Marta Novakova, born in Slavicin, Czech Rep. Graduated from the Zlin Film School in 1996, adapting A. P. Chekhov's story for a film entitled Spat a spat / I Want to Sleep. The short was awarded at numerous festivals, including Poitiers, Cottbus, and Augsburg, among others. During the years 1997 - 2005, she studied directing at FAMU in Prague; among her teachers were Jaromil Jires, Karel Kachyna and Sasa Gedeon. In 2003, she spent half a year as an intern at VGIK in Moscow. From 1999 till 2008 she read Russian studies at the Charles University, graduating with a major. In 2006 she shot the film Marta, which was her graduation film at FAMU and also her first feature. The film was successfully presented at numerous festivals including e.g. Pusan, Goteborg, Cairo, Karlovy Vary and Copenhagen. Her second feature entitled 8 hlav silenstvi / 8 Heads of Madness was nominated for Czech Lion award.