Jaromír Kallista was born on December 18, 1939 in Prague. As a production graduate of Prague Film Academy (1959-1964), he worked at Barrandov Studios until 1970, when he decided to operate outside the state system as an independent film-maker. In this period he worked on the production unit for a number of feature films by Evald Schorm and Antonín Máša, as well as several documentaries. From 1973 to 1988 he was head of production at the Laterna Magica. Since 1989 he has taught at FAMU (Prague Film Academy). In 1983, together with Jan Švankmajer, he formed an independent film production company that, in 1992, became a legal entity with the creation of ATHANOR Ltd.