11/04/2022 - Peter Kerekes's feature-length fiction debut and Martin Šulík's The Man with Hare Ears won four accolades, followed by Ivan Ostrochovský's Servants, at the annual Slovak ceremony

Filmmaker Peter Kerekes receiving his Best Script award (© Zdenko Hanout)

The Slovak Film and Television Academy (SFTA) celebrated domestic cinema at the 11^th edition of the Sun in a Net awards ceremony. Due to the pandemic, the SFTA merged the films from the years 2020 and 2021 into this year's edition while commemorating the centenary of Slovak cinema. The ongoing war in Ukraine has also been a topic reflected throughout the ceremony which the SFTA's president Wanda Adamík Hrycová addressed in her opening statement, saying “the horror perpetrated by Russia beyond our borders will drive many more unhappy people out of their homes. However, we have proven that we can help in an emergency. Please, let's persist.”

Ivan Ostrochovský's period drama Servants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile] was nominated in 12 categories while Martin Šulík's bittersweet comedy about ageing The Man with Hare Ears [+see also:
trailer
interview: Martin Šulík
film profile] and Peter Kerekes' drama 107 Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Kerekes
film profile], shot in Ukraine (and co-produced by the country) and co-written by Ivan Ostrochovský, were nominated in 11 categories each. This triumvirate took the majority of awards, with 107 Mothers and The Man with Hare Ears netting four awards each, 107 Mothers being named the Best Film, and Peter Kerekes the Best Director for his feature-length fiction feature. Kerekes shared the Best Script award with Ivan Ostrochovský who also produced 107 Mothers, and the film's lead Irina Kirjazeva was named Best Actress. Martin Šulík's dramedy The Man with Hare Ears took home accolades in the categories of Best Make-Up, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.

Ivan Ostrochovský's own sophomore fiction feature Servants won 3 awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Costumes. The documentary portrait about Slovak reporter and journalist Andrej Bán Paradise on Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile], by Jaro Vojtek, was declared Best Documentary, and Joanna Kozuch's short anti-doc Once There Was a Sea... about the dying Aral Sea, won in the Best Animated Film category.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Film
107 Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Kerekes
film profile] - Peter Kerekes (Slovakia/Ukraine/Czech Republic)

Best Documentary
Paradise on Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Jaro Vojtek (Slovakia)

Best Animated Film
Once There Was a Sea... - Joanna Kozuch (Slovakia/Poland)

Best Director
Peter Kerekes – 107 Mothers

Best Script
Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes – 107 Mothers

Best Cinematography
Juraj Chlpík – Servants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile] (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

Best Editing
Jan Daňhel, Martin Malo, Maroš Šlapeta - Servants

Best Sound
Olaf Mehl, Juraj Baláž – The Auschwitz Report [+see also:
trailer
interview: Peter Bebjak
film profile]

Best Music
Jonatán Pastirčák - Lines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Barbora Sliepková
film profile]

Best Costumes
Katarína Hollá - Servants

Best Make-Up
Martin Jankovič, Katarína Horská – The Man with Hare Ears [+see also:
trailer
interview: Martin Šulík
film profile]

Best Actress
Irina Kirjazeva – 107 Mothers

Best Supporting Actress
Zuzana Kronerová – The Man with Hare Ears

Best Actor
Miroslav Krobot – The Man with Hare Ears

Best Supporting Actor
Oldřich Kaiser – The Man with Hare Ears

Extraordinary contribution to audiovisual culture
Emília Vášáryová, Jelena Paštéková

Audience Award
Perfect Strangers - Zuzana Marianková (Slovakia/Czech Republic)