Biography
Jan Tománek (1978) graduated from the Secondary School of Applied Arts in 1996. Václav Hollar and in 2005 he graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Prague at the professor's Michael Bielicky and Veronika Bromová field of New Media.
He contributed to gaming magazines from 1994–1996. Excalibur and Score.In 1995 he founded the magazine Level and while studying in high school, he served as its editor-in-chief, with the magazine reaching a monthly circulation of 40,000 copies.
While studying at Academy of Fine Arts he created short films, both live and animated and combined. He participated in the creation of the project for Prague Lantern magic and collaborated with his parents on a number of children's films and animated films evening snacks for Czech television.
He is known as a director, art director, screenwriter and film producer. Goat story, for which he won a number of international film awards, was nominated for the Czech Lion and in 2008 won the Febiofest Kristián Award for Best Animated Film. Goat's Tale – Legends of Old Prague became the most successful animated film in modern Czech history in terms of audience ratings. Goat's Tale has seen many language versions and has been seen by over one hundred million viewers worldwide, which is also a unique Czech film.
In 2021, he founded a civic initiative Hello forum and still trying in their blog posts to point out injustices and restrictions on freedom in our country.
He has been a member since 2001. Mensa and in addition to directing and creative work in Art And Animation studio, is mainly engaged in writing and publishing books.
In 2018, he published his first novel Butterfly scream – a conspiracy thriller from the Czech environment. He followed Chandelier for the Pope a raw and harsh story from the hell of the normalization camps, which was published in the fall of 2019 and a dystopian novel at the end of 2021 Ark of books.
He issued an amendment in 2022 War with trees – a bitterly funny parable of the two years of senseless measures we have experienced, in 2023 his most successful book so far with many reprints – A Guide down the Rabbit hole and in 2025 a book Start with yourself, which directly follows on from the previous one.
By July 2026, the combined circulation of his books had climbed to more than 25,000 copies sold, of which over 20,000 through his own publishing house since 2022 - without any subsidies or support from mainstream media.
He lives with his wife on the outskirts of Prague and is the father of two children.
Animated movies
In the years 2005 – 2012, Jan Tománek devoted himself to the creation of animated films. In his Art And Animation studio the first Czech 3D animated film, Goat Story, was created, which in 2008 became the most successful Czech animated film in terms of audience. Over 500,000 viewers saw both films in Czech cinemas alone, and it was many language mutations and to this day it has been seen by over one hundred million viewers worldwide, which is also a Czech unique feature.
In 2009, Jan Tománek won the prestigious Febiofest critics' prize - Kristián for The Goat Story and was also nominated for the Czech Lion for the best creative solution.
In addition to production and direction, he also created the overall artistic concept and wrote the scripts for the films.
Goat story - The Old Prague Legends
2008
The cheerful story tells of Kuba and his constantly chattering Goat, who bring eggs for the construction of the Charles Bridge. His love for the city girl Máca leads Kuba to work on the legendary Old Town Astronomical Clock. The whole story is interwoven with the mysterious fate of the poor student Matěj from Faust's House and other legends and ghosts of medieval Prague. In addition to the great acting performances of Jiří Lábus and Matěj Hádek, "The Goat's Story" - the first Czech 3D animated film - has earned a reputation as a film with a special and original artistic concept, which has also won the favor of foreign audiences.
Goat story with cheese
2012
The story of the goat with cheese loosely follows on from the previous part. The plot of the film has been transferred from medieval Prague to the fairy-tale cheese kingdom, and in addition to the old familiar characters, the audience can look forward to a number of fairy-tale creatures and new protagonists - the children of Kuba and Máci - Honzík and Zuzanka, who go through the entire story together with the Goat. The overall tuning of the film is more family and fairy tale than in the previous part.
