The road movie Old-Timers won the Czech Film Critics’ Awards best picture of 2019 at a ceremony held today at Prague’s Archa Theatre. Kolya (1996) was named the best Czech film since 1990.
Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník shared the best direction statuette for co-helming Old-Timers, a post-communist road movie about vengeance and justice. Best Screenplay was awarded to Jiří Havelka for his debut picture, the black comedy Owners. The Best Documentary award went to Martin Mareček‘s Over The Hills, a film about complex family dynamics and a father and son travelling to Russia to visit the boy’s mother and sister.
The Painted Bird, which premiered at Venice last year, won the Audiovisual Achievement Award, with critics honoring cinematographer Vladimír Smutný. The Offscreen Award was given to the Oscar-nominated short Daughter, a puppet film about the relationship between a father and daughter.
The Czech Film Critics’ Awards not only celebrated its own tenth anniversary, but also 30 years since the fall of communism in the country. Critics marked this milestone by selecting Jan Svěrák’s Oscar-winning 1996 drama Kolya as the best domestic production of the period.
The awards were presented at the Archa Theatre, by authors and the stars of films based on their works: Michal Viewegh & Vanda Hybnerová, Petra Soukupová & Petra Špalková, and Josef Formánek & David Švehlík.
The Czech Film Critics’ Awards are organized by the Association of Czech Film Critics, with the generous support of its principal partners innogy, Czech Television, the Czech Film Fund, and the Czech Ministry of Culture, with additional partnership provided by the Archa Theatre, Champagneria, and Mowshe.
Complete results are available at www.filmovakritika.cz.
Czech Film Critics’ Awards 2019 Results
BEST FILM: Old-Timers (Staříci) – Jiří Konečný (producer)
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Over The Hills (Dálava) – dir. Martin Mareček
BEST DIRECTOR: Old-Timers (Staříci) – Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník
BEST SCREENPLAY: Owners (Vlastníci) – Jiří Havelka AUDIOVISUAL ACHIEVEMENT: The Painted Bird (Nabarvené ptáče), cinematography – Vladimír Smutný BEST ACTOR: Old-Timers (Staříci) – Jiří Schmitzer BEST ACTRESS: Owners (Vlastníci) – Tereza Ramba
INNOGY PRIZE FOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Bohdan Karásek – Karel, Me and You (Karel, já a ty)
OFFSSCREEN AWARD: Daughter (Dcera) – Daria Kashcheeva
Best Czech Film 1990–2019
- Kolya (Kolja 1996, dir. Jan Svěrák)
- Smoke (Kouř, 1991, dir. Tomáš Vorel)
- The Inheritance (Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntág, 1992, dir. Věra Chytilová)
- Return of the Idiot (Návrat idiota, 1999, dir. Saša Gedeon)
- The Elementary School (Obecná škola 1991, dir. Jan Svěrák)
- Walking Too Fast (Pouta, 2009, dir. Radim Špaček)
- Cosy Dens (Pelíšky, 1999, dir. Jan Hřebejk)
- Faust (Lekce Faust, 1993, dir. Jan Švankmajer)
- Protector (Protektor, 2009, dir. Marek Najbrt)
- Sekal Has To Die (Je třeba zabít Sekala, 1998, dir. Vladimír Michálek)