08-03-2009

Czech Lions honour Karamazovs and Tobruk

By Irena Zemanová

    The Karamazovs (Karamazovi) by director Petr Zelenka won best movie of 2008 at the Czech Lions, the annual awards of Czech film and television academy (www.cfta.cz).

    An original adaptation of the Dostoyevski masterpiece, it also earned Zelenka the prize for best direction at the ceremony held Saturday, March 7, in Prague's Lucerna Palace.

    Tobruk by Václav Marhoul and, surprisingly, The Guard no. 47 by Filip Renč (not reckoned to be among the favorites for the awards) took three film trophies. Tobruk, a big budget war drama got Czech Lion for best music score, best sound and best cinematography. Renč´s movie took the trophy for best film editing as well as both best actors awards: Karel Roden for best actor in a leading role and Vladimír Dlouhý for best supporting role.

    Country Teacher by director and screenwriter Bohdan Sláma won prizes for best screenplay and best actress in leading role for Zuzana Bydžovská. Best supporting actress went to Lenka Termerová for Night Owls.

    The Czech Lion for the best documentary movie was won Citizen Havel by Miroslav Janek and the late Pavel Koutecký. The award for the film that followed 13 years of the life and political career of Václav Havel brought the former Czech President to the stage in Lucerna Palace. "Its not very fair. I'm not the director, I'm not the actor, nor the screenwriter of this movie, and you are still giving me a standing ovation," joked Havel, who is still in the recovery from his latest bout of pneumonia.

    The ceremony of the 16th annual Czech Lions Awards had a family atmosphere. Father and daughter, actors Bolek Polívka and Anna Polívková, hosted the evening, while other famous parent and offspring pairs announced the winners in each category. Among those were cameraman Miroslav Ondříček and his son director David Ondříček.