Jiří Weiss (29 March 1913 – 9 April 2004) was a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
film director, screenwriter, writer, playwright and pedagogue.
Life
Early life
Jiří Weiss was born to a wealthy Jewish family in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
. He was named after Czech king
Jiří z Poděbrad.
His parents were Emil Weiss (1880–1942) and Martha Weissová (née Fuchsová; 1882–1944). Emil was a liqueur factory owner. Since his youth, Jiří was an ardent communist, which was the source of conflicts with his capitalist parents. He was friends with
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
's niece Marianne Pollaková and was able read books of then-unknown Kafka in the 1920s.
Weiss was interested in studying at film schoolweis, but his parents preferred him to be an attorney. While still in his teens, he left his home and lived with his friend . Weiss worked as a copywriter in advertising.
His father, who disagreed with his life choices, had him institutionalized in a mental hospital and Weiss never spoke to him again.
In his early twenties, he started working as a copywriter for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
in Prague.
At this time, he wrote his first book – a story for children ''O věrné Hadimršce''. He befriended leading intellectuals of the
Left Front in Prague, including
Vladislav Vančura
Vladislav Vančura () (23 June 1891 in Háj ve Slezsku – 1 June 1942 in Prague) was an important Czech writer active in the 20th century, who was murdered by the Nazis. He was also active as a film director, playwright and screenwriter.
Early ...
and
Ivan Olbracht. In 1934, Vančura invited him to be an assistant cinematographer on his movie ''Marijka the Faithless'', based on Olbracht's book.
Filmmaking
Weiss was still determined to become a film director. He borrowed a 16mm camera from and inspired by Soviet filmmakers he made his first amateur film about young people canoeing on
Sázava river Sázava () is the name of a river in Bohemia, Czech Republic, and a number of localities named after the river:
*Sázava (river)
*Sázava (town), a town in the Central Bohemian Region
** Sázava Monastery in Sázava
* Sázava (Ústí nad Orlicí D ...
. Lehovec introduced Weiss to
Alexandr Hackenschmied
Alexandr Hackenschmied, born Alexander Siegfried George Hackenschmied, known later as Alexander Hammid (17 December 1907, Linz – 26 July 2004, New York City) was a Czech-American photographer, film director, cinematographer and film edito ...
, who helped him edit the film at the
Baťa film studios in Zlín. Weiss then sent the film to
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
where it placed 5th best among 72 amateur movies in 1935.
He was approached by
Eastman Kodak Company
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
and agreed to exchange the finished film for 900 metres of 35mm film stock. Once again, he borrowed a camera and made a new film with the same theme and the same actors called ''People in the Sun''.
He edited the film during nights using the equipment in MGM offices. The film was screened at Kotva cinema in Prague as part of the avant–garde program together with ''
The Blood of a Poet
''The Blood of a Poet'' (french: Le sang d'un poète) (1930) is an avant-garde film directed by Jean Cocteau, financed by Charles de Noailles and starring Enrique Riveros, a Chilean actor who had a successful career in European films. Photograp ...
'' or ''
Un Chien Andalou
''Un Chien Andalou'' (, ''An Andalusian Dog'') is a 1929 French silent short film directed by Luis Buñuel, and written by Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Buñuel's first film, it was initially released in a limited capacity at Studio des Ursuline ...
''. Weiss was praised by local critics and was awarded the 10,000 Kčs from the Film department of Ministry of Commerce. In 1936, he was hired at A-B studio in Prague and as the first assignment he made his first professional film ''Sun Is Shining over Lužnice''. Later that year, he directed a short documentary about aviation ''Give us the Wings'' (). He then apprenticed with directors
Martin Frič
Martin Frič (29 March 1902 – 26 August 1968) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and actor. He had more than 100 directing credits between 1929 and 1968, including feature films, shorts and documentary films.
Throughout his life, F ...
and
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962.
Life and career
Haas was born in B ...
and continued to make short documentaries. His frequent collaborators were cameraman Václav Hanuš and composer
Jiří Srnka
Jiří Srnka (19 August 1907 – 31 January 1982) was a Czech composer.
Biography
His teacher was the well known violinist, Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory from the age of 8. From 1928, he studied at the school of Vítězslav No ...
. Weiss was in the middle of editing of the feature-length documentary for the 20 year anniversary of Czechoslovakia called ''Twenty Years of Freedom''. After the
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germany ...
the film was canceled.
In 1939, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he fled to England with the film material and used the footage to make a documentary ''The Rape of Czechoslovakia'' with the help of
Basil Wright,
Paul Rotha
Paul Rotha (3 June 1907 – 7 March 1984) was a British documentary film-maker, film historian and critic.
Early life and education
He was born Paul Thompson in London, and educated at Highgate School and at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Career ...
and
Louis MacNeice. Czech diplomat
Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14 September 1886 – 10 March 1948) was a Czech diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. American journalist John Gunther described Masaryk as "a brave, honest, turbul ...
acquired the funding from his English friends.
Weiss volunteered for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and was assigned to make war documentaries for
Crown Film Unit
The Crown Film Unit was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Formerly the GPO Film Unit it became the Crown Film Unit in 1940. Its remit was to make films for the general public in ...
. He also worked with the
Czechoslovak Government in exile
The Czechoslovak government-in-exile, sometimes styled officially as the Provisional Government of Czechoslovakia ( cz, Prozatímní vláda Československa, sk, Dočasná vláda Československa), was an informal title conferred upon the Czechos ...
. In 1942, he wrote a book ''Lost Government''. On March 13, 1943, Weiss and directed a MacNeice's play ''A Town without a Name'' at
Royal Albert Hall as a part of the ''London Calling Prague'' event. In 1945, he flew with
No. 311 Squadron RAF.
He made a documentary about them called ''Night and Day''.
At the end of the war, he joined
21st Army Group as a front cameraman to film the liberation of France, Belgium and Netherlands. Weiss was present at the liberation of
Buchenwald concentration camp.
His footage was later used in
Alain Resnais
Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...
' film ''
Night and Fog
''Nacht und Nebel'' (German: ), meaning Night and Fog, was a directive issued by Adolf Hitler on 7 December 1941 targeting political activists and resistance "helpers" in the territories occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, who were to ...
''. He achieved the rank of captain in the British Army. Weiss refused the offer to join the US Army and become a combat cameraman in the
Pacific War, because he wanted to go back to liberated Czechoslovakia.
He returned to Prague on May 13, 1945. All of his family, including his parents, were murdered in the Holocaust.
He made his first full-length feature film ''
The Stolen Frontier'' in 1947. Weiss, still a devoted communist at this time, turned away from politics during the communist persecutions in the early 1950s. He made his most celebrated movies in the late 1950s and 1960s, including ''
Wolf Trap'' (1957), ''
Romeo, Juliet and Darkness
''Romeo, Juliet and Darkness'' ( cs, Romeo, Julie a tma) is a 1960 Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss. Inspired by William Shakespeare's '' Romeo and Juliet'',Howard, Tony "Shakespeare's Cinematic Offshoots" in Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.) " ...
'' (1959) and Czechoslovak-British co-production ''
Ninety Degrees in the Shade
''Ninety Degrees in the Shade'' ( cs, Třicet jedna ve stínu) is a 1965 British-Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss.
Plot
It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communi ...
'' (1965).
After the
Warsaw Pact invasion, Weiss left Czechoslovakia and lived in West Berlin, where he taught at a film school. Later he moved to the United States.
There he taught film first at
Hunter College in New York and later at
UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
.
He became an American citizen in 1986.
He still continued to write screenplays, but none of them were produced. During this time, he also wrote two plays – ''The Jewish War'' (1986) and ''Berenice'' (1990). In 1991, he managed to get funding and made his last film ''
Martha and I''.
The film entered in competition at
47th Venice International Film Festival. In 1985, he met
Alexander Payne, then a young film student, and became his life-long friend and mentor.
In 1995, Weiss wrote a book of memoirs ''Bílý Mercedes''.
Personal life
Weiss was married three times. He had two children with his first wife – a daughter Jiřina and a son Jiří. He died in Santa Monica in 2004 and is buried at
New Jewish Cemetery in Prague.
Selected filmography
Feature films
* ''
The Stolen Frontier'' (1947)
* ''
Dravci'' (1948)
* ''
The Last Shot
''The Last Shot'' is a 2004 American action comedy film starring Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Calista Flockhart, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, James Rebhorn and Tony Shalhoub. The film is written and directed by Jeff Nathanson, ...
'' (1950)
* ''New Warriors Will Arise'' (1950)
* ''My Friend the Gipsy'' (1953)
* ''Doggy and the Four'' (1954)
* ''Life Is at Stake'' (1956)
* ''
Wolf Trap'' (1957)
* ''
Appassionata
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (colloquially known as the ''Appassionata'', meaning "passionate" in Italian) is among the three famous piano sonatas of his middle period (the others being the ''Waldstein'', Op. 53 ...
'' (1959)
* ''
Romeo, Juliet and Darkness
''Romeo, Juliet and Darkness'' ( cs, Romeo, Julie a tma) is a 1960 Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss. Inspired by William Shakespeare's '' Romeo and Juliet'',Howard, Tony "Shakespeare's Cinematic Offshoots" in Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.) " ...
'' (1959)
* ''
The Coward'' (1961)
* ''
Golden Fern'' (1963)
* ''
Ninety Degrees in the Shade
''Ninety Degrees in the Shade'' ( cs, Třicet jedna ve stínu) is a 1965 British-Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss.
Plot
It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communi ...
'' (1965)
* ''Murder Czech Style'' (1967)
* ''
Martha and I'' (1991)
Documentaries
* ''People in the Sun'' (1935)
* ''Sun Is Shining over Lužnice'' (1936)
* ''Give us the Wings'' (1936)
* ''Sea of Air'' (1937)
* ''A Song About Carpathian Ruthenia'' (1937)
* ''The Illusion Factory'' (1938)
* ''Journey from the Shadows'' (1938)
* ''The Rape of Czechoslovakia'' (1939) – Lyrical documentary about pre-WWII Czechoslovakia and Nazi invasion. Narrated by
Cecil Day-Lewis.
* ''Secret Allies '' (1939)
* ''Eternal Prague'' (1940)
* ''Home Front'' (1941)
* ''100 Million Women'' (1942)
* ''The Other RAF'' (1942)
* ''Fighter Pilot'' (1943)
* ''Before the Raid'' (1943) – Docudrama about Norwegian fishermen resistance members. Written by
Laurie Lee.
* ''Night and Day'' (1945) – Documentary about
No. 311 Squadron RAF
* ''We Will Remain Faithful'' (1945)
* ''Song about Slet'' (1948) – Two-part documentary about
Sokol
The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a ...
XI slet festival
Awards and nominations
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
''
Wolf Trap'' (1957) -
19th Venice International Film Festival
The 19th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 24 August to 7 September 1958.
Jury
* Jean Grémillon (France) (head of jury)
* Carlos Fernández Cuenca (Spain)
* Piero Gadda Conti (Italy)
* Alberto Lattuada (Italy)
* Hidemi I ...
*Won: FIPRESCI Award
*Won: New Cinema Award
*Nominated: Golden Lion
''
Golden Fern'' (1963) -
24th Venice International Film Festival
The 24th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 24 August to 7 September 1963.
Jury
* Arturo Lanocita (Italy) (head of jury)
* Sergei Gerasimov (Soviet Union)
* Lewis Jacobs (USA)
* Hidemi Kon (Japan)
* Claude Mauriac ( ...
*Nominated: Golden Lion
''
Martha and I'' (1991) -
47th Venice International Film Festival
*Nominated: Golden Lion
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
''
Ninety Degrees in the Shade
''Ninety Degrees in the Shade'' ( cs, Třicet jedna ve stínu) is a 1965 British-Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss.
Plot
It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communi ...
'' (1965) -
15th Berlin International Film Festival
The 15th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 25 June to 6 July 1965. The festival started selecting the jury members on its own rather than countries sending designated representatives. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Fren ...
*Won: UNICRIT Award
San Sebastian International Film Festival
''
Romeo, Juliet and Darkness
''Romeo, Juliet and Darkness'' ( cs, Romeo, Julie a tma) is a 1960 Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss. Inspired by William Shakespeare's '' Romeo and Juliet'',Howard, Tony "Shakespeare's Cinematic Offshoots" in Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.) " ...
'' (1959)
*Won:
Golden Shell
The Golden Shell ( es, Concha de Oro; eu, Urrezko Maskorra) is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 19 ...
''Murder Czech Style'' (1967)
*Won: Silver Shell
Golden Globe Awards
''
Ninety Degrees in the Shade
''Ninety Degrees in the Shade'' ( cs, Třicet jedna ve stínu) is a 1965 British-Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss.
Plot
It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communi ...
'' (1965) -
23rd Golden Globe Awards
The 23rd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1965, were held on 28 February 1966.
Winners and nominees
Film
Best Film - Drama
''Doctor Zhivago''
*'' The Collector''
*'' The Flight of the Phoenix''
*''A Patch of Bl ...
* Nominated: Best English-Language Foreign Film
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
100 Million Women (1942)on
Imperial War Museum website
Fighter Pilot (1943)on
Imperial War Museum website
Night and Day (1945)on
Imperial War Museum website
A recorded interview with Jiří weiss about his RAF films-
Imperial War Museum, 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Jiri
1913 births
2004 deaths
Czechoslovak film directors
Czech film directors
Czech screenwriters
Male screenwriters
Czech male writers
Czech documentary filmmakers
Czech dramatists and playwrights
Czech children's writers
Jewish dramatists and playwrights
Jewish Czech writers
Czech Jews
Czechoslovak Jews
Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States
Czechoslovak emigrants to Germany
Hunter College faculty
University of California, Santa Barbara faculty
20th-century screenwriters