CHILDHOOD - What the movie is about...

Jan Tomáš Forman, popularly known as Miloš Forman, was born on February 18, 1932 in Čáslav, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic) and raised by his mother Anna, who ran a summer hotel at Mácha’s Lake, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. He grew up with two brothers, Blahoslav and Pavel, and was the youngest by twelve years. The first film he saw with his parents was a silent documentary on the famous Czech opera The Bartered Bride. Since the opera was so popular, the people in the audience started singing along to the silent film. Forman recalled, “And for me, that’s what the movies were about. You show some photographs and people sing.” As a young boy, he also fell in love with such American classics as Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After World War II, he saw many silent films, and these films were instrumental in his passion for movie making, including films by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd. Little did he know that he would one day become one of the world’s most famous directors not only in his homeland, but also Hollywood—the heart of American filmmaking.   Photo courtesy of FAMU.