Director Herz for lifetime contribution award at Czech Lions

The film director Juraj Herz is to receive a prize for lifetime contribution to Czech film at the Czech Lion awards on Saturday night. A Slovak-born Holocaust survivor, Herz was an assistant director on Oscar-winning Obchod na Korze (The Shop on Main Street) before making his debut as director in 1965 with the 30-minute Sběrné surovosti (The Junk Shop), based on a short story by Bohumil Hrabal. Three years later he helmed the great Spalovač Mrtvol (The Creator).