Štefan Uher

Štefan Uher (born July 4, 1930 in Prievidza , Czechoslovakia , now Slovakia; † March 29, 1993 in Bratislava , Slovakia ) was a Slovak film director , screenwriter and one of the founders of the Czechoslovak New Wave .

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Uher grew up in the family of a butcher laborer and became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia at the age of 18 . In 1950 he began his studies in film directing at FAMU in Prague and graduated there in 1955.

After graduating, he worked between 1955 and 1960 in the documentary film studio (Slovak: Štúdio dokumentárnych filmov ) in Bratislava. In films shot there, Uher deals critically with social and human problems. In 1960 he moved to the feature film studio (Slovak Štúdio hraných filmov ), where a long-term collaboration with the writer Alfonz Bednár and the cameraman Stanislav Szomolányi began. His feature film debut was the 1961 film My z 9. A. , Slnko v sieti , which appeared in the atmosphere of gradual liberalization of the socialist regime, followed just a year later . Characteristic for Uher's works are realistic depictions of everyday life and the use of colloquial language and dialectal forms. The film Organ came out in 1964 , as did Panna zázračnica in 1966 based on a novella of the same name by Dominik Tatarka .

Uher found it difficult to deal with the normalization and increased censorship that occurred after 1968 . In 1980, together with Bednár and Szomolányi, he realized the four-part miniseries Moje kone vrané about life in Bratislava in the 1980s, followed by the tragic-comic film Pásla kone na betóne in 1982, which deals with contemporary realities in Eastern Slovakia. The last film, Správca skanzenu , came out in 1988.

In 1989 Uher was named a national artist. He died on March 29, 1993 in Bratislava.

Filmography (selection)

As a director

• 1955: Učiteľka
• 1955: Stredoeurópsky pohár
• 1956: Ľudia pod Vihorlatom
• 1958: Lodníci bez mena
• 1959: Očami kamery
• 1961: My z 9. A.
• 1962: Slnko v sieti
• 1964: Organ
• 1966: Panna zázračnica (The Virgin Miracle Worker )
• 1967: Tri dcéry
• 1970: Génius
• 1971: Keby som mal pušku
• 1973: Dolina
• 1974: Studené podnebie
• 1978: Penelopa
• 1979: Kamarátky
• 1980: Moje kone vrané - four-part miniseries
• 1981: Kosenie jastrabej lúky
• 1982: Pásla kone na betóne (She grazed horses on concrete)
• 1986: Šiesta veta
• 1988: Správca skanzenu

As a screenwriter

• 1973: Dolina
• 1982: Pásla kone na betóne (She grazed horses on concrete)
• 1986: Šiesta veta

Web links

• Štefan Uher in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Entry on osobnosti.sk (Slovak)
• Entry on ČSFD (Slovak / Czech)