David Ondříček

David Ondříček (born 23 June 1969) is a Czech film director, screenwriter and producer. Ondříček is the son of the late Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondříček. He attended the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague from 1987 to 1992. He made his feature directorial debut with Whisper (Šeptej, 1996), which was screened in the Tiger Award competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 1999, Ondříček founded Lucky Man Films, a film production company.

With this company, he produced his second feature film, Loners (Samotáři, 2000). The film was a major cultural and commercial success in the Czech Republic, drawing over 544,000 viewers. It garnered significant international attention, including the Audience Award at festivals in Thessaloniki and Warsaw, special jury recognition at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival, and screenings at film festivals in Toronto, Busan, and Reykjavík. Ondříček co-wrote the screenplay for his next feature, One Hand Can’t Clap (Jedna ruka netleská, 2003) alongside Jiří Macháček; the film attracted over 507,000 viewers in Czech cinemas. In 2006, he directed Grandhotel, based on the screenplay and novel of the same name by Jaroslav Rudiš, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). His 2012 crime drama In the Shadow (Ve stínu) earned him Best Director Czech Lion Award and Best Director honor at the Czech Film Critics’ Awards.