– Agnieszka Holland was hailed as the best director for the biopic drama Charlatan, the Czech bid for the Oscar race
The 2021 Czech Film Critics Awards Gala Ceremony
Czech film critics celebrate national film and audiovisual production from 2020 at the annual Czech Film Critics Awards ceremony. Critics voted the black-and-white period drama Shadow Country [+see also:
film review
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film profile] through bohdan slama as the best national film. The story, written by Ivan Arsenjev, is based on real events during a massacre in a Czech village, Tušť, shortly after the end of World War II. Magdalena Borova received the Best Actress award for her role as Marie Veberová in Shadow Country, a strong female character who suffers a harsh fate. Another period film inspired by real events, the biopic Charlatan [+see also:
film review
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interview: Agnieszka Holland
film profile] – the Czech submission for the Oscar race – won two prizes: Agnieszka Holland received the award for best director, while Ivan of Troy won in the Best Actor category for Lead Performance.
A history of political activism turning to terrorism, drone man [+see also:
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interview: Petr Zelenka
film profile], won Petr Zelenka Best Screenplay Gong. A documentary by Barbora Chalupova and Vit Klusak which maps the modus operandi of online sexual predators, Caught in the net [+see also:
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film profile], was hailed as Best Documentary. Caught in the net indeed made history by becoming the first documentary to be among the finalists in the Best Picture category, where only feature-length fiction films are usually nominated.
The cinematography of Viera Cakanyova and Thomas Klein in the Czech-Slovak experimental doc FREM [+see also:
film review
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interview: Viera Čakányová
film profile] was awarded as best audiovisual achievement. Emerging Documentary Jindrich Andrs was Discovery of the Year for her first feature film, A new shift [+see also:
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film profile], which has already won laurels at Ji.hlava IDFF and DOK Leipzig. The Beyond Cinema category, which recognizes achievement beyond the big screen, was awarded to Viktor Taus, Matěj Chlupáček and Miro Sifra, the creators of the television miniseries Rats, about the drug mafia.
For the first time, the official category of best short film has been added to the list of winners this year. Film critics were reacting to the increase in local production of short films, which also enjoyed considerable success on the festival circuit. Daria Kaschcheevait is the girl (last year’s Beyond Cinema winner – see news) was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Meanwhile, the inaugural gong went to the young director Adam Martinec for Anatomy of a Czech afternoon, a parent’s nightmare on a summer’s day, set by a lake and heightened by the bystander effect (and inspired by a real-life accident).
Here is the full list of winners of the Czech Film Critics Awards:
Best film
Shadow Country [+see also:
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film profile] – Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Best Documentary
Caught in the net [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Barbora Chalupová, Vít Klusák (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Best Director
Agnieszka Holland – Charlatan [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agnieszka Holland
film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland/Ireland)
Best Screenplay
drone man [+see also:
trailer
interview: Petr Zelenka
film profile] – Petr Zelenka (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Slovenia)
Best Actress
Magdalena Borova – Shadow Country
Best actor
Ivan Troyen – Charlatan
Best Audiovisual Achievement
Viera Čákanyová, Tomáš Klein (cinematographers) – FREM [+see also:
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interview: Viera Čakányová
film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Innogy Award for Discovery of the Year
Jindrich Andrs – A new shift [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]
Beyond Cinema Award
Rats – Viktor Tauš, Matěj Chlupáček, Miro Sifra
Best Short Film
Anatomy of a Czech afternoon – Adam Martinec
