Awards for Brutal Heat and Imago

The five-member jury of the Proxima Competition at Karlovy Vary IFF honoured Brutal Heat, the feature film debut of director Albert Hospodářský with the Special Jury Mention. The film is set in a world threatened by a solar fragment flying toward Earth, in which an 18-year-old boy gets stranded on his way to a cabin in an unknown city. A series of bizarre adventures force him to confront his greatest fears – reconciling with the reality of a twisted world, himself, and his father. 

Brutal Heat is a co-production of Lukáš Kokeš and Ondřej Lukeš (nutprodukce) from Czech Republic and Ivan Ostrochovský and Katarína Tomková (Punkchart films) from Slovakia. Supported by the Czech Film Fund with EUR 160,000, the film was also backed by Slovak Audiovisual Fund, East Bohemia Region, City of Pardubice, and Film Foundation.

"As the film's producer, I would also like to mention that the day before the premiere of Brutal Heat, the hottest day in the history of the planet was measured. And the scientists from all over the world agree that this is a consequence of the global climate crisis. Which is not the main topic of our film, but it is one of the important themes. And sustainability is also important to us in the crew. Therefore, I would like to thank the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for taking a more upfront approach to the topic of sustainability this year and for showing the will to continue doing so in the years to come. I am also happy that the subject of sustainability should also be included in the upcoming amendment to the Audiovisual Act." said at the closing ceremony of the festival Ondřej Lukeš, one of the producers of the film.

The second Czech entry in the Proxima competition, the Polish-Dutch-Czech co-production titled Imago, directed by Olga Chajdas, was awarded the FIPRESCI Award.

Imago is a post-punk psychological drama about a young woman craving life amidst the greyness of the communist Polish People's Republic - a story about the bond between a mother and a daughter, the hunger for freedom, sex and meditation. The story begins in the Tricity in 1987 and concludes in 1989, after Poland’s first free elections. The story's backdrop is the rebellious Tricity music scene of the late 1980s, a cultural and social phenomenon of the period and a harbinger of revolutionary changes in Poland. Imago is a powerful and resounding piece of cinema about the various shades of transformation and a portrait of a woman unlike any other in the history of the Polish cinema.

The film was made in co-production of Poland's Apple Film Production, the Netherlands' Topkapi Films and moloko film from Czech Republic, represented by Miloš Lochman and Karel Chvojka. Further co-producers include Canal+ Polska and House Media Company. The film was backed by Polish Film Institute, The Netherlands Film Fund & Netherlands Film Production Incentive and The City of Gdaňsk as well as the Czech Film Fund which supported the minority co-production with EUR 112,000.

Awards for Czech upcoming films at Eastern Promises

Czech filmmakers scored twice also at this year's Eastern Promises, the industry platform of Karlovy Vary IFF consisting of showcases of projects at various stages of development or production. The main Post-production Development Award of Works in Progress, consisting of postproduction services worth EUR 90 000, went to Czech documentary project I'm Not Everything I Want to Be directed by Klára Taskovská and produced by Lukáš Kokeš and the director herself (Somatic Films). The creative documentary looks into the career of unconventional photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková.

Producer Tomáš Pertold (perfilm), who presented at Works in Development together with director Vojtěch Novotný project God Break Down the Door (developed at MIDPOINT Institute's Feature Launch workshop), was awarded the Rotterdam Lab Award, consisting of a scholarship for the upcoming edtition of the prestigious training program.