Oscar-Winning Czech Director Jiri Menzel Dies at Age 82

Director Jiri Menzel poses during a photocall to promote the film 'I Served The King Of England' at the 57th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany February 16, 2007. (Reuters)
Director Jiri Menzel poses during a photocall to promote the film 'I Served The King Of England' at the 57th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany February 16, 2007. (Reuters)
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Oscar-Winning Czech Director Jiri Menzel Dies at Age 82

Director Jiri Menzel poses during a photocall to promote the film 'I Served The King Of England' at the 57th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany February 16, 2007. (Reuters)
Director Jiri Menzel poses during a photocall to promote the film 'I Served The King Of England' at the 57th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany February 16, 2007. (Reuters)

Influential Czech director Jiri Menzel, whose 1966 movie “Closely Watched Trains” won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film, has died at age 82, his wife, Olga Menzelova, said on her Facebook page.

Menzel was part of the Czech New Wave of filmmakers of the 1960s that included “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus” director Milos Forman and avant-garde director Vera Chytilova.

He struggled with serious health problems and rarely appeared in public after brain surgery in 2017.

“Dearest Jirka, I thank you for each and single day I could spend with you. Each was extraordinary. I am also grateful to you for the last three years, as hard as they were,” his wife wrote in her post.

She said Menzel died at home on Saturday.

Menzel gained fame for “Closely Watched Trains,” the coming-of-age story of a young train dispatcher in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War Two.

It was based on a novel by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, whose works were a source of other Menzel films, including “I Served the King of England” in 2006.

“I had more luck than reason,” he said in 2016, recalling his Oscar-winning movie. “More than all the prizes and medals I received for this movie, I valued the lifelong friendship with Hrabal.”

Like other directors of his generation, Menzel faced problems with Communist authorities.

His 1969 film, “Larks on a String,” depicting a group of politically persecuted people forced to work in a scrapyard, was not shown in his home country until 1990.

It went on to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1990.

Menzel excelled in bittersweet depictions of life, with doses of humor and nostalgia. Many of his works are revered among Czech audiences.

Menzel’s 1985 film, “My Sweet Little Village,” was nominated for an Oscar and a number of his other movies have become classics for Czech film watchers and directors.

Menzel also acted in dozens of movies and plays. A bachelor late into life, he and Menzelova, a film producer, married in 2004.

“I thank him for everything he did for us. Goodbye, sir!” film director Jan Hrebejk, who was nominated for an Oscar for his 2000 film, “Divided We Fall,” wrote on Twitter.



Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
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Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Fans roared in excitement and organizers sighed with relief as the Tomorrowland music festival kicked off Friday — just two days after a massive fire engulfed the main stage and threw one of Europe's biggest summer concert events into doubt.

Workers labored around the clock to clear out the debris from the elaborate backdrop that was consumed in Wednesday's fire.

Shouting ‘’We made it!'', the festival's opening performers, Australian electronic music group Nervo, were able to take to the main stage Friday after a last-minute scramble and slight delay. Some charred frames were still visible behind them.

No one was hurt in the fire, organizers said. The causes are being investigated.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world attend Tomorrowland's annual multi-day festival outside the Belgian town of Boom.

Some 38,000 people were camping at the festival site Friday, Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen said.

’’Maybe there are some few people that say, OK, we would like to have a refund, but it’s only like a very small percentage because most of them are still coming to the festival,” she told AP.

“It is all about unity, and I think with a good vibe and a positive energy that our festival-goers give to each other and the music we offer, I think they will still have a good time,″ she said. ’’We really tried our best.″

Australian fans Zak Hiscock and Brooke Antoniou — who traveled half the world to see the famed festival as part of a summer holiday in Europe — described hearing about the fire.

“We were sitting having dinner when we actually heard the news of the stage burning down. We were very devastated and shattered, quite upset because we travelled a long way,'' Hiscock said.

Ukrainian visitor Oleksandr Beshkynskyi shared their joy that the festival went ahead as planned.

‘’It’s not just about the one DJ or two DJs you’re looking to see, but about all the mood and about the dream being alive," Beshkynskyi said.