Acting
Sep 15, 1940
Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]
Petr Čepek
Acting
Biography
Petr Čepek was a Czech actor associated with The Drama Club in Prague. His final film was Faust, directed by Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer. Cepek attended the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) along with many notable Czech actors of the time, before appearing in Ostrava’s first theater, DPB until 1965. After joining with fellow colleagues in Prague’s Činoherní Klub, where he contributed to the formation of numerous famous theatre productions such as Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Gogo’s Revizor (The Government Inspector). Čepek turned to politics in the late 1980s, participating in political rallies and negotiations before returning to the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) to teach until his death in 1994. Čepek was honored posthumously for his double role in the Švankmajers film Faust.
Feature Films (98)
The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík's inability to perform even the simplest tasks. Pávek demands that Otík be transferred to assist another driver, who happens to be a choleric and suspicious man named Turek (Turk in Czech). Rather than work with Turek, Otík decides to accept an offer of employment in Prague, but finds he does not fit in to the city life. After discovering that the transfer of Otík to Prague was a trick by a crooked politician to get a deal on Otík's large inherited house, Pávek agrees to give Otík a second chance and retrieves him from the city to resume their work together.
My Sweet Little Village
Luděk Krejza, a tile-layer, returns from prison after serving time for manslaughter. In a retrospective, the viewer is introduced to his story. It is a not very well-known film, which with the passage of time has completely disappeared from the awareness of even the more deeply informed interested in domestic cinema. The song "Dudes, you're on" is sung by the Yo Yo Band.
Křížová vazba
The castle custodian Král is moving to a new place of work with his wife, son Radek and a five - years old daughter Terezka. Radek takes his cat Líza with him. A fully loaded truck moves through the country which is in spring blossoms, gradually changing into a snow-covered land. Children's imagination creates from real experiences magic stories - a fairy-tale grandpa takes them to a new castle, the children fear a black-horse rider who - as the grandpa and the cleaning lady assert she hates cats.
The Cat Prince
This futuristic science fiction comedy features an atomic bomb blast that causes women to grow beards and lose the ability to have children. A summit meeting is held at the United Nations, with the proposed solution of building a time machine. The decision is made to travel back in time and murder Einstein, with the hopeful result being that without the noted mathematician's research there will be no atomic bombs.
I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen
An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal.
The Snowdrop Festival
It is a story of three veterans released from the army. During one night spent camping in the country they one by one wake up and meet three elvish brothers. Each of the veterans is given a magic item - one gets magic harp that provides him with servants by wish, other one endless pouch of gold and the last one owns magic hat that can create all the staff excluding money and people.
The Three Veterans
A very free adaptation of Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", Goethe's "Faust" and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
Faust
In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe's story, a traveller arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse. The brother's senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic.
The Fall of the House of Usher
Television & Series (17)
Pan Tau always had a gentle expression and a friendly smile, he was elegantly dressed in a stroller, with an umbrella and a white carnation in the lapel. Foremost, he was famous for his magic bowler hat. By tapping on his hat, Pan Tau was able to change his appearance into a puppet, to conjure up miscellaneous objects or to do other magic. His most characteristically behavior is that he would help children who were experiencing some sort of difficulties in-between their dreams and reality, like finding a place for skiing, settling family problems on Christmas, and even give a boy a good time at a fair when he is supposed to have piano lessons. To adults, he usually remained invisible.
