Czech filmmaker Pavel Koutecky dead at 49

Famous Czech filmmaker Pavel Koutecky, who made dozens of documentaries and dabbled in animated films, died in an accident in Prague, Czech Television reported Saturday. He was 49.

Koutecky's ...Az na Veky(...Forever and Ever), co-produced in 1998 with director and artist Michaela Pavlatova, combined live-action shots with various artistic approaches and animation techniques. It won the OIAF Award for Television Specials at that year's Ottawa International Animation Festival.

O Sportovci (The Sportsman), his 1994 animated short about a mentally disabled Czech swimmer, was given an award at the 37th International Film Festival IG Medien in Leipzig, Germany. It also received the Second Prize from the Governmental Committee for Handicapped.

He also directed Situace: 1,2...(Situation: 1,2...)in 1995.

Koutecky had been shooting a new film last week when he fell from a tall building under construction in the Prague-Pankrac neighbourhood, the Czech broadcaster said. It was not immediately certain when or how the fatal accident took place. Police are investigating the case, said Czech Television.

A police spokesman said that Koutecky had been reported missing since Friday night. Police were told that he worked in the surroundings of the high building. Koutecky was shooting a documentary about a young man who climbed such high buildings, said script editor Alena Muellerova.

Born in Prague in 1956, Koutecky graduated from the capital's Academy of Performing Arts in 1982. And at the end of the decade, he continued his studies at the Documentary Film Department of the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, Britain.

Koutecky was also a scriptwriter and cameraman, making short films as well as documentaries and animated films. His films -- presented at many movie festivals abroad -- examined a wide variety of topics, including arts, science and social changes following the fall of Communism in 1989.