President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel officially bestowed the Professor degrees on university teachers, who had successfully passed the professorship procedures at their respective universities, in Prague’s Karolinum on Thursday, 13 June 2024. Among the newly appointed Professors are three AMU teachers: Jan Štěpánek, Head of DAMU’s Department of Scenography; Michaela Pavlátová, Head of FAMU’s Department of Animated Film; and Pavel Rejholec, Head of FAMU’s Department of Sound Design.
Jan Štěpánek is a set designer, costume designer and teacher. He has been serving as the Head of the Department of Scenography at AMU’s Theatre Faculty since 2022, having studied at the same Department with two renowned set designers – Prof. Jan Dušek and Prof. Jana Zbořilová – in the 1990s. That is also when he first began collaborating with theatre directors Jiří Pokorný and Jan Antonín Pitínský, designing stage sets for their plays at Činoherní studio in Ústí nad Labem, Městské divadlo Zlín, HaDivadlo in Brno and Na zábradlí Theatre in Prague. He also works regularly with Jan Nebeský at the National Theatre. Jan Štěpánek has been a long-time teacher at JAMU, helming the Scenography Studio. In his thesis for professorship, he explored the concepts and methodology for teaching set design at the Department in Prague where he took over the reins from Professor Dušek.
Michaela Pavlátová is a film director, artist and animator. She has been a teacher at the Department of Animated Film of FAMU since 1992 and has helmed the same Department since 2015. Her full-length My Sunny Maad (2021) won the prestigious César award in addition to being nominated for a Golden Globe and winning a jury award at the Annecy film festival. Her short Words, Words, Words (1991) was nominated for an Oscar and Repete (1995) was nominated for the grand prize at the Berlinale in the short film category. Her Tram (2012) was featured in Cannes. In addition to animated films, she has also directed feature films including Faithless Games (2003) and Night Owls (2008), a Karlovy Vary IFF award winner for leading actors’ performances. As a teacher, Michaela has guested at major international universities such as Harvard University and the Royal College of Arts in London.
Pavel Rejholec is a sound designer, composer and producer. Since 2011, he has been the Head of the Department of Sound Design at FAMU. He co-founded Cinemasound in 1994 and has been the executive director of the Soundsquare studio since 2003. As a sound designer, he has contributed to more than 45 feature films and multiple international projects. He worked as the dubbing supervisor on the second and third episodes of Star Wars for Lucasfilm and has also worked with Netflix, Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox. He has won the Czech Lion Awards for the best sound design eight times (Zátopek, 2021; The Painted Bird, 2019; Masaryk, 2016; In the Shadow, 2012; Kuky se vrací, 2010; Three Seasons in Hell, 2009; Tobruk, 2008; and Grandhotel, 2006), in addition to being nominated multiple times in the same category (We Have Never Been Modern, 2023; Bird Atlas, 2021; The Man with Hare Ears, 2021; Havel, 2020; The Glass Room, 2019, and more). In 2020, he won an award from DAFF for the best sound design for his contribution to the TV series Das Boot.
photo: Anežka Pithartová
17. June 2024
