Biography

Jan Němec was born on July 12, 1936 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and writer, known for Toyen (2005), Diamonds of the Night (1964) and Martyrs of Love (1967). He was married to Iva Ruszeláková, Veronica Baumann, Marta Kubisová and Ester Krumbachová. He died on March 18, 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic.

[on Code Name Ruby (1997)] There was a big problem with its distribution because a private distribution company that was supposed to advertise the film did nothing for it, so the film was hardly shown in cinemas and there was no advertising campaign.

[on Ester Krumbachová] Ester Krumbachová was a muse, a shadowy eminence of films from the 1960s. She was multi-talented: she wrote, made costumes and designs, and she influenced not only me but also Vera Chytilová. In addition, Otakar Vávra and Karel Kachyňa made their best films in co-operation with her. She was a person who very much influenced Czech film in a positive way.

[on Die Verwandlung (1975)] In Germany, I made a film from my screenplay from the 1960s. It was an adaptation of Kafka's "Metamorphosis," and I also made about three other films. There was no problem with the work. I just do not fit in in Germany, even though my surname is Nemec [which means German in Czech]. Their sense of order, discipline and the need to organize did not suit me. When I filmed the Kafka story, which was made as a slapstick, a German critic wrote that it was incomprehensible how a Czechoslovak film director could make fun of classics from German literature. I don't know why Prague's Jewish author writing in his own German, and not in the spoken German language, should be their classic. But I was not successful. It was said that this is not the way to adapt Kafka.