Pavel Koutecký (born 1956) graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1982; in 1988 and 1991, he went to the study stays at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK. In 1982-1989, he worked in the video studio at the Czech Technical University in Prague; from 1990 to 1998, he worked at the Short Film Prague. He cooperated with the Film and Sociology Association (formerly Foundation) on regular basis. Within its production, besides documentary films of his own, he also cooperated on several long-term time-lapse projects (among others Citizen Havel finished by his colleague Miroslav Janek). He was dealing primarily with documentary film, however, experimenting with form also lead him to animated film. He also worked on multimedia projects (Kolotoč Theatre, Theatre of Music). From 1991, he taught at the Department of Documentary film at FAMU as head of one of the creative workshops. His films and videos received multiple awards at Czech as well as international film festivals. For the most part, he made his films in cooperation with cameraman Stano Slušný. Pavel Koutecký suffered a tragic death on April 13, 2006 while finishing his latest film. As a tribute, the annual Pavel Koutecký Award is presented to documentarists, “patient observers of the world able to share their feelings and insight in film”.