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Evald Schorm
Evald Schorm
Born	15 December 1931; Prague, Czechoslovakia
Died	14 December 1988 (aged 56); Prague, Czechoslovakia
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1959–1988

Evald Schorm (15 December 1931 – 14 December 1988) was a Czech film and stage director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 26 films between 1959 and 1988. Schorm was a notable exponent of the Czech Film New Wave.^[1]^[2]

Biography

Schorm was born into a farmer family, and spent his childhood at the family farm in Elbančice near Mladá Vožice. After communists confiscated the family property, he was expelled from school and moved to Zličín near Prague, together with his parents. Schorm had to become a construction worker, but in 1956 he was finally accepted at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He graduated in Film direction in 1963, together with other future members of the Czech New Wave.^[3] He began his career at the Studio dokumentárního filmu (Studio of the Documentary Film) together with cameraman Jan Špáta. Together they created many short films and documentaries of strong humanistic and emotional content, in close and long-lasting collaboration.^[3]

In 1964, Schorm directed his first full-length film, Courage for Every Day which dealt with the disillusionment of individuals victimized in the name of false ideals.^[3] He explored the ethical principles of human behavior in films such as the psychological drama The Return of the Prodigal Son (1966). He also acted minor roles in films made by his friends.

During the 1970s and 1980s he was regarded as too "politically undesirable" to be involved in Czech filmmaking, and therefore only worked as a stage director.^[2] He was involved with many Prague theatres, such as Činoherní klub, Studio Ypsilon, Theatre on the Balustrade, Semafor, Laterna Magika, and the National Theatre as well as with theatres in Brno, Olomouc, Cheb and Gottwaldov. Schorm was also a notable opera director, and directed opera performances in Prague (Fidelio in Smetana Theatre), and at the Janáček Opera House Brno for posthumous premiere in 1971 of Martinů's film opera Les trois souhaits,^[4] Geneva and Stuttgart. From 1982 he was engaged by the Prague theatre Laterna Magika.

From 1964 to 1970 he taught at the Film and Television School of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 1988, shortly before his death, he created his last film Vlastně se nic nestalo. In 1992, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.

Filmography

Fiction film

The Tourist (1961) - short film
Railwaymen (1963) - short film
Courage for Every Day (1964)
Pearls of the Deep (1965) - Segment House of Joy, based on Bohumil Hrabal's work
The Return of the Prodigal Son (1966)
Left with Five Girls (1967)
End of a Priest (1969)
The Seventh Day, the Eighth Night (1969)
Dogs and People (1971)
Nothing Really Happened (1988)

Documentary

Blok 15 (1959) - a documentary on construction workers at the Orlík Dam
Kostelník (1961)
Jan Konstantin, zasloužilý umělec (1961) - on the National Theatre singer Jan Konstantin
Země zemi (1962)
Stromy a lidé (1962)
Žít svůj život (1963) - a short film about the Czech photographer Josef Sudek.^[5]
Proč? (1964)
Reflection (1965)
Odkaz (1965)
Žalm (1966) - a montage of stills from the Old New Synagogue in Prague, to commemorate the tragic destiny of the Jewish people.^[6]
Carmen nejen podle Bizeta (1968)
Etuda o zkoušce (1976)

Television

Král a žena (1967)
Rozhovory (1969)
Lítost (1970)
Úklady a láska (1971)
Lepší pán (1971)
Král jelenem (1977)
The Brothers Karamazov (1981)

Actor

Hotel for Strangers (1967)
A Report on the Party and the Guests (1966)
The Joke - based on the novel by Milan Kundera, directed by Jaromil Jireš (1968)^[7]
Útěky domů (1980)
Krajina s nábytkem (1986)

Theatre direction

Činoherní klub Theatre:

Zločin a trest (Crime and Punishment)
Hodinový hoteliér

Laterna Magika Theatre:

Láska v barvách karnevalu
Kouzelný cirkus (A Magic Circus) - Schorm was also author of the script
Sněhová královna (The Snow Queen) - Schorm was also author of the script
Noční zkouška -
Černý mnich -
Oddyseus (Ulysses) - Schorm was also author of the script

Ypsilon Theatre in Liberec

Comedy, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning
The Eternal Husband
Thirteen Scents
The Twelve Chairs

Malo kazalište Trešnja in Zagreb (1982)

Braća Karamazovi (The Brothers Karamazov) - Schorm was also author of the dramatization

Notes

^ "The Reticent Guest Evald Schorm". Festival of Czech Films Finále. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
^ ^a ^b Jan Schmid. "Evald Schorm – The Theater Man". www.karamazovi.cz. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Český film. Herci a herečky III. díl (S-Ž) (2008), p. 94
^ Miloš Šafránek. Czechoslovakia - Martinů's opera-film. Opera, September 1971, Vol.22, No.9, p790-792.
^ Panorama českého filmu (2000), p. 448
^ Panorama českého filmu (2000), p. 449
^ "About the making of the movie "Joke"". Portal of Prague. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2009.

References

Fikejz, Miloš (2008). Český film. Herci a herečky III. díl (S-Ž) (in Czech). Prague: Libri. ISBN 978-80-7277-353-4.
Ptáček, Luboš, ed. (2000). Panorama českého filmu (in Czech). Olomouc: Rubico. ISBN 80-85839-54-7.