King of Thieves

Ivan Fíla, alternate name Ivan Fila, is a Czech film director, screenwriter and producer. Fíla was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He moved to Germany in 1977 where he received a directing and scriptwriting degree at the Film Department of the University in Cologne. Fíla shot documentaries and shorts before making his feature debut with Lea. The feature premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1996 and won the OCIC-Award. Lea was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and for best young film at the European Film Awards. At the Brussels International Film Festival, Lea won both the Audience Award and the Crystal Star for Best European Feature. Lea also won the Satyajit Ray Award for best film at the London Film Festival and many others including two Czech Lions. Lea brought Fíla to Hollywood where he was hired by Steven Spielberg to rewrite and direct The Betty Schimmel Story.

Fíla’s follow-up King of thieves premiered at the Moscow Filmfestival in 2004. King of Thieves won the Prix d’Or for Best European Screenplay and won four Czech Lions including Best Actor. Other credits include documentaries as Vaclav Havel – A bohemian fairy tale, Hitler’s blackmail, Steps in a Labyrinth, Fog, Tales from another world, Joschka Fischer and others. Fíla is currently working on his English language project Bella Luna. He lives in Frankfurt, Los Angeles and Prague. —wikipedia