Vera Chytilová

Vera Chytilova grew up amid the feverish experimentalism of the Prague arts world of the 1930s, and had survived both the war and Stalinism by the time she joined the avant-garde of feminist directors in the 1960s. At Charles University she studied philosophy and architecture, but her beauty opened up another career as a model, which in turn led to contact with the cinema world and enrollment in the Czech Film Academy (FAMU). Her graduation film from FAMU, "Ceiling" (1962), was a witheringly funny look at men's exploitation of women as models. The film's disgust with consumerism and fantastical imagery foreshadowed her future work, which continued exploring similar themes for more than four decades.