Biography

Prague-based director Robert Hloz launched his film career while still in school in the Czech Republic; his early short The Mill won the Kodak Student Gold Award for best short film, while soon after his passion for elevated fare from South Korea drove him to Seoul, where he enrolled in the directing program at the country’s oldest film school, Hanyang University. Numbers, a short film he shot in Seoul, went on to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s Court Métrage section, and was subsequently nominated for a Czech Academy Award. After being selected for the Berlinale Talents program of the Berlin Film Festival, Robert’s next short film, Liars, was featured at numerous European festivals and was named Best Czech Student Film.

While Robert branched out into directing commercials across Eastern Europe, he developed his feature film debut, Restore Point, which was the first sci-fi film to emerge from the Czech Republic in almost sixty years. After premiering the film at the 2023 Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the movie became a box office hit in the Czech Republic, receiving widespread acclaim as it also played top festivals worldwide including the Sitges Film Festival, South Korea’s Bucheon Film Festival, Fantasia Fest in Montreal, and Fantastic Fest in Austin. Restore Point received the audience award for Best Film at the 2024 Czech Academy Awards, where it also won the top awards for Cinematography, Production Design, Editing, and Sound.