05/03/2007

Jirí Menzel’s I Served the King of England [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the lion’s share on March 3 of the 13th Czech Lions, the Czech film industry’s top honours, receiving four awards, including Best Film and Best Director.

Menzel’s film, which was awarded the FIPRESCI prize at the recent Berlinale and has been leading the box office for the past two months, also won Best Cinematography for Jaromír Sofr.

Jan Hrebejk’s Beauty in Trouble took home three of the statuettes awarded annually by the Czech Film and Television Academy, virtually sweeping up the acting prizes (see below).

The third of the night’s favourites, David Ondrícek’s Grandhotel [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was originally nominated for seven Lions, managed to win only two, for Best Soundtrack and Best Sound.

Surprisingly, one of the remaining prestigious awards, for Best Screenplay, went to writer-director Robert Sedlacek for Rules of Lies (Pravidla lzi). Sedlacek also won the hearts of the Film Critics and their prize.

Both of last year’s box office leaders were completely overlooked by the Academy and had only one nomination between them. Jirí Vejdelek’s Holiday Makers, a light comedy based on a novel by popular author Michal Viewegh and the absolute leader of 2006, won only a recognition award offered by a specialist magazine while Karel Janak’s Rafters went home with the Audience Award.

Best Foreign Film went, not surprisingly, to Pedro Almodovar’s Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile].

The main awards in brief:

Best Film: I Served the King of England
Best Director: Jirí Menzel (I Served the King of England)
Best screenplay: Robert Sedlácek (Rules of Lies)
Best Actor: Jirí Schmitzer (Beauty in Trouble)
Best Actress: Anna Geislerová (Beauty in Trouble)
Best Supporting Actor: Martin Huba (I Served the King of England)
Best Supporting Actress: Jana Brejchová (Beauty in Trouble)
Best Cinematography: Jaromír Sofr (I Served the King of England)
Best Soundtrack: Jan P. Muchow (Grandhotel)
Best Editor: Jirí Brozek (Nice Moments with No Guarantee)
Best Sound: Pavel Rejholec, Jakub Cech (Grandhotel)
Best Art Direction: Jan Balej, Pavel Koutský, Petr Pos, Martin Velísek (Fimfárum 2)
Audience Award: Raftáci
Film Critics’ Prize: Rules of Lies
Best Foreign Film: Volver (Spain)
Premiere Magazine Prize: Holiday Makers