The 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will present its President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Czech Cinema to veteran film editor Jiří Brožek, recognizing a career that spans more than five decades and over a hundred productions. The award will be handed out during the festival’s closing ceremony on July 6, 2025.
Brožek, a nine-time Czech Lion winner, is widely considered one of the most influential editors in the country’s film history. Since graduating from Prague’s Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in 1973, he has left a defining mark on Czech cinema, working with nearly every major director across multiple generations.
After joining Barrandov Studio, Brožek began his career as an assistant to editor Jiřina Lukešová, who recommended him to filmmakers Jiří Menzel and Jaroslav Papoušek. His first independent editing credit came on Papoušek’s 1975 comedy Finally We Understand Each Other (Konečně si rozumíme). From there, Brožek’s editing career took off during a golden period at Barrandov, where he worked for the next twenty years.
Among his most notable collaborations were his long-running partnerships with acclaimed Czech directors. With Menzel, Brožek edited classics such as Cutting It Short (Postřižiny), The Snowdrop Festival (Slavnosti sněženek), The End of Old Times (Konec starých časů), I Served the King of England, and the Oscar-nominated My Sweet Little Village (Vesničko má středisková).
He also worked extensively with Věra Chytilová on films including Story from a Housing Estate (Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliště), Calamity (Kalamita), and The Jester and the Queen (Šašek a královna).
Brožek’s editing credits include many popular and critically acclaimed films from the 1980s and ’90s, such as Ladislav Smoljak’s Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping (Jára Cimrman ležící, spící) and Uncertain Season (Nejistá sezóna), and Karel Kachyňa’s The Death of the Beautiful Deer (Smrt krásných srnců)—which the festival will screen in tribute.
Following his departure from Barrandov Studio in the early 1990s, Brožek continued to work with a younger generation of directors. He earned Czech Lions for his work on Jaroslav Brabec’s Horror Story (Krvavý román), Vladimír Michálek’s Sekal Has to Die (Je třeba zabít Sekala), Vladimír Morávek’s Boredom in Brno (Nuda v Brně), and Martin Šulík’s The City of the Sun (Sluneční stát).
Additional honors came for editing Václav Havel’s Leaving (Odcházení) and Tereza Nvotová’s Filthy (Špína).
Brožek was also closely involved with the landmark documentary series The Golden Sixties, a retrospective on the Czechoslovak New Wave, created with director Šulík and historian Jan Lukeš.
“The important thing is the content of the film I am editing,” Brožek once remarked on his approach to editing. “You have to listen and understand the message so that the audience can understand it as well. It’s like football – we’re all on one team.”
With his vast body of work, Brožek has shaped the rhythm and language of Czech cinema over multiple generations. The 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which takes place from June 28 to July 6, will pay tribute to his contributions with this year’s President’s Award and a special screening of one of his most celebrated films.
Lead Photo: Jiří Brožek courtesy Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
