Helena Třeštíková, born Böhmová, is a prominent Czech filmmaker and educator, known for her documentary work focusing on interpersonal relationships and social issues. During her career, she has made over forty documentary films and briefly served as the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic.
Personal life
Helena Třeštíková, born Böhmová (* June 22, 1949 in Prague), is a Czech film director and educator. Her husband is architect Michael Třeštík. Her children are the photographer Tomáš Třeštík and producer Hana Třeštíková.
Film work
Her film work focuses on documentary filmmaking, especially on interpersonal relationships and social issues. Helena Třeštíková has made over forty documentary films, such as the well-known "Marriage Etudes", "Marcela" and "René", filmed using the time-lapse method. The film "Marcela" won the prize for the best European documentary at Seville festival in 2007. For "René" she received the European Film Academy's Prix Arte 2008 award in December 2008.
Selected from filmography
- Men's Etudes (1980-1987)
- Ten Years in Life of a Young Man (1990-1999)
- Tell Me Something About Yourself (1992-1998)
- Women at the Turn of the Millennium (2000)
- Hitler, Stalin and Me (2001)
- Marcela (2006)
- Marital Etudes after twenty years (2005)
- René (2008)
- Katka (2010)
- The Private Universe (2011)
- Vojta Lavička: Up and Down (2013)
- Life with Kašpar (2013)
- Blaník's Office (2014)
- Mallory (2015)
- Destruction by Beauty (2016)
- The Strados (2017)
- Forman vs. Forman (2019)
- Anny (2020)
- Ester (2020)
- Caroline (2020)
- several portraits in GEN series and GENUS
Published works
- Heda Margoliová-Kovályová; Helena Třeštíková. "Hitler, Stalin... and me: an oral history of the 20th century." Editing by Ivan Margolius. 1st. ed. Prague: Mladá fronta, 2015. 224 p. ISBN 978-80-204-3625-2.
Career and education
Helena Třeštíková studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU, graduating in 1975. In 1974-1977 she worked as a dramaturge, then she started directing. Most of her films are documentaries, focusing on ordinary people. She made several documentaries using the so-called time-lapse method, where she regularly visited her characters and filmed them over many years.
At the turn of the millennium, she began working with the Czech Television Council as an external member of the "ethics panel". In December 2017, she was appointed professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Film, Television and Photographic Arts and New Media, with a focus on documentary filmmaking. In 2018 she received an honorary degree of Dr.h.c. from UMPRUM. In July 2019, she became a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Academy Awards.
Minister of Culture
She was briefly involved in politics, from 9. to 26. January 2007, she was the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic in the second government of Mirek Topolánek, nominated as an independent KDU-ČSL. Her nomination was criticized by members and voters of the People's Party because of her attitudes toward churches, which were considered incompatible with the Christian worldview. Some political scientists, such as Lubomír Kopeček, have also expressed criticism. Třeštíková resigned on 26 January due to disputes over the filling of deputy positions at the ministry, claiming that ODS had pressured her to accept certain people.
Source: Česká Wikipedie
Photo: Petr Novák, Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.5
