06/03/2017 - Against all odds, the most-nominated film, Anthropoid, did not cash in on any of its nods

Director Julius Ševčík (left) and producer Rudolf Biermann collecting their awards for A Prominent Patient (© CTK)

The 24^th edition of the Czech Lion Awards has once again triggered a debate regarding the disparity between the Czech Film Critics’ Awards (read the news), which take place in January, and the Czech Lion Awards in March, which both reflect on the past year in domestic cinema. While the Czech critics preferred I, Olga Hepnarová [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda
film profile] and Family Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile] in terms of their nominations this year, with Family Film being crowned Best Film, the members of the Czech Film and Television Academy preferred A Prominent Patient [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (13 nominations), The Teacher [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Hřebejk
film profile] (nine nods) and, surprisingly, Anthropoid [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (12 nominations), an English-language co-production between the UK, France and the Czech Republic written, directed and produced by Sean Ellis and starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan; it tells a World War II story about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by two Czech soldiers. 

Despite its huge number of nominations, Anthropoid did not net a single prize, and neither did Jan Hřebejk’s The Teacher. On the other hand, A Prominent Patient by Julius Ševčík indisputably dominated the ceremony, taking home 12 awards out of its 13 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Script, as well as prizes in the technical categories. A Prominent Patient did not appear on the Czech film critics’ list, since the film’s official theatrical release is scheduled for 9 March, and for a movie to be considered for the awards, it has to be released beforehand in commercial cinemas. However, the producer of A Prominent Patient, Rudolf Biermann, organised a very limited screening session for seven successive days in one of Prague’s commercial cinemas, thus fulfilling the Czech Film and Television Academy’s rule that enabled it to lock horns for the awards, a gamble that paid off ahead of the film’s wider theatrical release in a few days’ time.

I, Olga Hepnarová, the feature debut by Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda, was nominated in eight categories but only took home two prizes, for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, while Miroslav Janek’s Normal Autistic Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the nod for Best Documentary, repeating its success from the Czech Film Critics’ Awards ceremony – as did HBO Europe’s miniseries Wasteland. 

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film
A Prominent Patient [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Julius Ševčík

Best Documentary
Normal Autistic Film [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Miroslav Janek

Best Director
Julius Ševčík – A Prominent Patient 

Best Actress
Michalina Olszańska – I, Olga Hepnarová [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda
film profile] 

Best Actor
Karel Roden – A Prominent Patient 

Best Supporting Actress
Klára Melíšková – I, Olga Hepnarová

Best Supporting Actor 
Oldřich Kaiser – A Prominent Patient 

Best Screenplay
Petr Kolečko, Alex Koenigsmark, Julius Ševčík – A Prominent Patient

Best Cinematography
Martin Štrba – A Prominent Patient 

Best Editing 
Marek Opatrný – A Prominent Patient

Best Sound
Viktor Ekrt, Pavel Rejholec – A Prominent Patient

Best Music 
Michal Lorenc, Kryštof Marek – A Prominent Patient 

Best Stage Design
Milan Býček – A Prominent Patient 

Best Costumes
Katarína Štrbová Bieliková - A Prominent Patient 

Best Make-up 
Lukáš Král – A Prominent Patient 

Best Television Film or Miniseries 
Murder in Polná (Czech Television) – Viktor Polesný

Best Television Drama Series 
Wasteland (HBO Europe) – Ivan Zachariáš, Alice Nellis