Prague, Sept 15 (CTK) – The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) has selected Lost in Munich (Ztraceni v Mnichove, 2015) directed by Petr Zelenka as the Czech candidate for the Oscar nominations in the category of the best non-English speaking film, Eliska Mikovcova, from CFTA, told CTK yesterday.
The CFTA members have selected it out of 49 full-length feature, documentary and animated films.
The deadline for sending candidates in the non-English speaking film category expires on October 3.
The nominations for the 89th Oscar Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2017, and the awards will be presented in Los Angeles on February 26.
Lost in Munich, which is on the verge of a political satire combining reality and fiction, won three Czech Film Critics’ awards, for the best film, best director and best script, and two Czech Lions national film prices for its scriptwriter and editor.
The film touches upon the Munich Agreement, signed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy on September 29, 1938, under which Czechoslovakia had to cede its border regions to Nazi Germany.
Zelenka is not only its director, but also the author of the story and script.
“The film met with a great response at the London Film Festival and it was shortlisted for European Film Awards,” its producer David Ondricek said.
Lost in Munich had the world premiere at the 59th London Film Festival on October 8, 2015, and it was released in Czech cinemas on October 22.
Three Czech films have received Oscar nominations since 1993 when the Czech Republic was established after Czechoslovakia’s split: Jan Sverak’s Kolya (1996), Jan Hrebejk’s Divided We Fall (2000) and Ondrej Trojan’s Zelary (2003). Kolya won the award in 1997.
Two years later, an animated short film by Czech-born Jan Pinkava, Geri’s Game, was presented with Oscar.
The first person from Czechoslovakia to win the Oscar award was 12-year-old Ivan Jandl for his acting in The Search by Fred Zinnemann in 1949.
The first Czechoslovak Oscar-awarded film in the best non-English language category was The Shop on Main Street by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos in 1966. Two years later, Czech director Jiri Menzel won Oscar for his Closely Watched Trains.
In 2008, Czech singer and pianist Marketa Irglova and Irish musician Glen Hansard won the award for the best film song for Falling Slowly from the Irish film Once.
The most successful Czech-born filmmaker Milos Forman won his first Oscar for his second film shot in the USA, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), and the other in 1984 for Amadeus. The latter received a total of eight Academy Awards two of which also went to Czechs – Theodor Pistek for costumes and Karel Cerny for set decoration.
