The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA), which organizes the Czech Lion Awards every year, recommended that the film called Ice Mother directed by Bohdan Sláma should be the Czech candidate for the Oscars in the category of the Best Foreign Language Film. The academics were choosing from 13 Czech feature films, documentary features and animated films that had been enrolled by the producers of the individual films themselves. The film Ice Mother will get a chance to represent the Czech cinematography at the jubilee 90th awards of the American Academy of Motion picture Arts and Sciences, which will take place on 4th March 2018 in Los Angeles.
The voting in which the academics chose the film representing the Czech cinematography in the competition for the Oscars took place from 1st to 12th September 2017. The films Barefoot, Filthy, Garden Store: Deserter, The Oddsockeaters were also among the highly valued films.
The film Ice Mother directed by Bohdan Sláma, which the academics have recommended in the category of the Best Foreign Language Film, describes the relationships among three generations of people in a family. It tells the story of a fated meeting of the widow Hana (Zuzana Kronerová) and the cold water swimmer Broňa (Pavel Nový) and thanks to this meeting Hana is able to see her life from a different perspective a change it dramatically. The film Ice Mother was created in a Czech-Slovak-French co-production. “The film was premiered internationally in the competition of the prestigious festival TRIBECA in New York, where it got the award for the best screenplay. The positive reviews and encouraging reactions of the audience make us hopeful that our film could be successful on its further journey on the American continent,” adds Pavel Strnad for the production company Negativ.
The director Bohdan Sláma graduated from the Czech Technical University and in 1997 he also graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he studied film directing. His graduate film was called White Acacias (1996). His debut feature film Wild Bees (2001) picked up the threads of the poetics of the so-called Czechoslovak New Wave of the sixties and the film was awarded at many international film festivals (e.g. IFF Rotterdam – the Tiger Award, IFF San Francisco – the SKYY award). Representing the Czech Republic, this film was the candidate for the nomination for the Oscars and the European Film Awards. The film in the same tone called Something like Happiness (2005) was awarded seven Czech Lions and won the festival in San Sebastian. The following films were also successful – The Country Teacher (2008) got two Czech Lions and Four Suns (2012) took part in the competition at Sundance Film Festival. He also created several episodes of The Blaník Bureau series. At present he is the head of the direction department at the Film Academy of Performing Arts.
The awards of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are considered to be the most prestigious awards in the area of film. The nominations for the Oscars will be announced on 23rd January 2018 and the ceremony will take place on 4th March 2018 in Los Angeles.
About the Czech Film and Television Academy:
The Czech Film and Television Academy was founded in 1995 and in 2013 it was transformed into a registered association. Its main aim is to support and promote Czech cinematographic art in the Czech Republic as well as abroad and create conditions for the development of Czech film. It awards the most prestigious Czech film award – the Czech Lion and nominates Czech films or documentary features for the awards of the American Academy of Picture Arts and Sciences. The CFTA consists of 298 members at the moment.
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