Žalud Karel

Go
A documentary on cellphones in a godless world. A paraphrase of the Christian myth runs through this story of installing a transmitter which represents the church. Everything heads toward the Stations of the Cross, where any one of the actors might receive a phone call. The miracle of one's constant availability and, at the same time, increasing solitude illustrates the varied effects of cellphones. From billboards of people kicking up their heels in the shear joy of cellphoning, to the Bohemian Forest, highway entrepreneurs, village children, and an actor playing Jesus. Cellphones are here in the Czech Republic, and they have just selected their first victim.

Grammar School Girls
A portrait of a singer Vítězslav Vávra whose popularity at the beginning of the 1980s reached astronomic heights. Yet the end of the 1990s fills him with disappointment which he drowns in alcohol. FAMU, Documentary Film Department (2nd year)

A State of Siege
An ironic mosaic of Karlstein businessmen and capitalists - a total sale of all values in a plain village in the region of Central Bohemia.

Us from the End of the World
A report about a forgotten train station in central station in central Bohemia which is occasionally brought to life by a female guard and a pointswoman. Using hyperbole, the film describes the atmosphere of tedium and minor non-railway activities which both women undertake to while away their time. - Department of documentary film, FAMU - 1st year.

Virtual Recipe Programme
In the near undetermined future Mr Jaroslav of Barrandov discovers a mysterious celluloid pest in the garden. The television host Přemysl Podlaha and his recipe programme take over. FAMU, Department of Documentary Film (2nd year)

Phantom of Liberty II
In the so-called global age, man is caught in the trap of time he has set for himself and then got stuck in it along with his freedom. A film about time, which consists of several fragmentary documentary sequences. Each of them shows how subjective the protagonists’ perception of time is: an undertaker transporting coffins every day, a group of aging actors celebrating a birthday on a train, or soldiers rehearsing a manoeuvre. The stories are connected in free association and told circularly to make palpable that all these times exist simultaneously. The film explores time's physical quantity as well as its crucial impact on our actions, behaviour, perception, social rituals and our outlook on the world. A project of Zipp – German-Czech Cultural Projects, the Institute of Documentary Film, Prague, and DOK Leipzig.

24
A documentary collage about the progress of one Czech day, composed by 24 directors. Everyone picked one hour, day or night, and received two minutes of the whole film at his or her disposal. This allowed for the mosaic on genres and topics that portrait the atmosphere of the Czech Republic today. At the same time, this unique project presents various filmmaking styles and approaches of the best contemporary Czech documentarians, all on the reel of one film. The authors accompany teenagers at a discotheque, observe doctors during surgery, laborers in a factory, believers in a synagogue or the descent in a human throat. Olga Špátová records the authentic power of the moment when the child is born. Vít Klusák engages a special camcorder to freeze the time of one tram stop. The flow of time is Helena Třeštíková’s topic – she films Katka taking yet another public bath in a Prague’s fountain. Martin Mareček shows a pair of legs sunk in aquarium, which, backed with a voiceover, illustrates the timeless power of human stupidity. Jiří Krejčík, a significant persona of Czech film, conceived his film hour with a great amount of humor and exaggeration.

In the Silence of the Mountains a Person Is Seen…
A documentary film about the struggle of good and evil for the face of the border mountains. A sweltering heat is hanging over an empty landscape, leaves are still, cracked rocks are silent as if suffocated by summer heat. In such a silent moment, in the middle of the mountains, anything can happen. The film follows people who have the Krušné Mountains (or Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains) in their blood; they are connected to them, without making any generalizations about them. They simply “live the mountains” without much intellectual reflection, in a straightforward and almost brutal way as if they were born at the same time as the hills. Through the region of the Sudetenland, their stories tell us more about the idea of home, about individual and collective memory that cannot be easily erased, about pain and suffering that affect people with an indifferent universality, no matter where they live.

Karel was born in 1971. He is a Prague-based scriptwriter, author of many proposals, editor, essayist, director of documentaries, feature films and commercials and a sound designer. He first studied at the Institute of Chemical Technology and from 1994 - 2002 at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University, Dept. of Film Studies. From 1997 to 2005, he studied at FAMU – Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Dept. of Documentary Film. Filmography: Všichni do jednoho / Each and Everyone (2007); Gou! Nebo-li pojď! / Go (2003); K službám / At Your Service (2002); Malý průvodce architekta po vlastním úžasu / An Architect's Guide to His Own Wonder (2001); Pat a Mat (2001); Stav obležení / Under Siege (2000); Holky z gymplu / High-school Girls (1999); Ať to frčí / Let It Zip! (1998); Reflection of the Czech Republic (1998).

Karel Žalud Born in 1971. Studied at the Institute of Chemical Technology as well as film theory at Charles University, Prague. From 1997 till 2005 studied documentary film at FAMU – Film and TV School of the Academy of the Performing Arts, Prague. Works as scriptwriter, author of proposals, editor, and essayist, director of documentaries, feature films and commercials in Prague. His films like EACH AND EVERYONE or UNDER THE SIEGE are well-known for their idiosyncratic and highly creative approaches. Education 1989 – 1991, 1993 – 1994 VŠCHT (DNF) 1991 – 1992 Faculty of Science, Charles University (DNF) 1994 – 2002 Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, film studies (DNF) 1997 – 2005 FAMU, Department of Documentary Film (Graduated in June 2005) Job Experience 1992 – 1995 assistant sound designer, Czech TV 1995 – 1997 Czech teacher at a basic school May – November 2003 social worker with a parish charity, St. Ludmila's Church February – June 2004 employed at the cleaning company Nový úklid September 2004 – April 2005 editor-in-chief, porn magazines Extáze and Fantastic, publishing house PK 62 Medium-length and short projects - films made at FAMU; selection a) Holky z gymplu – 2nd Year film, 2001 AFO Olomouc, Student Jury Prize b) Stav obležení – 3rd Year Baccalaurate film, awarded at AFO Olomouc, Trilobit Beroun 2001, Famufest, etc. - documentary films made for Czech TV c) Ať to frčí! – a documentary film about history (Czech TV 1998) d) Malý průvodce architekta po vlastním úžasu – portrait (Czech TV 2001) e) K službám! - a current affairs documentary film (Czech TV 2002) - other films made for Czech TV f) current affairs programmes, reports, documentaries, e.g., Černá bílá, Fenomén dnes, etc. (Czech TV News and Current Affairs Department) g) investigative journalism, Reportéři ČT, direcotr of historical and current affairs reports (Czech TV News and Current Affairs Department) - other h) Viděno osmi – a documentary film about the influence of media on society, made for the One World Festival (People in Need, 2000) i) six scripts for the puppet series PAT A MAT: Květináč, Psí bouda, Velikonoční vajíčko, Počítač, Akvárium, Balkon (for Bonton, 2001 – 2002) - commercials and promotion films; selection j) The Reflection of the Czech Republic - a documentary film about tourist sites in the Czech Republic (produced by BÄRR for CzechTourism, 1998). Scriptwriter, director. k) Stop domácímu násilí - a series of educational videos (produced by McCann-Erickson for the Rosa foundation, 2003; broadcast on Czech TV in 2003). Scriptwriter, director. l) Motivační videa - Portraits of top employees (produced by Ogilvy for Česká pojišťovna, 2006). Director. m) Schindler 6200EC - promotion film (produced by City-Studio for Schneider, an elevator manufacturer, 2007) Major projects a) Všichni do jednoho – Scriptwriter and director, feature film. Shot in July - August 2004, produced by Vesfilm, co-producer UPP, premiered on Czech TV, February 2007, DVD release A story about six participants of an extreme reality show. Living in an old filthy cellar on an unknown place, they have to stay locked up for thirty days in order to become rich and famous... b) Chata morgana – screenplay for a feature film (not yet made) c) Premianti – screenplay for a feature film; producer Pavel Šolc-Filmia (not yet made) d) Zlatý voči – screenplay for a TV film (to be made by Czech TV) e) Nájemníci – sitcom project, production company Prototype (pitched to broadcasters) f) Případ pro poručíka Rouska – a detective novel (pitched to publishing houses) Close cooperation with production companies: e.g., Filmia, Prototype, Vesfilm, etc., numerous audiovisual projects: feature films, commercials, TV programmes, scripts. Member of the jury, Trilobite Awards (FITES competition for films and TV programmes made in the past year) and ČLF (Czech Literary Fund), section for film and television (awards for best audiovisual programmes made in the past year). Other media a) Mladý svět, Quo, Čtrnáctka – magazines; articles dealing with important social issues, portraits, profiles, reviews, interviews b) Český rozhlas – Czech Radio, film and TV reviews, commentaries Other job experience a) Janek a princezna Štika – theatre play staged by basic school students b) Béčko – director, amateur theatre play (written by V. Matoušek) c) 1998 – 2002: summer camp instructor, for children with mental disabilities, minimal brain dysfunction, etc.)