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AWARDS Czech Republic

The Czech film critics crown Jan Palach as Best Film

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- When the War Comes, Winter Flies and Talks with T.G. Masaryk were also among the awarded oeuvres

The Czech film critics crown Jan Palach as Best Film
The producers of Jan Palach, Jan Schwarcz, Silvie Panáková and Jan Maxa, with the Award for Best Film (© Petr Hloušek Pravo)

The Czech film critics have once again weighed up the local productions of the past year at an annual ceremony established as a counterbalance to offset the more conservative Czech Lion Awards. The domestic critics assembled for the ninth edition of the prizes, where they voted the biopic drama Jan Palach [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Robert Sedláček (see the news) as Best Film, thus confirming the predominance of the biopic genre in domestic cinematic output. Indeed, Toman (see the news), another period biopic, currently leads the nominations for the Czech Lion Awards. The minimalistic social horror Domestique [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adam Sedlák
film profile
]
 and the coming-of-age road dramedy Winter Flies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile
]
 emerged as the runners-up for Best Film, at least in the critics’ eyes, and therefore went home empty-handed. When the War Comes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by Jan Gebert, a portrait of Slovakian youngsters engaged in a paramilitary group and their self-imposed leader, a budding autocrat, won the Best Documentary Award. Slovenian-born, Prague-based filmmaker Olmo Omerzu took home the Best Director Award for the aforementioned Winter Flies, repeating the success from last year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Tomáš Pavlíček and Lucie Bokšteflová were presented with the Best Script gong, for the dramedy Bear with Us [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tomáš Pavlíček
film profile
]
, directed by Pavlíček.

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Along with DomestiqueWinter Flies and Bear with Us, another film introduced at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Moments [+see also:
trailer
interview: Beata Parkanová
interview: Beata Parkanová
film profile
]
by newcomer Beata Parkanová, received recognition – more precisely, for its female lead, Jenovéfa Boková, who scooped Best Actress. Veteran Slovakian thesp Martin Huba netted Best Actor for his portrayal of the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, in another biopic, Talks with T.G. Masaryk [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the directorial debut by Jakub Červenka, based on the book by Karel Čapek. Červenka’s docudrama, depicting the conversations between the president and author Čapek, was also named Discovery of the Year. 

The art direction on the last feature by legendary filmmaker and surrealist Jan Švankmajer, Insect [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Švankmajer
film profile
]
, courtesy of the director and his son, was hailed as the Best Audiovisual Achievement. The Beyond Cinema Award, a category that serves to reward outstanding oeuvres outside of the traditional film distribution circuit, went to Ondřej Hudeček, the up-and-coming director of the award-winning short film Peacock, who is currently working on his ambitious fiction feature debut, Bohemian Rhapsody (see the report), and veteran producer Jon Weinbach, who served as co-writers on The Nagano Tapes: Rewound, Replayed & Reviewed, the first instalment in a series of Olympic Channel documentaries produced by Steven Spielberg collaborator Frank Marshall

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film
Jan Palach [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Robert Sedláček (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Documentary
When the War Comes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Jan Gebert (Czech Republic/Croatia)

Best Director
Olmo Omerzu – Winter Flies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile
]
(Czech Republic/Slovenia/Poland/Slovakia)

Best Screenplay
Tomáš Pavlíček, Lucie Bokšteflová – Bear with Us [+see also:
trailer
interview: Tomáš Pavlíček
film profile
]

Best Actress
Jenovéfa Boková – Moments [+see also:
trailer
interview: Beata Parkanová
interview: Beata Parkanová
film profile
]
(Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Actor
Martin Huba – Talks with T.G. Masaryk [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Audiovisual Achievement
Jan Švankmajer, Václav Švankmajer (art direction) – Insect [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Švankmajer
film profile
]
(Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Beyond Cinema Award
The Nagano Tapes: Rewound, Replayed & Reviewed – Ondřej Hudeček, Jon Weinbach (USA)

Innogy Award for Discovery of the Year
Jakub Červenka – Talks with T.G. Masaryk

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