Robert Buchar
Robert Buchar is an American filmmaker, director and producer, born in 1951[1] in former Czechoslovakia.
He studied photography at the Prague School of Graphic Arts and FAMU, the Film Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in cinematography as M.F.A. in 1975. He worked as a freelance cinematographer before defecting to the United States in 1980. There he worked as a cameraman for CBS until 1989, photographed over twenty films and documentaries in the U.S. and Europe. He also works as director of photography on independent films and commercials.
Since 1989 he teaches cinematography at the Columbia College in Chicago, where he became head of the Cinematography Concentration, the faculty's cinematography program, an advanced production course he developed.[2][3]
Documentary features
His, and David Smith's[1], documentary film Velvet Hangover about the Czech New Wave and the Czech film industry before and after the Velvet Revolution was screened in film festivals around the world.
...an intriguing historical document which charts the state of Czech cinema in the sixties, under the years of Normalisation in the seventies and eighties, and its encounter with the new economic "liberalism" of the nineties...[4]
...a long-overdue doc on that dark period and the perceived post-1989 Velvet Revolution industry doldrums...lengthy and composed primarily of talking heads, pic is riveting across the board: Human rights advocates and fans of true-life underdog tales will be as enraptured as students of Eastern European cinema...a must for fests, tube and vid...a veritable gold mine of behind-the-scenes info on the fates of various New Wave filmmakers in two distinct periods...[5]
...archly-titled anatomy of Czech film, past and present...recollections...frank commentary from the directors and cinematographers themselves...a riveting document...all remarkably articulate and offer their convictions eloquently, in an understated way...Fourteen prominent figures, young and old...Some are angry, some melancholy. They reminisce: they muse; they judge; they tell personal anecdotes...Velvet Hangover compels...the filmmakers raise issues that are universal. Should film entertain or bear some moral purpose? Can film communicate ideas? Should contemporary themes be a focus?...generated passionate reactions among Czech officials and the media...trouble getting [the film] aired or shown theatrically, although it has been making the rounds at festivals and film clubs...national television asked Buchar to take out Milota's unflattering remarks about President Václav Havel. He refused. Outrage over a seeming return to censorship finally forced Czech TV to air the film...[6]
Featuring in Velvet Hangover (in alphabetic order):
Currently (November 2009) his another documentary The Collapse of Communism – The Untold Story[7] is in postproduction. According to some critics, it promotes a conspiracy theory that the fall of communism in Eastern Europe was a hoax.[8]
Filmography
documentaries, feature-length, also as director / producer
- Velvet Hangover, together with David Smith, 1999/2000, USA
(in Czech: Sametová kocovina, 2002) - The Collapse of Communism – The Untold Story, 2009/2010, USA
other, (mainly / also) as director of photography[9]
- Four Seasons (in Czech: Čtvero ročních dob), 2008
- Bear Not to Be, 1968
- Certainly, 1969
- The Club, 1971
- In the Sign of Eagle, 1978
- The Comets, 1979
- City in the Center of the City, 1979
- Etology of Animals, 1980
- Basic Meditation Exercise, directed by George Drasnar (Jiří Drašnar)[9](in Czech), 1981
- Go West-Sing West, 1991
- Where are you, 1992
- The Land of Youth, 1992
- Granny, 1998
- Poslední z rodu, directed by Drahomíra Vihanová, Czechoslovakia, 1977
Books
- Czech New Wave Filmmakers in Interviews, foreword by Antonin J. Liehm, McFarland & Company, 2003 (based upon the Velvet Hangover documentary)
- And Reality be Damned... December 2009, Eloquent Strategic Publishing [10] (based upon the The Collapse of Communism – The Untold Story documentary)
- professional
- Design of the photographic and the cinematographic image, with Jan Smok, Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Prague 2001
- The Spotmeter and its application in cinematography and video (on proper metering techniques [citation needed])
References
- ^ Recenze : Sametová kocovina (Velvet Hangover), with Buchar's photo and cover of Velvet Hangover
- ^ "Eight Films Emerge" (PDF). Kodak. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ^ entry at Columbia College : Film and Video : Faculty website
- ^ "Wild Decades and Velvet Hangovers". by Peter Hames, Transitions Online. 2001-05-21. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ Velvet Hangover review by Eddie Cockrell, Variety, February 28, 2002
- ^ Velvet Hangover. (Short Takes). by Louis Menashe, Cineaste, March 22, 2002
- ^ collapseof communism.com – website of the film The Collapse of Communism – The Untold Story
- ^ J.R. Nyquist (2007-09-14). "Filming the Great Deception". financialsense.com. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
- ^ Freedom Film Festival 2002: The Films
Weblinks
- BucharFilm – author's website
- Robert Buchar – entry at IMDb web