Petr Smělík graduated from the Zlín Film School with a degree in directing. He directs and edits for both film and television.

He edited the documentary mystery Přízrak Svobody II., which won a Special Award at the 2010 Finále Plzeň festival “for boldly crossing the boundaries of the documentary genre and for experimenting with cinematic time.” The series Enclosed World, which he edited, won the *Česká radost* award at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (MFDF) in 2018. His medium-length documentary debut, A Year in a Village, won the Grand Prize at the Acampadoc Panamá 2020 festival. He co-directed the film Identity: A Czech Graphic Design Love Story. He directed the documentary series Vidět filmem about Czech cinematographers, the series Literární místopis about Czech literature with Jaroslav Rudiš, and the film Bočan about a legend of Czech film directing. One Must Live is his feature-length fiction debut.