl Power
  35. ↑ International Film Festival 86 Slavutych: Girl Power
  36. ↑ Girl Power: Australian premiere

External links

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