Bohdan Sláma’s Ice Mother (Bába z ledu) has scored a record 15 nominations for the 2018 Czech Lion Awards, topping the previous high set by Burning Bush, which scored 14 nominations in 2014.
Ice Mother was also selected as the Czech Republic’s official submission to the 2018 Academy Awards, where it was not selected for shortlist consideration by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film branch.
Sláma’s drama, which was released to only mild acclaim when it debuted locally last March, scored nominations in every possible category at the the 25th annual Czech Lion Awards save for Best Music, and two nominations apiece in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Petra Špalková, Tatiana Vilhelmová) and Best Supporting Actor (Marek Daniel and Václav Neužil).
The movie was also nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actress (Zuzana Kronerová), Actor (Pavel Nový), Script (Sláma), Cinematography (Diviš Marek), Editing (Jan Daňhel), Art Direction, Costume Design, and Makeup.
Ice Mother’s 15-nomination record is unlikely to be surpassed in future 15-category Czech Lion Awards (which also include the mutually exclusive Best Picture and Best Documentary categories), and likely indicative of what to expect when the awards proper are announced on March 10.
But 2017 was a banner year for Czech films – and the fine Ice Mother wasn’t close to being the best that this reviewer saw during the course of the year.
That would be Jan Svěrák’s wonderful Barefoot (Po strništi bos), which came in second with 13 nominations. It’s represented in every category save for Best Documentary and Best Supporting Actress.
But Jan Hřebejk’s excellent Garden Store trilogy (Family Friend, Deserter, and Suitor) – three of the best Czech films of the year and one of the most impressive feats in the history of Czech cinema – was nearly shut out of the awards, scoring noms only in Best Supporting Actress (Sabina Remundová for Deserter), Supporting Actor (Martin Finger for Deserter), and Music, Costume Design, and Makeup for Family Friend.
The well-intentioned but poorly reviewed historical biopic Milada was nominated in 10 categories including Best Picture, Actress (Ayelet Zurer), and Actor (Vladimír Javorský).
Václav Kadrnka’s Little Crusader (Křižáček), which won the Crystal Globe at last year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, scored 8 nominations including Best Director, Actor (Karel Roden), and Screenplay (Jiří Soukup, Vojtěch Mašek, Václav Kadrnka).
The excellent Masaryk, which was also released in March 2017, was last year’s big winner with a record 12 awards after playing in a one-week qualifying run at the end of 2016.
Here’s the full list of the 2018 Czech Lion Award nominations:
Best Film:
Barefoot (Po strništi bos)
Filthy (Špína)
Ice Mother (Bába z ledu)
Milada
Quartette (Kvarteto)
Best Documentary:
Červená
Czech Journal: The Limits of Work (Český žurnál: Hranice práce)
The Taste of Power (Mečiar)
Let Mišík Sing (Nechte zpívat Mišíka)
The White World According to Daliborek (Svět pole Daliborka)
Best Director:
Barefoot (Jan Svěrák)
Filthy (Tereza Nvotová)
Ice Mother (Bohdan Sláma)
Little Crusader (Václav Kadrnka)
Quartette (Miroslav Krobot)
Best Actress:
Barefoot (Tereza Voříšková)
Filthy (Dominika Morávková)
Ice Mother (Zuzana Kronerová)
Milada (Ayelet Zurer)
Quartette (Barbora Poláková)
Best Actor:
Barefoot (Ondřej Vetchý)
Ice Mother (Pavel Nový)
Little Crusader (Karel Roden)
Milada (Vladimír Javorský)
Quartette (Jaroslav Plesl)
Best Supporting Actress:
Filthy (Anna Šišková)
The Garden Store: Deserter (Sabina Remundová)
Ice Mother (Petra Špalková)
Ice Mother (Tatiana Vilhelmová)
Quartette (Pavlína Štorková)
Best Supporting Actor:
Barefoot (Oldřich Kaiser)
Filthy (Patrik Holubář)
The Garden Store: Deserter (Martin Finger)
Ice Mother (Marek Daniel)
Ice Mother (Václav Neužil)
Best Screenplay:
Barefoot (Jan Svěrák, Zdeněk Svěrák)
Filthy (Barbora Námerová)
Ice Mother (Bohdan Sláma)
Little Crusader (Jiří Soukup, Vojtěch Mašek, Václav Kadrnka)
Quartette (Miroslav Krobot, Lubomír Smékal)
Best Cinematography:
Barefoot (Vladimír Smutný)
Filthy (Marek Dvořák)
Ice Mother (Diviš Marek)
Little Crusader (Jan Baset Střítežský)
Milada (Martin Štrba)
Best Editing:
Barefoot (Alois Fišárek)
Filthy (Jiří Brožek, Michal Lánský, Jana Vlčková)
Ice Mother (Jan Daňhel)
Milada (Olina Kaufmanová)
Quartette (Jan Daňhel)
Best Sound:
Barefoot (Jakub Čech, Claus Lynge)
Ice Mother (Michal Holubec, Marek Poledna)
Little Crusader (Jan Čeněk)
Milada (Jiří Klenka)
Quartette (Viktor Ekrt)
Best Music:
Barefoot (Michal Novinski)
The Garden Store: Family Friend (Petr Ostrouchov)
8 Heads of Madness (8 hlav šílenství, Vladivojna La Chia)
Little Crusader (Irena and Vojtěch Havel)
Milada (Aleš Březina, Drew Alan)
Best Art Direction:
Barefoot (Jan Vlasák)
Ice Mother (Jan Vlasák)
Lajka (Aurel Klimt, Martin Velíšek, František Lipták)
Little Crusader (Luca Servino, Daniel Pitín)
Milada (Milan Býček)
Best Costume Design:
Barefoot (Simona Rybáková)
The Garden Store: Family Friend (Katarína Štrbová Bieliková)
Ice Mother (Zuzana Krejzková)
Little Crusader (Katarína Štrbová Bieliková)
Milada (Simona Rybáková)
Best Makeup:
Barefoot (Milan Vlček)
The Garden Store: Family Friend (Zdeněk Klika)
Ice Mother (Zdeněk Klika)
Little Crusader (Lukáš Král)
Milada (Andrea McDonald)
