Pavel Koutecky Award
June 8, 2009
Archa Theatre
Founded in 2007, the Award is organized by the Film & Sociology Association and Archa Theatre in cooperation with the One World International Film Festival. Director Pavel Koutecký (1956–2006) was one of the most distinct voices in Czech documentary film. The award in his name is presented annually to his followers, patient observers of the world who are able to share their insights through films. In 2007, the inaugural Pavel Koutecký Award was presented to Jan Šikl's A Low-level Flight. In 2008, the Award was presented to The Tadpole, the Rabbit and the Holy Ghost by Filip Remunda and Richard Komárek.
Jury: Ondřej Hrab, Michaela Klečková, Libor Tůma, Alena Čechová, Petr Zelenka.
The Jury decided to award Special Mention to Lukáš Přibyl for his Forgotten Transports to Poland.
The Award comes with a cash prize of CZK 100,000. Tomáš Škrdlant is considering investing the prize into the film's distribution. "I'd like to overcome any possible concerns regarding audience interest in a taboo subject. After all, that's what the film is about. I really appreciate this award but the number of cinema goers who might see the film is much more important," says Tomáš Škrdlant.
The call for the fourth Pavel Koutecky Award will be announced at the beginning of 2010.
THE UNWELCOME
Czech Republic 2009
Director: Tomáš Škrdlant
Script: Tomáš Škrdlant
Cinematography: Filip Havelka, Tomáš Škrdlant
Editing: Tomáš Škrdlant, Vladimíra Wildová
Sound: Petr Šoltys
Music: Jiří Strohner
Producer: Jan Krása, Studio KF
Co-producer: Czech TV
A Documentary Myth. Five Stories about a Journey from the Underworld.
Since the early 1990s I have been accompanying and filming five children, now adults, who were rejected by their parents in the maternity hospitals right after they were born. The state has taken care of them: from the material point of view they lacked almost nothing – only they lived in another world. Particularly during the Communist era, all children that were different were carefully kept out of sight, hidden in a kind of underworld, far from the rest of the society with its joys and sorrows. The protagonists of the film, however, surmounted the obstacles and entered our world: they are living independently, working, having healthy children, divorcing, and getting married again; some have even met their parents. By and large they are living lives like everyone else, which seemed impossible before. These stories seem to me like a myth; something that never happened, because it is happening all the time.
For more information, please visit www.nevitani.info (in Czech).
About the Director
Born in 1943, Tomáš Škrdlant is a documentary filmmaker and author. Graduated in film and TV directing at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. Since 1990, he has made dozens of creative documentary films, most of them dealing with subjects related to the environment, psychology or sociology. In 1996 he published Democracy of Nature; in 2005, The Hidden Truth of the Earth, co-written with philosopher Zdeněk Neubauer. Since 2000, he has held a seminar on non-linear thinking at Masaryk University in Brno. Selected filmography (Czech titles): Nevítaní (2009), Nezapomínání (2008), Životy dětí (2007), Co jsme my, budete i vy (2007), Hledání dobré smrti (2006), Hledání ekologického myšlení (2006), Milujte své nepřátele (2005), Hledání moudrosti stáří (2002), Stromy v nás (1991).
Contact:
One World IFF
Sokolská 18
120 00 Praha 2
cena@cenakoutecky.cz
www.cenakoutecky.cz