HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ján Kadár (1 April 1918 – 1 June 1979) was a Slovak film writer and director of
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
heritage. As a filmmaker, he worked in
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with
Elmar Klos Elmar Klos (26 January 1910 – 19 July 1993) was a Czech film director. He collaborated for 17 years with his Slovak colleague Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the film '' The Shop on Main Stree ...
. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning '' The Shop on Main Street'' (''Obchod na korze'', 1965). As a professor at FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts) in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, Kadár trained most of the directors who spawned the Czechoslovak New Wave in the 1960s. Kadar was a dean at the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
.


Early years

Kadár was born in Budapest,
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. Later his family moved to
Rožňava Rožňava (, , Latin: ''Rosnavia'') is a town in Slovakia, approximately by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,182. The town is an economic and tourist centre of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attr ...
, in the newly created
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, where he grew up. His mother was Louisa Tyroler. Kadár took up the law in Bratislava after high school, but soon transferred to the first Department of Film in Czechoslovakia (probably the third such department in Europe) at the School of Industrial Arts in
Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...
Martin Votruba, "Historical and Cultural Background of Slovak Filmmaking."
/ref> in 1938, where he took classes with Slovak film's notable director Karel Plicka until the department was closed in 1939. With the application of anti-Jewish laws, Kádár was detained in a
labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
. He later said that it was for the first time in his life that he acted as a Jew: He refused conversion and served in a work unit with a yellow armband rather than a white one which was the privilege of those baptized. Kadar's parents and sister were murdered in the death camp at
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
.


Film director


Overview

Kadár began his directing career in Bratislava, Slovakia after World War II with the documentary ''Life Is Rising from the Ruins'' (''Na troskách vyrastá život'', 1945). After several documentaries expressing the views of the Communist Party, which he joined, Kadár moved to Prague in 1947 and returned to Bratislava temporarily in order to make ''Kathy'' (''Katka'', 1950), his first feature film. Beginning in 1952, he co-directed all his Czechoslovak films with
Elmar Klos Elmar Klos (26 January 1910 – 19 July 1993) was a Czech film director. He collaborated for 17 years with his Slovak colleague Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the film '' The Shop on Main Stree ...
solely in Prague except their Czech−Slovak projects ''Death Is Called Engelchen'' (, , 1963), '' The Shop on Main Street'' (''Obchod na korze'', 1965), and ''Adrift'' (, , , 1969) shot with Slovak, Hungarian, and Czech actors on location at Rusovce, Slovakia. Kadár returned to finish the latter one from the United States, where he immigrated in November 1968. It was his last work with
Klos KLOS (95.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "95-5 KLOS") is a commercial radio station City of license, licensed to Los Angeles, California, and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Group, Meruelo Media. KLOS airs a mainst ...
. He then resumed his career in the U.S. and Canada working in both films and television. He was also a popular professor of film directing at the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
's Center for Advanced Film Studies.


1950s

While touting the obligatory Marxist-Leninist doctrine and adhering to Socialist-Realist filmmaking, Ján Kadár and
Elmar Klos Elmar Klos (26 January 1910 – 19 July 1993) was a Czech film director. He collaborated for 17 years with his Slovak colleague Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the film '' The Shop on Main Stree ...
first bounced between comedy and hard-core propaganda. Kadár's first
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
, ''Kathy'' (''Katka'') was released in 1950. Their choice of themes began to change with the first, mild relaxation of communism in Czechoslovakia after Soviet leader Khrushchev's secret speech in 1956. Kadár and Klos's first film during this minor thaw, ''Three Wishes'' (''Tři přání'', 1958), a cagey satire on aspects of everyday life, outraged the authorities and was shelved until the more relaxed conditions in 1963. The studios suspended both directors for two years. Their Communist Party membership protected them from a worse fate, however, and Kadár was able to find a refuge in semi-propagandist, technically avant-garde work for the early Czechoslovak multi-screen shows at the ''Laterna magika'' (''Magic Lantern'') project.


1960s

The first feature film Ján Kadár and
Elmar Klos Elmar Klos (26 January 1910 – 19 July 1993) was a Czech film director. He collaborated for 17 years with his Slovak colleague Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for the film '' The Shop on Main Stree ...
were able to make in five years showed a decided return to classical black-and-white film-making with barely a trace of Kadár's more experimental work at the ''Laterna magika''. A gradual relaxation of communist control in Czechoslovakia, whose first signs came from Slovakia, enabled the Bratislava journalist and writer
Ladislav Mňačko Ladislav Mňačko (28 January 1919 in Valašské Klobouky – 24 February 1994 in Bratislava) was a Czechoslovak writer and journalist. He was a member of the Slovak partisans, partisan movement in Slovakia during World War II. After the war, ...
to publish his novel ''Death Is Called Engelchen'' (''Smrť sa volá Engelchen'', 1959) and Kadár and Klos to reach for it from Prague after their suspension was over. The novel and their film '' Death is Called Engelchen'' (, , 1963) spotlighted a new take on the massive pro-democratic Slovak revolt of 1944 that previously had been portrayed only as invariably glorious. It showed some of its aspects that brought about human tragedy. The film was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Golden Prize. The directors' next film, ''Accused'' aka ''Defendant'' (''Obžalovaný'', 1964), rehashed the propagandist structures of the earlier Socialist-Realist filmmaking. All of these experiences and influences intersected to bring Kadár and
Klos KLOS (95.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "95-5 KLOS") is a commercial radio station City of license, licensed to Los Angeles, California, and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Group, Meruelo Media. KLOS airs a mainst ...
their enduring success with '' The Shop on Main Street'' (''Obchod na korze'', 1965), a compassionate and tormenting depiction of the dead-end street faced by many in Central Europe during the deportations of the Jews to German concentration camps during World War II. The film received several awards, including a foreign-language
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
. Slovak and Czech film academics and critics still consider it the best film in the history of Slovak cinema. Kadár and Klos's work on their next project based on the Hungarian novel ''Something Is Drifting on the Water'' (''Valamit visz a víz'', 1928) by Lajos Zilahy, and, effectively, a remake of the Hungarian film with the English international title ''Something Is in the Water'' (''Valamit visz a víz'', dir. Gusztáv Oláh and Lajos Zilahy, 1943) was interrupted by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Kadár and his family quickly resettled in the United States, returning briefly to help finish ''Adrift'' (, , 1969).


1970s

Ján Kadár's first film after immigration to the United States and his first solo feature film since 1950 was '' The Angel Levine'' (1970), a substantially modified version of
Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish ...
's short story ''Angel Levine'' (1958). He later directed '' Lies My Father Told Me'' in Canada.


Filmography

* ''Life Is Rising from the Ruins'' (''Na troskách vyrastá život'', 1945) * ''They Are Personally Responsible for Crimes against Humanity'' (''Sú osobne zodpovední za zločiny proti ľudskosti'', 1946) * ''They Are Personally Responsible for a Betrayal of the National Uprising'' (''Sú osobne zodpovední za zradu na národnom povstaní'', 1946) * '' Katka'' (1950) * '' The Hijacking''; aka ''Kidnapped'' (''Únos'', 1952) * '' Music from Mars'' (''Hudba z Marsu'', 1954) * '' House at the Terminus'' (''Tam na konečné'', 1957) * '' Three Wishes'' (''Tři přání'', 1958'') * '' Death Is Called Engelchen'' (, , 1963) * '' Accused'' (''Obžalovaný'', also known as ''Defendant'', 1964) * '' The Shop on Main Street'' (''Obchod na korze'', 1965) * ''Adrift'' (, , , 1969) * '' The Angel Levine'' (1970) * '' Lies My Father Told Me'' (1976) * ''The Case against Milligan'' (1976) * '' Freedom Road'' (1979)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kadar, Jan 1918 births 1979 deaths Hungarian film directors Czechoslovak film directors Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States Hungarian Jews American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent People from Budapest Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Immigrants to Czechoslovakia Presidents of the American Film Institute Academic staff of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague