Czech Film Critics Awards
Award ceremony: January 14, 2012, SaSaZu, aired live on Czech TV Channel 2
In 2010, Czech film journalists and critics initiated the Czech Film Critics Awards that aim to recognize the best achievements in Czech cinema, offer another perspective on the local film landscape, draw attention to creatively daring film projects, and to generate discussion over the state of Czech film.
Presented in 12 categories, the awards will be presented to Best Feature, Best Documentary Film, Best Animated Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Actor in a Leading / Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading / Supporting Role. In a separate category, the critics will also honour Best Talent, which can be either a film, filmmaker or an artist. Importantly, in addition to Best Documentary Film, documentary filmmakers and other creative professionals with a credit in a documentary film are eligible for nominatations in other categories as well.
In 2011, 21 theatrically released documentary films qualified for the Award. The three nominees are:
All for the Good of the World and Nosovice
Vše pro dobro světa a Nošovic , Czech Republic, 2010, 82 min, 35 mm, Creative, Personal View, Social Issues
An original portrait of a Czech village that houses a giant car plant built by South Korea's Hyundai. Before the village turned into an industrial zone, many of the landowners had no intention of selling their plots of land... Not until many of them faced pressure from their neighbours who had accepted approx. EUR 4000 in compensation and not until they received death threats. Using nine protagonists, the film paints a portrait of a village changed beyond recognition. A humorous yet compelling film about a field that yields cars.
Solar Eclipse
Pod sluncem tma , Czech Republic, 2011, 81 min, DV, Creative, Current Affairs, Portrait, Social Issues
In 2006, Milan and Tomas electrified a school campus and a hospital in a detached Zambian village. After four years, they return for the last time to find out about their system's failures, repair it and hand it over at last. The film follows them through chaotic days as well as pitch black nights and provides a fresh insight into the pitfalls of humanitarian development projects. Short circuits of all sorts, blending and dissolving of different worlds, rituals of gratitude and concepts of solutions. With no attempts to declare or evaluate anything, Solar Eclipse becomes a situation probe examining various forms of light and darkness. Will the two Czech linkboys succeed in lighting up the Zambian bushland?
Theatre Svoboda
Divadlo Svoboda , Czech Republic, 2011, 98 min, DCP, HD, Arts and Culture, Creative, Portrait
Theatre Svoboda portraits the life and work of the director’s grandfather, world-famous stage designer Josef Svoboda (1920–2002), who tried to juggle creative freedom, family life and political allegiances during the times of a communist regime. Svoboda was able to work for the top of world theatres, such as The Old Vic in London, The Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milano. The film takes the viewer literally behind the scenes and reveals some of the secrets of Svoboda’s fascinating lifework through archive materials that have not been published yet.
Related Articles:
2011: 19 Czech Documentary Films in Cinemas