Jan Zajíček

czech director

Jan Zajíček graduated from the Václav Hollar Art School and is a graduate of FAMU (Department of Directing and Animated Film). He was one of the main pioneers of graffiti in the Czech Republic after 1989 and is one of the legends of the Czechoslovak scene (Skarf, TCP/ABX). He was a member of the rap group WWW (the warm-up band for Sinéad O’Connor concert in 1996) and is the author of music for several short films (Katja, dir. I. Hardunka, To the Sea, dir. Š. Koudela, etc.). As an artist and animator, he has collaborated with the National Theatre, VerTeDance and Theatre XXL and represented the Czech Republic at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai (a joint exhibition Metropolis). He has made several award-winning music videos at home and abroad (Angel Award, Filter Mag, Brooklyn IFF, Chelsea Art Museum NYC, etc.). The music video Days Will Never Be the Same (Sunshine) topped the Japanese charts for 3 weeks and the music video Meleme, meleme kávu (We are Grinding and Grinding Coffee, Vladimir 518 & Hugo Toxxx) was included at the ISFF Oberhausen in the collection of the 10 most creative music videos in the world in 2010 (together with Björk, Basement Jaxx, Madonna, etc.). Girl Power, a documentary about women in graffiti (co-directed by the writer Sany), won the Best Film Award at the 2016 Unerhört IFF in Hamburg and has been screened in more than twenty countries on four continents. Jan Zajíček also collaborated with Vladimir 518 on the TV series/project Tribes. Czechoslovak Architecture 58-89 is his third feature-length documentary.