Oscar-Winning Czech Director Miloš Forman Turns 85

Happy birthday, Miloš! The famed Czech film director will turn 85 years old tomorrow, February 18, 2017.

A key figure of the Czech New Wave in the 1960s whose films included the Oscar-nominated Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman’s Ball, Forman emigrated to the United States after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In Hollywood, the director found even greater success, going on to win two Academy Awards and direct films including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hair, Amadeus, Valmont, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and Man on the Moon.

To celebrate Forman’s birthday, Prague’s Kino Aero will be screening a trio of his classic films, including the Czech-language Fireman’s Ball, the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and the Prague-shot Amadeus, for which the director scored his second Academy Award.

Forman’s last Hollywood feature was the underappreciated Goya’s Ghosts in 2006. He returned to Prague the following year to direct an adaptation of the famed Czech stage play A Walk Worthwhile, which was released in a filmed version in 2009.

Here’s Forman winning the Oscar for Amadeus in 1985:

Lead photo: Forman at the 2009 Karlovy Vary Film Festival via Petr Novák, Wikipedia

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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