Kolya

The plot of the film Kolya (Kolja, 1996) takes place in the 1980s in Prague. It is a comedy-drama directed by Jan Svěrák, based on a story by the film historian Pavel Taussig and screenplay by Zdeněk Svěrák. It is a powerful and emotional story, but also a unique account of the time shortly preceding the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia. The main character is an unsuccessful and poor elderly musician František Louka enters into a sham marriage with a young Russian woman Nadezda in order to earn money to buy himself a Trabant. As a result, Nadezda gets Czech citizenship and immediately emigrates to West Germany. František, however, is left not only with the agreed upon sum of money, but also her five-year-old sun Kolya. Set against the tensions between the Czechs and Russians in times of great social changes, the film describes in a touching and humorous way, but without pathos, the process of getting to know and gradually growing closer of protagonists who do not understand each other.

In 1996 the creators of Kolya were awarded an Oscar for best foreign-language film, as well as other awards: the Grand Prix ’53 in Tokyo, six Czech Lions, etc. The film also holds the record for the largest number of domestic viewers: 1.346,669 viewers saw it in Czech cinemas. Another contributor to the film’s success was its casting: Zdeněk Svěrák played the leading roles, Libuše Šafránková his partner, and Ondřej Vetchý, Stella Zázvorková, Karel Heřmánek and Jiří Sovák in other roles. The leading child role was played by Andrey Khalimon.