Chytilová was a director and screenwriter, member of the Czech new wave. At first she studied philosophy and architecture in Brno but soon gave up on her studies. She held different jobs including 2nd assistant cinematographer at the film studio Barrandov in Prague. There she got more interested in film and enrolled to the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU). She graduated from it in 1962 and after making several short features, in 1963 directed her debut feature film Something Different (O necem jinem). Three years later she directed her most famous film Daisies (Sedmikrásky, 1966), which was quite controversial at the time as it contained two atypical heroines and a very specific visual style without a common narrative structure. Even though she became famous abroad with this film, in her home country it was banned and she had trouble finding any kind of work. Afterwards, she directed Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce stromu rajských jíme, 1970), and after the invasion of the Soviet Union, she could not direct at all. She supported herself by making commercials under her husband’s name. Only after she wrote a letter to the president and colleagues from abroad stood up for her, she managed to make the film The Apple Game (1977). She continued to make films even though she often had trouble with censorship. Some of her more important films are Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliste (1980), Wolf's Hole (Vlci bouda, 1987), Tainted Horseplay (Kopytem sem, kopytem tam, 1989), The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodbye (Dedictví aneb Kurvahosigutntag, 1992), Trap, Trap, Little Trap (Pasti, pasti, pasticky, 1998) and Exile from Paradise (Vyhnání z ráje, 2001).