Candidates for this year's Czech Lion film awards have been revealed. The film Shadow Country from director Bohdan Sláma dominated the 28th year, having received the largest number of nominations. It collected 15 of them in total. Agnieszka Holland's biographical drama Charlatan will compete for 14 statuettes, as will the drama Havel by director Slávek Horák.
Members of the Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) were choosing from a total of 87 feature and documentary films. The awards have newly been opened for creators of animated, short and television films, miniseries and series.
Shadow Country has the best chance to become the film of the year
The historical drama Shadow Country, directed by Bohdan Sláma, has the greatest chance to win the Czech Lion Award for 2021. The film is a chronicle of a small village in the borderland dragged through history of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The heroes of the film face both Nazism and Communism, each of them dealing with their promises and horrors in their of specific way.
The films Charlatan and Havel can definitel be considered hot favorites as well. The gripping biographical drama The Charlatan is a story inspired by the real life of an exceptional man endowed with healing abilities, Jan Mikolášek, to whom thousands of people from all walks of life, including the most prominent personalities of political and cultural life, turned for help throughout several decades. The drama Havel tells the story of one of the most prominent figures in our history, Václav Havel, capturing his dissident times, when he wasn't a famous figure yet.
The Czech Lion Awards Ceremony will take place on Saturday, March 6, 2021. The awards ceremony will be held in Dvořák's Hall in Prague's Rudolfinum. For the third time in a row, Václav Kopta will be the host of the gala evening, which will be broadcast live on Czech Television.
So far, the film Masaryk has won the most statuettes
The Czech Film and Television Academy was founded in 1995. Its main goal is to support and promote Czech cinematographic art in the Czech Republic and abroad and to create conditions for the development of Czech film. The most prestigious Czech film prize, the Czech Lion, has been awarded since 1993.
The biggest number of the Czech Lion Awards to date, specifically twelve, has been won by the film Masaryk from director Julius Ševčík in 2016. Three years before that, the film Burning Bush by director Agnieszka Hollandová had won only one statuette less. The most successful actress in history is Anna Geislerová with a total of five Czech Lions, while among men, Ivan Trojan takes the lead with six statuettes.
Mezonetový byt na pronájem na Vinohradech 144m, Praha 2
Show property
So what about this year's nominations?
BEST FEATURE FILM
Havel - producer Slávek Horák
Shadow Country - producers Martin Růžička, Jindřich Motýl
Droneman - producers Petr Zelenka, Martin Sehnal
Charlatan - producers Šárka Cimbalová, Kevan Van Thompson
Cook F**k Kill - Producers by Viktor Schwarcz, Mira Fornay
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Athanor – The Alchemical Furnace - directed by Jan Daňhel, Adam Oľha - producers Pavla Kallistová, Zuzana Mistríková, Ľubica Orechovská, Jan Švankmajer, Jaromír Kallista
What goes around - Rudolf Slánský - directed by Martin Vadas - producer Alena Müllerová
My father Antonín Kratochvíl - directed by Andrea Sedláčková - producer Martin Hůlovec
Postiženi muzikou (Crippled by Music) - directed by Radovan Síbrt - producers Alžběta Karásková, Karel Poupě
Caught in the Net - directed by Barbora Chalupová, Vít Klusák - producers Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda
BEST DIRECTOR
Havel - Slávek Horák
Shadow Country - Bohdan Sláma
Droneman - Petr Zelenka
Charlatan - Agnieszka Holland
Cook F**k Kill - Mira Fornay
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sweethearts - Jana Plodková
Havel - Anna Geisler
Actor - Jenovéfa Boková
Shadow Country - Magdaléna Borová
Caught in the Net - Tereza Těžká
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Havel - Viktor Dvorak
Actor - Jan Cina
Shadow Country - Csongor Kassai
Droneman - Kryštof Hádek
Charlatan - Ivan Trojan
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Havel - Barbora Seidlová
Actor - Elizaveta Maximová
Shadow Country - Barbora Poláková
Shadow Country - Petra Špalková
Charlatan - Jaroslava Pokorna
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Havel - Martin Hofmann
Shadow Country - Stanislav Majer
Droneman - Jiří Mádl
Charlatan - Juraj Loj
Charlatan - Josef Trojan
BEST SCREENPLAY
Havel - Slávek Horák, Rudolf Suchánek
Actor - Petr Bok, Pavel Gotthard
Shadow Country - Ivan Arsenyev
Droneman - Petr Zelenka
Charlatan - Marek Epstein
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Havel - Jan Šťastný
Actor - Martin Žiaran
Shadow Country - Diviš Marek
Droneman - Alexander Šurkala
Charlatan - Martin Strba
BEST FILM EDITING
Havel - Vladimir Barak
Actor - Marek Kráľovský
Shadow Country - Jan Daňhel
Droneman - Vladimír Barák
Charlatan - Pavel Hrdlička
BEST SOUND
The Banger - Jiří Klenka
FREM - Dominik Dolejší
Havel - Viktor Prášil, Pavel Rejholec
Shadow Country - Marek Poledna
Charlatan - Radim Hladík jr.
BEST MUSIC
The Banger - Roman Holý
Havel - Petr Malásek
Shadow Country - Jakub Kudláč
Charlatan - Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Rats - Petr OstrouchoV
BEST STAGE DESIGN
The Impossible Voyage - Noro Držiak, Milan Ondruch, Martin Máj, Jan Kolegar
Havel - Vladimír Hruška
Shadow Country - Jan Pjena Novotný
Marie Theresa II - Martin Kurel
Charlatan - Milan Bycek
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Banger - Tereza Kučerová
Havel - Natálie Steklová
Shadow Country - Zuzana Bambušek Krejzková
Maria Theresa II - Ján Kocman
Charlatan - Katarína Štrbová Bieliková
BEST MAKE UP AND HAIR STYLING
The Banger - Jana Bílková
Havel - Adriana Bartošová, René Stejskal
Shadow Country - Lukáš Král
Maria Theresa II - Barbara Kichi
Charlatan - René Stejskal, Gabriela Polákov
MAGNESIA AWARD FOR THE BEST STUDENT FILM
Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon - directed by Adam Martinec
Frontier - directed by Damián Vondrášek
Love Is Just a Death Away - directed by Bára Anna Stejskalová
Must be painful - directed by David Semler
Pripyat Piano - directed by Eliška Cílková
BEST FILM POSTER (non-statutory prize)
Shadow Country - Jan Poukar - award-winning poster
FREM - Adéla Valha Vorbová
Havel - Jan Poukar
My father Antonín Kratochvíl - Radka Beránková
The Charlatan - Rudolf Havlík, Marcela Šedivá
AWARD OF FILM FANS (non-statutory award)
Caught in the net - Vít Klusák, Barbora Chalupová
BEST ANIMATED FILM
A Colourful Dream - director, producer, artist Jan Balej
Love Is Just a Death Away - directed by Bára Anna Stejskalová - producers Jakub Košťál, Vratislav Šlajer - artist Bára Anna Stejskalová
Hungry Bear Tales - directed by Kateřina Karhánková, Alexandra Májová - producer Barbora Příkaská - artist Filip Pošivač
BEST SHORT FILM
Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon - directed by Adam Martinec - producer Matěj Paclík
Frontier - directed by Damián Vondrášek - producer Martina Netíková
Pripyat Piano - directed by Eliška Cílková - producer Jindřich Andrš
BEST TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES
Crime scene Ostrava - main producers Jan Lekeš, Martin Froyda - main creators Dan Wlodarczyk, Jiří Chlumský, Jan Hřebejk
Specialists - main producers Rastislav Šesták, Bernd Alexa - main creators Heike Richter-Karst, Michael
Bütow
Rats - main producers Viktor Tauš, Jan Lekeš - main creators Viktor Tauš, Matěj Chlupáček
BEST TELEVISION FILM OR MINISERIES
Actor - main producers Rastislav Šesták, Peter Bebjak, Kateřina Ondřejková - main creator Peter Bebjak
Stockholm Syndrome - main producer Kateřina Ondřejková - main creator Dan Svátek
Veteran - main producer Jiřina Budíková - main creator Jan Hřebejk