Václav Kadrnka was born in September 1973 in Zlín, Czech Republic. In 1988, he emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom, where he studied theatre. From 1999 till 2008 he studied feature film directing at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague. His student films have been presented at many international film festivals (Mar del Plata, Munich, New York, Karlovy Vary, Berlin, etc.) and won awards both at home and abroad. His full-length feature debut Eighty Letters was premiered at the International Film Festival Berlinale 2011. The film was projected as an official selection and gained international recognition. It has been presented at many other international festivals including Thessaloniki, Vancouver, Denver, Linz, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Karlovy Vary and Gijon, receiving major awards, including the Silver Alexander, the special jury award and the FIPRESCI Prize at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival 2011, the Silver Star for the best director at the International film festival Cinedays at Skopje 2011, and the Golden Kingfisher Award for the best Czech feature film at Finale Pilsen 2011. In 2012, Václav Kadrnka was awarded the Czech film critics prize for discovery of the year.