I Served the King of England

Jan Dites’ rise from boy waiter to hotelier begins in a small town near the Czech-German border.This is where this ambitious young man first encounters the pleasures of an affluent lifestyle. This is also where he has his first sexual experiences. Shortly afterwards he obtains a position at a luxurious hotel near Prague where he encounters the creme de la creme of 1930s Czech society.Their extravagant lifestyle only serves to fuel his ambition; he soon starts working at an elegant new hotel at the center of Prague. Among the hotel’s guests is the Emperor of Abyssinia, who even rewards Jan with a medal for his services.With the Treaty of Munich, Jan’s luck begins to change. Before long it looks as though Jan’s dream of owning his own hotel is well within his grasp...
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Jiri Menzel (with the collaboration of Kristian Suda, based on the novel by Bohumil Hrabal)
Cinematography: Jaromir Sofr
Editing: Jiri Brozek
Sound: Radim Hladik jr.
Music: Ales Brezina, Art Direction: Milan Bycek
Actors: Ivan Barney (Jan), Oldrich Kaiser (Alter Jan), Julia Jentsch (Lisa), Marian Labuda (Walden), Milan Lasica (professor), Martin Huba (Skrivanek)
Production: AQS A.S.
Producers: Rudolf Biermann
Co-production: Bioscop, TV Nova, Barrandov Studio, Universal Production Partners (Czech Republic), Magic Box Slovakia (Slovakia)
Costumes: Milan Corba
Format: 35mm, Color
Production Country: Czech Republic
Production Year: 2006
Duration: 118

Jirί Menzel

He was born in Prague in 1938. He made his debut as a feature film director in 1966 with the Oscar-winning Bohumil Hrabal adaptation Ostre sledovane vlaky. He moved into theatre in 1969 after another Hrabal adaptation, Skrivanci na niti was banned (the film later won the Golden Bear in 1990). He was one of the leading figures of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, together with Milos Forman and Vera Chytilova.

Filmography

1966 Ostre sledovane vlaky/Closely Observed Trains
1974 Rozmarne leto/Capricious Summer
1981 Postriziny/Cutting in Short
1990 Skrivanci na niti/Larks on a String
1991 Zebracka opera/The Beggar’s Opera
2002 Ten Minutes Older:The Cello (episode One Moment)
2006 Obsluhoval jsem anglickeho krάle / I Served the King of England