Skip to main content
Zátopek film image, director David Ondříček

Zátopek

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

Fifty years after his retirement, they were still calling him the greatest runner of all time. Emil Zátopek (played by Václav Neužil) didn’t look like much of an athlete—he was all elbows and knees. He hurled himself down the track, always grimacing, hair in permanent retreat, and he panted so loudly when he ran that they nicknamed him “The Czech Locomotive”. But long distance running doesn’t award points for style, and Zátopek had a knack for crossing the finish line first. In 1952, he won Olympic gold medals in the 5,000m, 10,000m, and the marathon, breaking Olympic records in each event—an unparalleled achievement.

David Ondříček’s engaging movie—the Audience Winner at the 2021 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival—artfully cuts between the famously gregarious runner in retirement, giving eccentric counsel to his friend, the Australian athlete Ron Clarke, while romping through the Czech’s illustrious career highlights, his tense relationship with the communist authorities, and most poignantly, his lifelong love affair with Olympic javelin thrower Dana Zátopková (a spunky Martha Issová).

 

Audience Award, Karlovy Vary 2021

Director
Cast

Václav Neužil, Martha Issová, James Frecheville, Robert Mikluš, Jiří Šimek

Credits
Country of Origin

Czech Republic/Slovakia

Year

2021

Language

In Czech and English with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
131 min
Action & Suspense Award Winners Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Wisdom of Happiness

Dir. Philip Delaquis & Barbara Miller
90 min

An audience with the Dalai Lama, who, at 90, looks back on his life and shares the tenets of Buddhism as a practical guide to surviving the 21st Century with joy and compassion.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Measures for a Funeral

Dir. Sofia Bohdanowicz
142 min

When a young academic discovers a personal link to Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow, she is compelled to dig deeper. Her investigations lead her on the trail of an elusive concerto, lost for over a century, but which she is determined to bring to light.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Meadowlarks

Dir. Tasha Hubbard
91 min

Fifty years after being separated during the Sixties Scoop, four Cree siblings reunite for the first time on a long weekend trip to Banff. Tasha Hubbard’s sensitive drama relates an emotional and life-affirming story of kinship and belonging.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Jay Kelly

Dir. Noah Baumbach
130 min

In Noah Baumbach's wise and witty comedy, George Clooney plays Jay Kelly, a world-famous movie star touring Europe with his friend and manager, Ron (Adam Sandler). Faced with nagging dissatisfaction, Jay starts to ask himself some tough questions.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Mistress Dispeller

Dir. Elizabeth Lo
94 min

Sensing her husband has strayed, a Chinese woman hires a mistress dispeller to insinuate herself between the lovers and sow enough doubt to break up the liaison. A documentary.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Peter Hujar's Day

Dir. Ira Sachs
76 min

Ben Whishaw is extraordinary in this conjuring trick of a movie from Ira Sachs (Passages), a minimalist masterpiece recreating a conversation between New York photographer Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Daria Špačková

Producer

Kryštof Mucha, David Ondříček

Screenwriter

David Ondříček, Alice Nellis, Jan P. Muchow

Cinematography

Štěpán Kučera

Editor

Jarosław Kaminski

Original Music

Beata Hlavenková

Director

David Ondříček headshot, Zátopek director

David Ondříček

David Ondříček is a screenwriter, producer, and one of the most distinctive post-revolution Czech directors. He debuted with the film Whisper (1996), followed by Loners (2000), One Hand Can’t Clap (2003), and Grandhotel (2006), all of which are considered Czech classics. His next feature film, In the Shadow (2012), won in all major categories at domestic film awards, and was the Czech Republic’s nominee for the Academy Awards. In 2013, Ondříček was listed in Variety Magazine’s 10 Directors to Watch.

Filmography: Whisper (1996); One Hand Can’t Clap (2003); Grandhotel (2006); In the Shadow (2012)