The Czech academics chose from 13 Czech feature films, documentaries and animated films that had been enrolled by the producers of the individual films themselves. The voting took place between 2 – 12 September 2017. The films Barefoot, Filthy, Garden Store: Deserter and The Oddsockeaters were also among the highly valued films.

 “The film was internationally premiered in the competition of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York, where Bohdan Sláma received the Best Screenplay award. The positive reviews and encouraging reactions of the audience have made us believe that our film could continue in its successful journey on the American continent,” adds Pavel Strnad for the production company Negativ.

Ice Mother, theatrically released in the Czech Republic on 23 February 2017, has been included in the line-ups of several other international festivals including Sydney IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF and Vancouver IFF. The international sales are handled by The Match Factory.

Synopsis:  67-year-old Hana is the good soul of her family. Every week her sons come over with their wives and children for their family dinner. Selfless Hana takes care of little Ivánek, her grandson, who is not really cherishing his grandma’s help. One day while Hana is searching for Ivánek who sneaks out of the garden centre, she finds a man (Bronia, 56) floating at the riverside, unable to move in the cold water. She helps him to get out of the icy water. Swimming in the freezing river – just for fun? Hana can’t believe it. In a series of events, Hana starts to change her life. But when she discovers that straightforward Bronia has a dark secret as well, she is once again forced to decide what she really wants in life.

Bohdan Sláma (b. 1967) debuted with Wild Bees (2001), which earned many honors, including a Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. His second film, Something Like Happiness (2005), won seven Czech Lions and the top prize at the San Sebastián Film Festival. His other works, A Country Teacher (2008) and Four Suns (2012) have screened in film festivals around the world. Having completed his last project, Ice Mother (2017), he is currently working on Švejk, a film inspired by the classic 1920s novel by Jaroslav Hašek The Good Soldier Švejk. He is the head of the Direction department at the Film Academy of Performing Arts.

The 90th Awards of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take place on 4th March 2018 in Los Angeles.