The Czech Film Foundation (Filmová nadace) has awarded prizes to various unproduced domestic scripts during an annual ceremony held at the 55^th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Petr Tichý, the CEO of Barrandov Studios and the chairman of the Czech Film Foundation’s administrative board, noted that this year, they received the third-highest number of scripts, comprising over 16,000 pages of screenplays.

Experienced scriptwriter, author and FAMU teacher Tereza Brdečková won in the main category with the script for Nigrin – The Worst Is Fear (Nigrin – nejhorší je strach). Described as a combination of hard-boiled crime and film noir, the story follows a private detective on the cusp of World War II in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, who takes on an investigative job in order to fund his intellectually disabled son’s stay in a sanatorium. Second prize went to a collaborative effort written by Ondřej Cihlář and Jan Látal, The Game of Light (Hra o světlo), set in 1949. The story sees Boy Scouts disguised as pioneers travelling in order to transport the Bethlehem Light, which was considered a crime, thus putting youngsters in jeopardy in communist Czechoslovakia.

Barbora Chalupová, one of the co-directors of the explosive documentary that proved a smash hit at the domestic box office, Caught in the Net [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (see the news), triumphed in the Stars of Tomorrow category, intended for scripts by writers under 33 years of age. Chalupová co-authored the script for God’s Messenger (Boží posel) with her brother Marek Chalupa. It is a fairy tale teetering on the verge of reality, imagination and fiction, and revolves around the real-life personality of the inventor of the lightning conductor, Prokop Diviš, who lived during the times of Maria Theresa. The jury did not overlook Jakub Votýpka’s work Knife’s Edge (Na ostří nože), which follows the events of 1950, when the Czechoslovak hockey team was falsely accused of treason. Last but not least, the Czech Film Foundation commended the script for Something’s Wrong With Us by emerging writer Natália Antoňáková, which centres on the generation of twentysomethings, their relationships, and how they deal with early adulthood and responsibility, as observed through a love triangle.

Previous award-winning scripts include those for Petr Václav’s epic biopic Il Boemo (see the news), Zdeněk Jirásky’s period drama Kryštof [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] and scripts that are currently being produced, such as Cristina Grozeva’s psychological drama based on a dystopian premise Ordinary Failures (see the news) and Albert Hospodářský’s Brutal Heat [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Albert Hospodářský
scheda film].

Here is the full list of the 2021 Czech Film Foundation Award winners:

Main category (unproduced scripts)
Nigrin – The Worst Is Fear – Tereza Brdečková
The Game of Light – Ondřej Cihlář and Jan Látal

Stars of Tomorrow (unproduced scripts by scriptwriters under 33)
God’s Messenger – Barbora Chalupová and Marek Chalupa
Knife’s Edge – Jakub Votýpka
Something’s Wrong With Us – Natália Antoňáková