107 Mothers | European Discovery: nomination

On the 8th of November, the European Film Academy revealed the full list of nominations for the 35th European Film Awards. The Academy announced that Slovak-Czech-Ukrainian venture 107 Mothers is among the works nominated for European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI. Celebrated feature by Peter Kerekes, which received the Best Screenplay Award in Venice’s Orizzonti (2021), main prizes in Cottbus and Les Arcs or Arab Critics' Award for European Films, was produced by Ivan Ostrochovský of Punkchart films with Czech companies endorfilm and Hypermarket Film being on board as co-producers.

The film tells a story of of Lesya, who has committed a crime of passion which brings her a seven-year sentence in one of Odessa’s women’s correctional facilities. She has just given birth to her first child, and now she is entering a world populated only by women: inmates, nurses and wardens, women of all ages, wives and widows, daughters, sisters, pregnant women, and women with children. If not for the color of the uniform, it would sometimes be hard to tell who is who.

The Czech Film Fun supported 107 Mothers, which is Peter Kerekes' fiction feature debut, altogether with EUR 136,000. In the past, the established documentary director received a nomination for the European Film Award for his documentary Cooking History (made in co-production with Czech company Negativ) in 2009. Another his doc, Velvet Terrorists (co-produced by Hypermerket Film and Czech Television), won the FEDEORA Award at the Karlovy Vary IFF and it also caught the attention at Berlinale's Forum, winning the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Award there.

In the past, two other Czech minority co-productions were nominated for the European Discovery award: Lea by Ivan Fíla (1996) and Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie (2018).

Love, Dad | Best Short Film: nomination

Czech cinema also has a candidate in the bite-size category of the European Film Awards. The already announced selection of nominees for Best European Short Film includes Czech anidoc Love, Dad. A film by FAMU student Diana Cam Van Nguyen, which world-premiered at Locarno’s Pardi di domani last year, scored after that at short sections of Toronto IFF, BFI London, Tallinn Black Nights FF or DOK Leipzig and after the victory at American AFI Fest, it also successfully qualified for this year‘s Oscar competition. On the home ground, Diana Cam Van Nguyen dominated short film categories at both Czech Lion Awards and Czech Film Critics’ Awards. Previously, the director garnered the international attention with her anidoc Apart (2018), which internationally premiered at IFF Rotterdam.

Love, Dad focuses on ties and gaps between a child and a parent. The author rediscovers the letters that her dad used to write to her from prison. That love seems to be gone now. She decides to write back in hope to find the connection again. She puts in writing what could not be said: blaming him for family´s break-up but also trying to understand his actions at the same time.

The film was made as Czech-Slovak co-production with Karolína Davidová of 13ka acting as the main producer. The co-producers include Slovak nutprodukcia and Prague’s FAMU. The Czech Film Fund supported Love, Dad for production with EUR 40 000.

Love, Dad is second Czech film nominated for Best European Short Film. The previous one was Reconstruction by directing duo Jiří Havlíček and Ondřej Novák (2018).