PRAGUE: The Czech/French coproduction Skokan directed by Petr Vaclav is in postproduction. The film produced by Jan Macola of Mimesis Film and coproduced by French Cinema Defacto was partially shot during the 2015 Cannes IFF, using the Cannes festival Palais and surroundings.

PRAGUE: An important anniversary of Czechoslovak legionnaires inspired Czech director Petr Nikolaev to pay a tribute to them with an epic feature film. The Czechoslovak Legionnaires Community approached Petr Nikolaev after he directed a WWII film in 2011.

PRAGUE: Czech director Bohdan Sláma has begun shooting of his Czech/Slovak/French coproduction Ice Mother/Bába z Ledu in Plzeň and Hradec Králové. The film is produced by Pavel Strnad and Petr Oukropec from Negativ with a budget of approximately 1,3 m EUR.

PRAGUE: Film director and screenwriter Ladislav Helge, one of the members of the Czech New wave, passed away at 88 on 31 January 2016.

PRAGUE: Lost in Munich by Petr Zelenka won in the best film, best director and best scriptwriter categories of the 6th edition of Czech Film Critics’ Awards on 23 January 2016.

PRAGUE: Admissions in the Czech Republic in 2015 reached the highest point since 2010 with 13 m tickets sold, while domestic admissions dropped to under 20%.

PRAGUE: Petr Zelenka’s Lost in Munich leads the nominations for the 23rd Czech Lions with 15 nods followed by Jan Prušinovský’s Snake Brothers with 12 nods. The ceremony will take place on 5 March 2016.

It has been a busy year for Czech cinema. Karlovy Vary International Film Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015, Czech films were invited to many international festivals and many of the brought home awards, talented new filmmakers emerged.

PRAGUE: The new feature length documentary by Helena Třeštíková Lída Baarová - Doomed Beauty has finished production and will be premiered 7 January 2016 by Aerofilms.

PRAGUE: The Czech State Cinematography Fund decided to support production of eight Czech feature films, out of 15 applying projects.