Karel Vachek receives posthumous award from Czech Culture Ministry

Director, poet and Prague FAMU film school lecturer Karel Vachek, who died at the age of 80 last year, was posthumously awarded the Artis Bohemiae Amicis (Friends of Czech Art) award by Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek on Tuesday. The award was received by the filmmaker’s sister Ludmila Vachková, the Czech News Agency reports.

During his life, Karel Vachek twice received the award for Best Czech Documentary Film at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. He was also honoured at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and at the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen. He began teaching at the FAMU’s Department of Documentary Film in 1994 and went on to lead the department from 2002.