MY FATHER GEORGE VOSKOVEC
FLM CLUB
June 19, 2012 , 7PM, Free
An American story of Czech legendary actor.
The film focuses on George Voskovec‘s life in the United States after 1950 when the communist regime in Czechoslovakia forced him into exile. His second. The first time was to escape the Nazis.
George Voskovec has been loved and revered by generations of Czech people who remember him as the other half of the Liberated Theater duo (Osvobozene divadlo) in the 1920s and 1930s in Prague. Together with Jan Werich and composer Jaroslav Jezek, they were the theatrical version of today’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Their Dadaistic Theater with funny, intelligent and whimsical texts provided social and political commentary. Even young Czechs today sing their timeless songs and only lately, they are finding out about George Voskovec’s fate. After his emigration, his name was erased from the official Czech cultural history.
My Father George Voskovec (Můj otec George Voskovec), 2011, 75 min.
Documentary directed by Libuse Rudinska
Cast: Gigi Voskovec-Gotfried, Chris Voskovec, Vicki Voskovec, Václav Havel, Miloš Forman, Jiří Planner
Synopsis:
The film focuses on George Voskovec‘s life in the United States after 1950 when the communist regime in Czechoslovakia forced him into exile. His second. The first time was to escape the Nazis.
George Voskovec has been loved and revered by generations of Czech people who remember him as the other half of the Liberated Theater duo (Osvobozene divadlo) in the 1920s and 1930s in Prague. Together with Jan Werich and composer Jaroslav Jezek, they were the theatrical version of today’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Their Dadaistic Theater with funny, intelligent and whimsical texts provided social and political commentary. Even young Czechs today sing their timeless songs and only lately, they are finding out about George Voskovec’s fate. After his emigration, his name was erased from the official Czech cultural history.
Voskovec acted in 72 movies. Only the first five of these were Czech; the rest were American or British. His most famous American movie was 12 Angry Men - where being a very recognizable European immigrant to the US was central his role. His most famous British film was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. His last movie was Barbarosa, with Willie Nelson and Gary Busey. Voskovec also appeared in the 1978 TV-film The Nativity and the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. In 1956 he won the OBIE Award for his role in Uncle Vanya.
The documentary, titled “My Farther Voskovec” and narrated by his American adopted daughter Gigi Voskovec, includes interviews with people in the United States who worked with George Voskovec or knew him as a friend, such as Andrei Serban and Milos Forman Ex-president Vaclav Havel and others. We are hoping that some of Voskovec’s fellow actors will be able to add a piece into the mosaic depicting his American life.
