Milan Kňažko to Accept Actor’s Mission Award

 

On Wednesday, 23 June, Trenčianske Teplice’s Festival Park will belong to Milan Kňažko, who will accept the prestigious Actor’s Mission Award. Milan Kňažko (1945) has appeared in over ninety films and television serials, and he is currently involved in the making of Stanislav Párnický’s new television film Čerešňový chlapec sa vracia (The Return of the Cherry Boy). His first experiences with acting were during secondary school, but before being accepted to the Academy of Performing Arts, he tried his hand at stagecraft and mining.

After four years of study, he earned a two-year scholarship to study at the University of Nancy’s international theatre academy in France. When he returned to Slovakia, he worked with Bratislava’s Divadlo na Korze and Nová scéna theatre troupes, and from 1985 at the Slovak National Theatre, where he acted until 1990. During all this, he also took numerous film roles. The first was in 1965 with Šerif za mrežami (The Sheriff Behind Bars), a dramatic story set in a youth correctional facility directed by Dimitrij Plichta. He later took striking roles in films such as Nevesta hôľ (The Bride of the Mountains, d. M. Ťapák, 1971), Zánik samoty Berhof (End of the Lonely Farm Berghof, d. J. Svoboda, 1983) and Dobří holubi se vracejí (Good Pigeons Return, d. D. Klein, 1988).

In addition to acting, he has also pursued politics since 1989. He was the only person in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic to return his title of artist emeritus after the revolution, due to his disagreement with the politics of the regime, and in November 1989 he officially entered politics, co-founding the organization “Verejnosť proti násiliu” (The Public Against Violence). Václav Havel, the first post-November president, selected him as an advisor, and he later became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic and subsequently the Minister of Culture.

At the end of the 1990s he returned to acting, starting onstage. In a production of Yasmina Reza’s “Art”, he performed alongside Milan Lasica and Marián Labuda at Prague’s Ungelt theatre, taking the role of the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso under the directorial guidance of Jiří Svoboda, with whom he had made his best films. He also became the general director of JOJ Television. His latest feature film to date is the 2009 thriller Normal from director Július Ševčík.

 

The Art Film Fest International Film Festival Trenčianske Teplice/Trenčín is made possible through the financial support of the Audiovisual Fund and the European Union Programme MEDIA.   

Organizers: ART FILM, n. o., Forza, a. s.

Co-organizers: the Town of Trenčianske Teplice, the City of Trenčín, the Trenčianske Teplice Health Spa

General Sponsors: Dôvera Medical Insurance, AquaCity Poprad

Main Sponsors: Tatra banka, Slovnaft, Veolia Voda - Central Slovakian Waterworks, OHL ŽS, Alison Slovakia

Official Transport Provider: Lancia

Logistics Sponsor: DHL; Free student cinepasses provided by: Prvá stavebná sporitelna (First Housing-Construction Savings Bank)

Sponsor of the Slovak Season section: Zlatý Bažant; Sponsors: AVI Studio, Baske Guest House, Park Hotel na Baračke

Official Suppliers: HUBERT J.E., Kláštorná, GS design, Philips, A Briliant

Media Sponsors: Slovak Television, Markíza Television, FilmBox, CSTV, Central Europe Television, Rádio Europa 2, Rádio Hit FM, Pravda, .týždeň, Markíza, Pardon, Cinemax, Kam do mesta, zoznam.sk, Boomerang Media, SITA, euroAWK, superobed.sk