Jana Boková was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Since 1968 she has lived in England, in the United States, currently lives between Paris and Buenos Aires. She has a doctorate in Fine Arts, specializing in photography and surrealism. She worked in the USA as a photographer, contributing to the Rolling Stone magazine, subsequently becoming a film student at the National Film School in England.
Her first full-length documentary was Militia Battlefield (1975), which played at a Paris cinema and won her the First Director's Prize in Hyere. In 2002, La Cinémateque Française held a retrospective of Jana Boková's work to date. Just One More War (1977); Living Room (1978); Quinn Running (1980); Dallas: The Big Store (1981); Sunset People (1983); Hotel du Paradis (1986); Tales from Barcelona (1989); Havana (1989-90); An Argentinian Journey (1991-2); Avignon (1999); Mexico City (2000); Eric Clapton & Friends (2001); Bye Bye Shanghai (2008). Juror for film festivals: Documenta Madrid; Seville; Mar del Plata; Cinéma du Réel, Paris.
Her first full-length documentary was Militia Battlefield (1975), which played at a Paris cinema and won her the First Director's Prize in Hyere. In 2002, La Cinémateque Française held a retrospective of Jana Boková's work to date. Just One More War (1977); Living Room (1978); Quinn Running (1980); Dallas: The Big Store (1981); Sunset People (1983); Hotel du Paradis (1986); Tales from Barcelona (1989); Havana (1989-90); An Argentinian Journey (1991-2); Avignon (1999); Mexico City (2000); Eric Clapton & Friends (2001); Bye Bye Shanghai (2008). Juror for film festivals: Documenta Madrid; Seville; Mar del Plata; Cinéma du Réel, Paris.