The annual Czech Lion awards will be presented in altogether 21 categories in the upcoming year. In March next year, during the ceremonial gala evening the statuette of the Czech Lion can be newly awarded to the filmmakers of animated as well as short films. There are also some changes in the categories for television projects. The authors of television films, miniseries and series can be newly awarded also in the categories for the best acting performances in the leading as well as supporting roles and also in other categories such as cinematography or music, which used to be until this year designed only for the producers of feature films or documentary features. Both television categories are now open also for the works of art distributed on the Internet. “Despite the fact that the year of 2020 has brought some totally unexpected changes to our lives, the Czech film production has got something to offer,” says the managing director of the CFTA Tereza Rychnovská and she further explains: “More than 300 respected film professionals evaluate 22 feature films, 7 animated films and 18 short films during the 28th annual awards. Out of the total amount of 32 documentary features released this year the preselection committee consisting of the members of the academy has chosen 15 movies, out of which only 14 fulfil the statutes of this year’s annual awards due to the situation with closed cinema theatres. The academics will vote about this selection in the first round (see the overview below). The academics are also voting about ten television works of art.” The presidium of the CFTA consisting of fifteen members annually awards a unique contribution to Czech cinematography and can also award an exceptional feat in the area of audio-visual arts.
In March this year most of the statuettes for the year of 2019 went to the film The Painted Bird by Václav Marhoul, which was also shortlisted for the awards of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars. Now the film is nominated for the European Film Awards in the category of the best film. The CFTA offers a selection of the successful films from Czech cinematography online on the website /www.ceskylev.cz/cz/filmy-online.
The scenario of the ceremonial gala evening is still shrouded in mystery. “Just as in the last couple of years, our evening will depend on the elegant performance of the reliable host Václav Kopta,” reveals the supervisor of the Czech Lions Marek Najbrt and he also adds: “The ceremony of the last year took place right before the outbreak of the covid madness here and in all Europe. That is why I would like this year ceremony to put a symbolic as well as ceremonial end to this difficult era.“ Václav Kopta will host the Czech Lions for the third time and he comments on his role in a humorous way again: “When I was hosting the ceremonial gala for the second time I could freely announce: You cannot enter the same river twice! I took the risk and didn’t drown! So in March 2021 I will go swimming for the third time and I will only hope that the saying Three times and you are out! will not come true either. I am looking forward to meeting all the filmmakers as well as fans … let’s hope that the swimming pool will be open!” The visual of the upcoming annual awards was created by the studio Formaat and for the first time the statuette of the Czech Lion does not play the leading role but this task in the new design was also given to Václav Kopta. The view of the empty cinema theatre in the visual is not a coincidence.
The Czech Lions could not be realized without the support of our stable partners. For a long time now, the general partner has been the mineral water Magnesia from the company Karlsbad Mineral Water, which is part of the Mattoni 1873 Group. The main partner is innogy, the reliable and long-lasting energy of the Czech film. The main media partner is the Czech Television. The glassworks Rückl where the statuettes of the Czech Lion are produced also belong to the family of our partners.
The tower of strength is for the Czech Lions the company Mattoni 1873. „Mattoni 1873 remains to be a proud partner of the Czech film again this year. The natural mineral water Magnesia has been the partner of the Czech Lion awards for eighteen years and for the sixteenth time this year it will boost the power of the Czech Lion by the campaign with the holders of this award. We are glad we can play a part and help young filmmakers during their take-off,“ says Alessandro Pasquale, the executive director of the company Mattoni 1873, which co-organizes the Magnesia Award for the best student film awarded at the Czech Lion gala evening.
“Last year a good quality filmmaking swept the board and we were pleased by the great success of the film The Painted Bird, which the company innogy coproduced. We hope that the trend of presenting the awards to films of a great quality will continue in the year of 2021. innogy will still provide reliable energy for the Czech films in any case. We are still prepared to help the Czech film. In the year 2020 three of our films were distributed in the cinemas. I am curious if we manage to obtain further nominations and maybe another Czech Lion will go to a film coproduced by us,” said Martin Chalupský, the director of communication in innogy in the Czech Republic.
The main media partner of the Czech Lions is the Czech Television, who also supports Czech cinematography significantly. “Last year, thirty-seven films in which Czech Television took part were premiered. Including the film The Painted Bird that dominated the Czech Lions as it won nine of them and is now going to fight for the European Film Award. This year we have managed, in spite of the pandemic, to present twenty-seven new feature films, documentary features as well as animated films. Among these was the historically most successful Czech documentary Caught in the Net, the feature film Havel or the autobiographic drama Charlatan, which is sent to fight for an Oscar for the Czech Republic,”says the general director of the Czech Television Petr Dvořákand he adds: “Czech Television is simply the most important partner of the local film production and we do not slacken our key efforts to support Czech cinematography even in this unfavourable situation.”
OVEVIEW OF THE CATEGORIES OF THE CZECH LION ANNUAL AWARDS
- best feature film
- best director
- best screenplay
- best cinematography
- best music
- best film editing
- best sound
- best stage design
- best costumes
- best makeup and hairstyling
- best actress in a leading role
- best actor in a leading role
- best actress in a supporting role
- best actor in a supporting role
- best documentary feature
- best television film or miniseries
- best television drama series
- best animated film
- best short film
- unique contribution to Czech film
- exceptional feat in the area of audio-visual arts
28th CZECH LION – PRESELECTION OF DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
11 barev ptáčete (11 Colours of The Bird), directed by: Vojtěch Kopecký
Alchymická pec (Alchemical Furnace), directed by: Jan Daňhel, Adam Oľha
Český žurnál – Vojna Ztohoven (Czech Journal - Voina Ztohoven), directed by: Petra Nesvačilová
FREM (FREM), directed by: Viera Čákanyová
K2 vlastní cestou (K2: My Way), directed by: Jana Počtová
Kdo jinému jámu - Rudolf Slánský, directed by: Martin Vadas
Kiruna - překrásný nový svět (Kiruna - A Brand New World), directed by: Greta Stocklassa
Meky (Meky), directed by: Šimon Šafránek
Můj otec Antonín Kratochvíl (My Father Antonin Kratochvil), directed by: Andrea Sedláčková
Na krev (Blood, Sweat and Tears), directed by: Erik Knopp
Postiženi muzikou (Two Roads), directed by: Radovan Síbrt
Pouť krkonošská (Pilgrimage to the Mountains), directed by: Karel Čtveráček
V síti (Caught in the Net), directed by: Barbora Chalupová, Vít Klusák
Ztracený břeh (Lost Coast), directed by: Jiří Zykmund
28th CZECH LION - SUBMITTED ANIMATED FILMS
Až na konci světa (At the End of the World), directed and main design by: Martin Kukal
Barevný sen (A Colourful Dream), directed and main design by: Jan Balej
Divoké bytosti (Wild Beasts), directed by: Marta Prokopová, Michal Blaško, main designer: Marta Prokopová
Jáma (The Pit), directed by: Markéta Smolíková Kubátová, main designer: Stanislav Sekela, Martin Pošta, Peter Harakaly
Jsme si o smrt blíž (Love Is Just a Death Away), directed and main design by: Bára Anna Stejskalová
Lístek (Leaf), directed and main design by: Aliona Baranova
Mlsné medvědí příběhy (Hungry Bear Tales), directed by: Kateřina Karhánková, Alexandra Májová, main designer: Filip Pošivač
28th CZECH LION – SUBMITTED SHORT FILMS
Agent 00 Mise Palermo (Agent 00 Mission Palermo), directed by: Theodor Hoidekr
Anatomie českého odpoledne (Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon), directed by: Adam Martinec
Bonacha (Bonacha), directed by: Jan A. Václav
Co jsi říkal? (What Did You Say?), directed by: Jakub Volák
Dluh (Debt), directed by: Ondřej Novák
Hranice (Frontier), directed by: Damián Vondrášek
Muž, který připojil trinitrotoluenovou nálož k mixážnímu pultu (Man Who Connected Bomb to a Mixing Counter), directed by: Luboš Kučera
Perla (Watersprite), directed by: Jakub Kouřil
Pripyat Piano (Pripyat Piano), directed by: Eliška Cílková
PROJEKT (The Project), directed by: Josef Burant
Protihráč (Opponent), directed by: Ondřej Erban
Terezínské stíny (Shadows of Theresienstadt), directed by: Miloš Zvěřina
Trans*- Fipah (Trans*- Fipah), directed by: Filip Štoček, Štěpán Svoboda
Trans*- Viktor (Trans*- Viktor), directed by: Filip Štoček, Štěpán Svoboda
Visitor (Visitor), directed by: Pavel Bartovský
Vše nejlepší, lásko (Happy Birthday, My Love), directed by: Jana Nemčeková
Vyměnila jsem si směnu (Swithed Shifts), directed by: Luboš Kučera
Ženy, které nespí (Women Who Do Not Sleep), directed by: Jakub Dvořák
Czech Lion
The Czech Lion is a prestigious Czech film award that has been presented since 1993. Films are evaluated based on the voting of the members of the Czech Film and Television Academy. The ceremonial gala evening will take place on Saturday 6th March 2021 in Dvořák’s Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum and it will be broadcast live by Czech Television on CT1 at 20:10.
About the Czech Film and Television Academy:
The Czech Film and Television Academy was founded in 1995 and in 2013 it was transformed into a registered association. Its main aim is to support and promote Czech cinematographic art in the Czech Republic as well as abroad and create conditions for the development of Czech film. The academy presents the most prestigious Czech film award – the Czech Lion and nominates Czech films or documentary features for the awards of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The CFTA consists of 325 members at the moment.
