caption birth_place birth_date image article_title occupation
jiří menzel in 2007 prague 23 february 1938 jiří menzel.jpg jiří menzel
 film director
jiří menzel

jiří menzel -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- born february 23 , 1938 , prague -rrb- is a czech film director , theatre director , actor , and screenwriter .
his films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography .
some of these films are adapted from works by czech writers such as bohumil hrabal and vladislav vančura .
menzel , a member of the czech new wave , became internationally famous in 1967 , when his first feature film , `` closely watched trains '' , won the academy award for best foreign language film .
his controversial film `` larks on a string '' was filmed in 1969 , but was initially banned by the czechoslovakian government .
it was finally released in 1990 after the fall of the communist regime .
the film won the golden bear at the 40th berlin international film festival .
menzel was nominated for an academy award for best foreign language film again in 1986 with his dark comedy `` my sweet little village '' .
in 1987 , he was a member of the jury at the 37th berlin international film festival .
in 1989 he was a member of the jury at the 16th moscow international film festival .
in 1995 he was a member of the jury at the 19th moscow international film festival .
he would be conferred with lifetime achievement award at iffi in november 2013 .
