The Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 (both as an independent country and as a part of former Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

) was a seedbed for many acclaimed film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

s.

Three Czech/Czechoslovak movies that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 were The Shop on Main Street

The Shop on Main Street

The Shop on Main Street is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Aryanization programme during World War II in the Slovak State....

 (Obchod na korze) by Ján Kadár

Ján Kadár

Ján Kadár was a Slovak film writer and director. As a filmmaker, he worked in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning The Shop on Main Street...

 and Elmar Klos

Elmar Klos

Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...

 in 1965, Closely Watched Trains

Closely Watched Trains

Closely Watched Trains is a 1966 Czechoslovak film directed by Jiří Menzel. It was released in the United Kingdom as Closely Observed Trains. It is a coming-of-age story about a boy working at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. The film is based on a story by...

 (Ostře sledované vlaky) by Jiří Menzel

Jirí Menzel

Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...

 in 1967 and Kolya

Kolya

Kolya is a 1996 Czech film drama about a man whose life is reshaped in an unexpected way. The film was directed by Jan Svěrák and stars his father Zdeněk Svěrák who also wrote the script from a story by Pavel Taussig.- Synopsis :...

 (Kolja) by Jan Svěrák

Jan Sverák

Jan Svěrák is a Czech film director. He is the son of screenwriter and actor Zdeněk Svěrák. He studied documentary filmmaking at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...

 in 1996. Several others were nominated.

The Czechoslovak New Wave

Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czech directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Vojtěch Jasný, Evald Schorm and Slovak directors Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, Ján Kádár, Elo...

, the golden age of Czech cinema, is most frequently associated with the early works of directors such as Miloš Forman

Miloš Forman

Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...

, Věra Chytilová

Vera Chytilová

Věra Chytilová is an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. Banned by the Czechoslovakian government in the 1960s, she is best known for her Czech New Wave film, Sedmikrásky...

, Jiří Menzel

Jirí Menzel

Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...

 and others, although works by older, more established Czechoslovak directors such as Karel Kachyňa

Karel Kachyna

Karel Kachyňa was a Czech film director. His career spanned over five decades.Kachyňa was part of the Czech wave of liberal filmmakers in the 1960s which included Miloš Forman and Jiří Menzel....

 and Vojtěch Jasný

Vojtech Jasný

Vojtěch Jasný is a Czech director who came to prominence in the sixties. He won a Cannes Special Jury Prize for Až přijde kocour/The Cassandra Cat ....

 are also placed in this category.