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AWARDS Czech Republic

Winter Flies crowned Best Czech Film by the national film academy

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- Olmo Omerzu’s movie and Ondřej Havelka’s The Hastrman were among the most-celebrated domestic titles at the Czech Lion Awards

Winter Flies crowned Best Czech Film by the national film academy
Olmo Omerzu with his Best Director Award for Winter Flies

After Czech film critics got a chance to cast their votes in order to single out the best oeuvres of 2018 just one month ago (see the news), the Czech Film Academy voiced its opinions over the weekend, celebrating domestic cinema at the annual Czech Lion ceremony. The big surprise at the 26th edition was that the historical biopic drama Toman [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Ondřej Trojan (see the news) had racked up 13 nominations but did not take home a single trophy. However, the most-celebrated film of the evening turned out to be the coming-of-age road movie Winter Flies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile
]
 by Olmo Omerzu, which cashed in on the majority of its ten nominations (two for Best Supporting Actress), including Best Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Script. Omerzu thus became doubly crowned as Best Director, adding the Czech Lion to the prize he received from the domestic film critics.

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Omerzu’s was not the only case on which both academy members and film critics saw eye to eye, as Jenovéfa Boková netted the Best Actress Award for her performance in Beata Parkanová’s feature debut, Moments [+see also:
trailer
interview: Beata Parkanová
interview: Beata Parkanová
film profile
]
. Czech surrealist maestro Jan Švankmajer won the Best Stage Design Award for the art direction on what was previously announced to be his last feature project, Insect [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Švankmajer
film profile
]
, along with his son Václav Švankmajer – and both also received the Best Audiovisual Achievement Award during the Czech film critics’ ceremony for the very same reason. One of the most interesting debuts of the last year, besides Parkanová’s Moments, was Domestique [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adam Sedlák
film profile
]
 by Adam Sedlák, a drama with body-horror elements, which won the Best Sound Award (it also had a second nomination for Best Music).

The second most-nominated film, the period romantic thriller The Hastrman by Ondřej Havelka, picked up four awards (Best Cinematography, Best Actor, Best Music and Best Costume Design), while the sports drama The Golden Sting by Radim Procházka, which had notched up nine nominations, shared Toman’s fate, winning none. The same thing happened to the historical biopic Jan Palach [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which had accumulated eight nominations and was even considered the Best Film of 2018 by the national film critics. Also on the list of nominees was the road dramedy The Interpreter [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Martin Šulík
film profile
]
 by Slovakian director Martin Šulík (four nominations), which did not garner any trophies. 

Besides domestic cinema, the Czech Lions acknowledge the most interesting television projects as well. The comedy series Dubbing Street by Petr Zelenka, who turned his play (which he also directed) into a television series, won the Best Television Drama Series Award, while the two-part TV movie Dukla 61, about a horrendous mining tragedy that took place in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, directed by David Ondříček, won the Best Television Film Award.

Here is the complete list of Czech Lion winners:

Best Film
Winter Flies [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olmo Omerzu
film profile
]
 – Olmo Omerzu (Czech Republic/Slovenia/Poland/Slovakia) 

Best Documentary
King Skate [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 – Šimon Šafránek (Czech Republic)

Best Director
Olmo Omerzu – Winter Flies

Best Actress
Jenovéfa Boková – Moments [+see also:
trailer
interview: Beata Parkanová
interview: Beata Parkanová
film profile
]
 (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Actor
Karel Dobrý – The Hastrman (Czech Republic) 

Best Supporting Actress
Eliška Křenková – Winter Flies

Best Supporting Actor
Jan František Uher - Winter Flies

Best Screenplay
Petr Pýcha - Winter Flies

Best Cinematography
Diviš Marek - The Hastrman 

Best Film Editing
Jana Vlčková - Winter Flies

Best Sound
Jakub Jurásek, Jan Šulcek, David Titěra – Domestique [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adam Sedlák
film profile
]
 (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Music
Petr Wajsar - The Hastrman 

Best Stage Design
Jan Švankmajer, Václav Švankmajer – Insect [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jan Švankmajer
film profile
]
 (Czech Republic/Slovakia) 

Best Costume Design
Eva Kotková - The Hastrman 

Best Make-up and Hairstyling
Zdeněk Klika – The Magic Quill (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Best Television Film or Miniseries
Dukla 61 - David Ondříček (Czech Republic)

Best Television Drama Series
Dubbing Street - Petr Zelenka

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