Biography

Ivanna Benesova is a professional Czech director and producer. She is not afraid of unconventional topics and her work is distinctive, controversial and often shocking.

Ivanna attracted public attention mainly from her documentary "How Porno Movies are Made" and from her movie debut "Abused", which was screened nationwide for six months.

She was employed as a director for Czech television broadcast TV Nova for two and a half years. Currently she has been working on many music videos and commercials.

Ivanna's trademark is always being exceptional, controversial and often shocking. That is also a reason why many of her projects are publicly known. She fearlessly uses unconventional themes and often uses new technologies and various special effects.

Originally she studied economics at Mendel's Agricultural And Forestry University in Brno. Later she transferred to a Film School in Pisek. Her first short movie, which was made in collaboration with students of Film School of Zlin, won a prize for best director at a film festival called Kryspin.

The most successful school project was a documentary "How Porno Movies are Made", which was screened nationwide in many art cinemas and clubs, and its English version participated in some foreign festivals, as well.

In her first year of school, Ivanna was hired as a director for the TV Broadcast company Nova. In the next two and a half years she devoted herself to a sport promos and short documentary movies.

During that time, she continued to work on her other private projects. After two years of hard work, her fictional documentary "Abused", was released in cinemas nationwide.

It was released nationwide with a distribution company founded by Ivanna specifically for this movie. It also found its way to some documentary festivals in the USA.

In the spring of 2012, Ivanna and her director of photography founded production company Orange. Its core business is making music videos and commercials. Among the best works is a music video for a song "Alternativa" by David Kraus, which was made completely in 3D, the first of its kind in the Czech republic. Other works include music clips "Syria" by Samer Issa, punk bands ZakázanÝ Ovoce, ATD etc. Besides her work as a filmmaker, she hosts a movie show on Radio Spin.

She also contributed as a journalist to many magazines and editorials and did some modeling, as well.

High public attention came also with her own Playboy pictures, which were taken in the center of Prague, amongst hundreds of tourists.

Still today, Ivanna stays a strong supporter in the fight against child abuse and cruelty.
- IMDb mini biography by: John