Martin Ryšavý

Martin Ryšavý (born 1967 in Prague) is Czech author, screenwriter and director. He studied biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Charles University and screenwriting at the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. He is head of the Department of Screenwriting and Script Editing at FAMU. He has made documentaries with primarily ethnographic themes in Siberia and Vietnam. His third “ethnographic” film Afonka Does Not Want to Herd Reindeer Anymore/Afoňka už nechce pást soby was awarded the best Czech documentary film at the IDFF Jihlava in 2004. Martin Ryšavý wrote the subject and script of the story Journey/Cesta in the short story film by Roman Vávra In the Rye (1998), the script of the film by Ivan Vojnár Forest Walkers/ Lesní chodci (2003) which he later rewrote in book form, or the script for the television film Aljona (2008). However, his most significant achievement was his two-volume book Journeys to Siberia/Cesty na Sibiř (2008) for which he received the Czech literary Magnesia Litera award in the prose category. In the year of 2010 he received a Pavel Koutecky Award for his latest film Země snů/ The Land of Dreams about community of unemployed Vietnamese workers in the Czech Republic.

Filmography:

Argiš (CZ, 1995)
Rozprava o metodě (CZ, 1997)
Bílá Indiánka (CZ, 1999)
Sibiř - duše v muzeu (72´, CZ, 2003)
Afoňka už nechce pást soby (76´, CZ, 2004)
Kdo mě naučí půl znaku/ Who Will Teach Me the Half of the Character (91´, ČR, 2006)
Malupien, Olšový Spas (93´, ČR, 2008)
Země snů/ The Land of Dreams (57´, ČR, 2009)