Radim Špaček (Czech Republic)

Radim Spacek was born in 1973 in Ostrava. When he was five he moved with his parents to Prague and started to play minor parts in radio plays and TV dramas. As a high school he chose Prague conservatory, acting department. Czech director Karel Kachyna offered him main part in his feature film "Little Girls and Crazy Guys" (Blazni a devcatka (1989), smaller parts in "Vojtech, Called the Orphan" (Vojtech, receny sirotek (1990) and TV film Jan (1992). After school-leaving exam in 1991 he worked as an assistant of director at few foreign movies shot in Prague (Swing Kids, Il Giovanni Mussolini, Catherine Courage), when one year later he was accepted to study directing on Prague Film Academy (FAMU). After he finished his first year he went to Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina under siege (1993). In production of Cestmir Kopecky (Czech Television) he shot his first film there - a semi-documentary story called "Young Men Discovering the World" (Mladí muzi poznávají svet (1996)) about war life of young people living there. Film was chosen for the Karlovy Vary IFF competition and got a Film Clubs International Association Award and an Ecumenical Jury Award as well as a special mention on Alpe Adria Festival in Trieste (1996). He continued his studies and for two years worked as a speaker and director of alternative music programme in Czech TV called 60 (1996). He finished his studies with his second film "Rapid Eye Movement" (Rychlé pohyby ocí (1998)). Immediately after that he has got a German foundation's DAAD scholarship for 6 months in Berlin, where he wrote a screenplay "Good Intention" (Dobre umysly). He also prepares two documentaries - "War Odyssey" (Valecna odysea), view on contemporary wars all over the world and "Sleepless Nights" (Bezesne noci), following Czech TV crisis in winter 2000/1.