BIG BEAT

He was born in Prague, in 1967, and studied script writing and editing, from 1987 to 1991, at the Prague Film Academy (FAMU). He directed his first short films while at school, gaining popular acclaim as well as winning several prizes at student festivals. His feature film debut was the musical Big Beat, which premiered in 1993. Based on a screenplay by his friend and fellow-student Petr Jarchovsky, it is a retro comedy set at the end of the fifties about the arrival of rock’n’roll in Czechoslovakia. This popular film won several awards, including the 1993 Czech Lions for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Film and Best Original Film Score. His next film, Cosy Dens, is a warm-hearted comedy which, nevertheless, posed the serious question: What is more important: what you believe in, or how you act in everyday life? The film’s music, always of primary importance for Hrebejk, is a compilation of contemporary recordings by local bands and singers, and is used to express the depth of the generation gap. The parents, nurtured on swing and Russian folk music, listen to officially sanctioned pop music, while the teenagers support the Czech type of rock’n’roll called «Big Beat». Cosy Dens broke Czech box-office records, surpassing Hollywood productions and equaling Jan Sverak’s Oscar-winning film Kolya, and was chosen to represent the Czech Republic at various film festivals all over the world. Hrebejk’s most recent film, Divided We Fall, a black comedy based on a true story, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.