Jana studied in the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, Department of Theory and History of Drama, then at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts In Prague, Department of Documentary Production. During her studies she went on a study visit to Paris at Université Paris 8. She has cooperated with several fi lm
festivals: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, One World, and Academia Film Olomouc. She cooperated with the foundation People in Need on fi lm projects about refugees and a project about daughters of political prisoners, Dcery 50 let. She has worked on a Czech-German Fund For The Future project Živá paměť for the German
government. In doing so she collected testimonies of slave labourers working in Germany during World War Two and testimonies of former prisoners from concentration camps. She has cooperated with Czech Television on the serials Přiběhy slavných, Cestomanie, Na cestě, Generace 0, and a new serial, Vesnicopis, who she jointly authored.
The most important fi lms made by Jana Počtová include the documentary Eshq shot in Afghanistan. It consists of portraits of four women and explores the themes of love, partnerships and cultural diff erences. It was presented as part of the competition collection at Jihlava International Film Festival, International Film Festival One World and Film Academy in Olomouc, where it won the Foundation of Marie and Josef Hlávka Award. It was premiered on Czech Television in September 2005. The director’s next work was a theatre-cum-fi lm project Vostodvacet, watching eight people confi ned for several days in a small space and trying to create. This fi lm was also presented as part of the competition collection at Jihlava International Film Festival
and One World. In another documentary, Palác Akropolis, the director describes the well-known multicultural centre in Prague. Her new fi lm Oči tygra is about a Romany boxer, a multiple Czechoslovak champion, who runs a boxing club for street children in the Prague quarter of Žižkov. Now she is fi nishing a feature-length documentary Sněhová pole Ivana Hartla about the curious lot of a Czech émigré from 1968 who is trying to regain his lost citizenship.
