Štefan Uher was a Slovak film director, one of the founders of the "Czechoslovak New Wave

Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czech directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Vojtěch Jasný, Evald Schorm and Slovak directors Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, Ján Kádár, Elo...

".

He graduated from the FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts) in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 in 1955. Among his fellow students were future directors Martin Hollý Jr. and Peter Solan who also began to work at the Koliba film studios (then called the Feature Film Studio and the Short Film Studio) in Bratislava

Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

 after graduation.

Uher first worked in the short film division. The Sun in a Net

The Sun in a Net

The Sun in a Net is a 1963 film that became a key film in the development of Slovak and Czechoslovak cinema from the mandated Socialist-Realist filmmaking of the repressive 1950s towards the Czechoslovak/Czech New Wave and socially critical or experimental films of the 1960s marked by a...

was his second feature film. His first one was We from Study Group 9-A (My z deviatej A, 1962) about the life of a group of 15-year-old students and their school.

Uher followed The Sun in a Net by two more films with the same author-screenwriter Alfonz Bednár and cameraman − Stanislav Szomolányi, later professor of cinematography at the University of Performing Arts, Bratislava: The Organ (Organ, 1964), and Three Daughters (Tri dcéry, 1967).

The original music score in The Sun in a Net is by Ilja Zeljenka, an avant-garde composer of musique concrète

Musique concrète

Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...

, who also worked with Uher on We from Study Group 9-A, and went on to work with him on six more films.

Uher's and Szomolányi's last film She Grazed Horses on Concrete

She Grazed Horses on Concrete

She Grazed Horses on Concrete is a film which lays out serious topics that include a woman's capacity to hold her own in society, sexual mores, and abortion, and balances them with comedy and irony in proportions that instantly made it one of the biggest domestic blockbusters in Slovak cinema.A...

(Pásla kone na betóne, 1982) has remained one of Slovakia's most popular domestic productions through the 2000s.

Director

• Ucitelka (1955)
• Stredoeurópský pohár (1955)
• Cesta nad oblaky (1955)
• Ludia pod Vihorlatom (1956)
• Tú krácajú tragédie (1957)
• Niekedy v novembri (1958)
• Lodníci bez mora (1958)
• Bolo raz priatelstvo (1958)
• Poznacení tmou (1959)
• Ocami kamery (1959)
• My z 9.A (1961)
• Slnko v sieti (1962) (The Sun in a Net
  The Sun in a Net
  The Sun in a Net is a 1963 film that became a key film in the development of Slovak and Czechoslovak cinema from the mandated Socialist-Realist filmmaking of the repressive 1950s towards the Czechoslovak/Czech New Wave and socially critical or experimental films of the 1960s marked by a...
  
  )
• Varhany (1964)
• Organ (1965)
• Panna zázracnica (1966) (Miraculous Virgin)
• Tri dcéry (1967) (Three Daughters)
• Génius (1970)
• Keby som mal pusku (1971) (If I Had a Gun)
• Dolina (1973)
• Javor a Juliana (1973)
• Veľká noc a veľky den (1974)
• Studené podnebie (1974, TV)
• Keby som mal dievca (1976) (If I Had a Girl)
• Zlaté casy (1978) (Great Times)
• Penelopa (1978)
• Kamarátky (1979)
• "Moje kone vrané" (1980, TV mini-series)
• Kosenie jastrabej luky (1981) (Mowing of Hawk Meadow)
• Pásla kone na betóne (1982) (She Grazed Horses on Concrete
  She Grazed Horses on Concrete
  She Grazed Horses on Concrete is a film which lays out serious topics that include a woman's capacity to hold her own in society, sexual mores, and abortion, and balances them with comedy and irony in proportions that instantly made it one of the biggest domestic blockbusters in Slovak cinema.A...
  
  , also translated A Ticket to the Heaven, Concrete Pastures, She Kept Asking for the Moon)
• Siesta veta (1986)
• Správca skanzenu (1988)

Writer

• Dolina (1973)
• Pásla kone na betóne (1982) (She Grazed Horses on Concrete
  She Grazed Horses on Concrete
  She Grazed Horses on Concrete is a film which lays out serious topics that include a woman's capacity to hold her own in society, sexual mores, and abortion, and balances them with comedy and irony in proportions that instantly made it one of the biggest domestic blockbusters in Slovak cinema.A...
  
  , also translated A Ticket to the Heaven, Concrete Pastures, She Kept Asking for the Moon)
• Siesta veta (1986)

External links

• Štefan Uher (dir., 1963) The Sun in a Net. Clip 1 ("A solar eclipse and lies scared the authorities.")
• Štefan Uher (dir., 1963) The Sun in a Net. Clip 2 ("Filmic transition and titillation.")
• Štefan Uher (dir., 1982) She Grazed Horses on Concrete. Clip 1 ("Crosscutting of love interests.")
• Štefan Uher (dir., 1982) She Grazed Horses on Concrete. Clip 2 ("Off-screen fighting.")