Miloš Forman, born in Čáslav outside Prague, he lost both his parents in the Nazi death camps. After studying in Prague he made his first feature film in 1963: "Black Peter", an autobiographical account of a teenager in a small Czech town. He gained international recognition with "Loves of a Blonde". Despite this, his next film, "The Firemen's Ball", attracted the attention of the Communist authorities and was banned. After the Soviet invasion of 1968, Forman settled in America, winning international fame with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". It swept the Academy Awards, winning all five major Oscars. From his earliest Czechoslovakian work through his American period to "Goya's Ghosts", Forman's directing remains close to the reality of life; its absurdity and transforming joys.