Jiří Weiss

Jiří Weiss was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Prague. His father was a Czech patriot and named his son after Czech king Jiří of Poděbrady.^[2] His parents were Emil Weiss (1880–1942) and Martha Weissová (née Fuchsová; 1882–1944).^[3][4] Emil Weiss owned a liqueur factory in Libeň district. Since his youth, Jiří was a staunch communist, which was at the heart of disputes with his capitalist parents. As a young boy he was friends with Franz Kafka's niece Marianne Pollaková and thanks to her he was able to read the books of then-unknown writer Kafka in the 1920s.^[2]

Weiss was interested in studying at film school, but his parents wished he studied law. While still a minor, he left his home and lived with his friend K. M. Walló. Weiss started to work as a copywriter in advertising.^[5] His father, who disagreed with his life choices and could still make decisions about his underage son, had him institutionalized in a mental hospital. Weiss never spoke to his father ever again.^[2] In his early twenties, he started working as a copywriter for the Prague branch of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.^[2] At this time, he wrote his first book – a story for children O věrné Hadimršce. He befriended leading intellectuals of the Left Front in Prague, including Vladislav Vančura and Ivan Olbracht. In 1934, Vančura invited him to be an assistant cinematographer on his movie Marijka the Faithless, based on Olbracht's book.^[2]

Weiss seguía decidido a convertirse en director de cine. Tomó prestada una cámara de 16 mm de Jiří Lehovec e inspirado por los cineastas soviéticos, hizo su primer cortometraje amateur sobre jóvenes que remaban en canoa por el río Sázava . Lehovec le presentó a Alexandr Hackenschmied , quien le ayudó a editar la película en los estudios de cine Baťa en Zlín. Weiss luego envió la película al Festival de Cine de Venecia, donde obtuvo el quinto lugar entre 72 películas amateur en 1935. ^{[ 1 ]} La compañía Eastman Kodak se puso en contacto con él y acordó intercambiar la película terminada por 900 metros de película de 35 mm. Una vez más, tomó prestada una cámara e hizo una nueva película con el mismo tema y los mismos actores llamada Gente bajo el sol . ^{[ 2 ]} Editó la película durante las noches utilizando el equipo en las oficinas de MGM. La película se proyectó en el cine Kotva de Praga como parte del programa de vanguardia junto con La sangre de un poeta o Un perro andaluz . Weiss fue elogiado por la crítica local y recibió 10.000 CSK del Departamento de Cine del Ministerio de Comercio. En 1936, fue contratado por el estudio AB en Praga y, como primer encargo, realizó su primera película profesional, El sol brilla sobre Lužnice . ^{[ 6 ]} Más tarde ese mismo año, dirigió un cortometraje documental sobre aviación, Dame las alas ( Vídeo en YouTube ). Posteriormente, fue aprendiz de los directores Martin Frič y Hugo Haas y continuó realizando cortometrajes documentales. Sus colaboradores frecuentes fueron el camarógrafo Václav Hanuš y el compositor Jiří Srnka . Weiss estaba en pleno proceso de edición del largometraje documental para el 20 aniversario de Checoslovaquia, titulado Veinte años de libertad . Tras el Acuerdo de Múnich, la película fue cancelada. ^{[ 7 ]}

In 1939, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he fled to England with the film material and used the footage to make a documentary The Rape of Czechoslovakia with the help of Basil Wright, Paul Rotha and Louis MacNeice. Czech diplomat Jan Masaryk acquired the funding from his English friends.^[2] Weiss volunteered for the British Army and was assigned to make war documentaries for Crown Film Unit. He also worked with the Czechoslovak Government in exile. In 1942, he wrote a book Lost Government. On 13 March 1943, Weiss and Ota Ornest directed a MacNeice's play A Town without a Name at Royal Albert Hall as a part of the London Calling Prague event. In 1945, he flew with No. 311 Squadron RAF.^[8] He made a documentary about them called Night and Day.^[9] At the end of the war, he joined 21st Army Group as a front cameraman to film the liberation of France, Belgium and Netherlands. Weiss was present at the liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp.^[2] His footage was later used in Alain Resnais' film Night and Fog. He achieved the rank of captain in the British Army. Weiss refused the offer to join the US Army and become a combat cameraman in the Pacific War, because he wanted to go back to liberated Czechoslovakia.

He returned to Prague on 13 May 1945. All of his family, including his parents, were murdered in the Holocaust.^[10] He made his first full-length feature film The Stolen Frontier in 1947. Weiss, still a devoted communist at this time, turned away from politics during the communist persecutions in the early 1950s. He made his most celebrated movies in the late 1950s and 1960s, including Wolf Trap (1957), Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1959) and Czechoslovak-British co-production Ninety Degrees in the Shade (1965).^[11]

After the Warsaw Pact invasion, Weiss left Czechoslovakia and lived in West Berlin, where he taught at a film school. Later he moved to the United States.^[9] There he taught film first at Hunter College in New York and later at UCSB.^[1] He became an American citizen in 1986.^[10] He still continued to write screenplays, but none of them were produced. During this time, he also wrote two plays – The Jewish War (1986) and Berenice (1990). In 1991, he managed to get funding and made his last film Martha and I.^[12] The film entered in competition at 47th Venice International Film Festival. In 1985, he met Alexander Payne, then a young film student, and became his lifelong friend and mentor.^[13] In 1995, Weiss wrote a book of memoirs Bílý Mercedes.

• The Stolen Frontier (1947)
• Dravci (1948)
• The Last Shot (1950)
• New Warriors Will Arise (1950)
• My Friend the Gipsy (1953)
• Doggy and the Four (1954)
• Life Is at Stake (1956)
• Wolf Trap (1957)
• Appassionata (1959)
• Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1959)
• The Coward (1961)
• Golden Fern (1963)
• Ninety Degrees in the Shade (1965)
• Murder Czech Style (1967)
• Martha and I (1991)

• People in the Sun (1935)
• Sun Is Shining over Lužnice (1936)
• Give us the Wings (1936)
• Sea of Air (1937)
• A Song About Carpathian Ruthenia (1937)
• The Illusion Factory (1938)
• Journey from the Shadows (1938)
• The Rape of Czechoslovakia (1939) – Lyrical documentary about pre-WWII Czechoslovakia and Nazi invasion. Narrated by Cecil Day-Lewis.
• Secret Allies (1939)
• Eternal Prague (1940)
• Home Front (1941)
• 100 Million Women (1942)
• The Other RAF (1942)
• Fighter Pilot (1943)
• Before the Raid (1943) – Docudrama about Norwegian fishermen resistance members. Written by Laurie Lee.
• Night and Day (1945) – Documentary about No. 311 Squadron RAF
• We Will Remain Faithful (1945)
• Song about Slet (1948) – Two-part documentary about the 9th Sokol slet festival