This year’s previously postponed edition of the Czech annual showcase of domestic cinema and audiovisual works, Finále Plzeň (see the news), managed to wrap successfully before the country entered a state of emergency owing to a new spike in coronavirus cases. After the festival provided an in-depth overview of domestic production from the past 2019-2020 season and offered a sneak peek at upcoming theatrical releases with a slew of premieres, the annual film gathering wrapped with its awards ceremony.

The country’s nominee for the Oscars, Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird [+lire aussi :
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interview : Václav Marhoul
fiche film], Ondřej Provazník and Martin Dušek’s senior-starring revenge road movie Old-Timers [+lire aussi :
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interview : Martin Dušek, Ondřej Prova…
fiche film] and Michal Hogenauer’s English-language feature debut, the social thriller A Certain Kind of Silence [+lire aussi :
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interview : Michal Hogenauer
fiche film], all locked horns for the Golden Kingfisher Award, but Marko Škop’s family drama Let There Be Light [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marko Škop
interview : Milan Ondrík
fiche film] eventually came out on top. "We decided unanimously. The film fascinated us with its great sense of humanity and with the way it tackles the undertone of nationalism. In our opinion, this is an important and relevant topic that we should be examining today," noted the jury.

In the documentary category, where Viera Čakányová’s FREM [+lire aussi :
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interview : Viera Čakányová
fiche film] was up against Martin Mareček’s Over the Hills [+lire aussi :
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interview : Martin Mareček
fiche film] and Greta Stoclassa’s Kiruna – A Brand New World [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], Solo [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by producer and filmmaker Artemio Benki, who passed away earlier this year, won the Best Documentary Award. The jury complimented the film as "a beautifully intimate and delicately depicted portrait of a talented pianist who is trying to come to terms with reality and handle the journey from a psychiatric hospital back to his life. This documentary transcends typical cinematic approaches in regard to mental health issues."

The best television or internet project in the serials category was deemed to be the internet thriller #martyisdead, inspired by real cases of cyberbullying and made for an e-commerce company’s online television platform. "It tells its true, cautionary story in a creative and extremely compelling way, and in a format that perfectly matches the nature of the subject. It raises awareness of cyberbullying and shows how chillingly easy it is for teenagers to become a victim or a perpetrator," said the jury about the series, which has already won for Best Web Series in Central and Eastern Europe at the 2019 Serial Killer international festival of TV and web series, and recently became the first Czech series to be nominated for an International Emmy Award. The producers have already announced a follow-up series, #annaismissing, which will focus on the topic of child abduction with the intention of shooting and selling illegal videos.

Czech Television’s psychological drama Without a Trace from the television series How Not to Screw Your Life, directed by Vít Karas, won the Best Film and Miniseries Award in the television and internet project category. The student short-film competition saw strong contenders in the critically acclaimed and award-winning stop-motion flick The Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and Michaela Mihályi and David Štumpf’s animated work SH_T HAPPENS. However, Karolína Peroutková's The Call of the Wild ultimately took home the accolade.

Here is the list of all award winners at the festival:

Golden Kingfisher for Best Feature or Animated Film
Let There Be Light [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marko Škop
interview : Milan Ondrík
fiche film] – Marko Škop (Slovakia/Czech Republic)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Documentary
Solo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Artemio Benki
fiche film] – Artemio Benki (Czech Republic/France/Austria)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Television or Internet Project in the “Serial Production” Category
#martyisdead: S1: E8 #truestory – Pavel Soukup (Czech Republic)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Television or Internet Project in the “Film and Miniseries” Category
Without a Trace – Vít Karas (Czech Republic)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Student Short Film
The Call of the Wild – Karolína Peroutková (Czech Republic)

Student juries from the University of West Bohemia

Golden Kingfisher for Best Feature or Animated Film
Owners [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Jiří Havelka (Czech Republic/Slovakia)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Documentary
Kiruna – A Brand New World [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Greta Stoclassa (Czech Republic)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Television or Internet Project in the “Serial Production” Category
The Sleepers, Episode 4 – Ivan Zachariáš (Czech Republic)

Golden Kingfisher for Best Television or Internet Project in the “Film and Miniseries” Category
The Cage – Jiří Strach (Czech Republic)