Makers “over the moon” as Caravan takes top prize at Czech Lions
The main prize at the 33rd Czech Lion national film awards at the weekend was won by the drama Caravan. Other gongs went to multiple projects, while a notable number of Slovaks and members of the Vietnamese minority also received recognition.
The Best Film prize at this year’s Czech Lions went to Caravan, a drama starring Anna Geislerová as the mother of a boy with an intellectual disability who decides to take more control of her life.
Dagmar Sedláčková, one of the film’s producers, had this to say moments after the biggest award of the night was announced.
“Amazing. It’s a domestic award and we are so proud. For us it’s been a whole journey – and at the end of this journey such amazing recognition from the Czech Film and Television Academy. So I’m over the moon.”
Best Director went to Slovak filmmaker Katarína Gramatová for Promise I’ll Be Fine, which she also co-wrote. She was one of a number of Slovaks to pick up prizes at Saturday night’s ceremony at Prague’s Congress Centre.
Franz by Agnieszka Holland had the most nominations – and also picked up the most trophies, with four. These included Best Actor for Germany’s Idan Weiss, who plays the lead in the inventive Kafka biopic.
“I learned so much from Agnieszka, because she creates a high energy atmosphere and at the same time gives you so much freedom for improvisation… And I love Prague; actually I’m in Prague now shooting for the third time. So I’m really enjoying Prague and the thing I like the most is when the lights are turning off and you can walk by yourself and see everything. Prague is beautiful in the evening.”
The Best Actress prize, meanwhile, went to Kateřina Falbrová for her portrayal of the victim of an abusive choirmaster in Broken Voices by Ondřej Provazník. The 16-year-old was visibly overwhelmed after picking up the latest award for her breakout role.
“It has been incredible, a total trip. I really appreciate the whole experience, which has been unbelievable. I’m not sure how to process the whole thing right now. But I’m going to try to enjoy the moment and we’ll see what comes next.”
Another of the three gongs picked up by Broken Voices was Best Sound for Juraj Mravec and Petr Čechák. The former gave some insights into their process.
“The main challenge on this film was recording the choir. We decided to record the choir live on set, which is not the usual practice. Usually you record in a studio in advance and then use playback on the set. But we decided to record live, because that’s what the director wanted. He wanted to keep the authenticity of the actresses very live. Also the singing sometimes gets interrupted during rehearsals – and we wanted to keep the atmosphere really authentic and vivid.”
Best Screenplay went to Dužan Duong, Jan Smutný and Lukáš Kokeš for Summer School, 2001, which centres on Czechia’s Vietnamese community and was directed by the first mentioned.
One of the movie’s stars, Dung Nguyen, was named Best Actor in a Supporting Role and said he was the first ever Vietnamese person to pick up a prize for an onscreen role at the Czech Lions.
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