The Czech Film and Television Academy has announced the nominations for the 2023 Czech Lion Awards, with the psychological thriller Arvéd and historical drama Il Boemo scoring the most nominations. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Czech Lion awards, the Czech Republic’s version of the Academy Awards.
A total of 32 Czech films will compete for 19 awards at this year’s Czech Lion Awards ceremony, which will be held on March 4 from 8:00 p.m. at Prague’s Rudolfinum concert hall.
A total of 183 Czech film professionals voted on nominations for the Czech Lion Awards, with 47 live action feature films, 15 documentaries, 16 TV films, 9 animated movies, and 10 short films under consideration.
Director Vojtěch Mašek’s Arvéd, which was inspired by the story of a real-life Nazi and communist collaborator, scored the most nominations at 12. Petr Václav’s historical epic Il Boemo, which tells the story of 18th century Czech composer Josef Mysliveček, received 11 nominations.
Il Boemo was also the Czech Republic’s official submission to the 2023 Academy Awards, but failed to make the shortlist of films eligible for nomination.
BANGER., a drug-induced adrenaline ride was shot on director Adam Sedlák’s iPhone, scored eight Czech Lion nominations. The movie premiered last summer at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Tereza Nvotová’s mystery Světlonoc (The Nightsiren), which won the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival last summer, scored seven nominations.
Jan Žižka, an English-language historical epic about one of Bohemia’s most famous military leaders from director Petr Jákl, received four Czech Lion nominations. Jan Prušinovský’s Grand Prix and Michal Blaško’s Oběť (Victim) also received four nominations.
In the category of Best Picture, Arvéd and Il Boemo will compete against BANGER., The Nightsiren, and Victim. The same films and their respective directors will compete for Best Director.
Brotherhood (directed by Francesco Montagner), Good Old Czechs (Tomáš Bojar), KaprKód (Lucie Králová), Toyen, The Baroness of Surrealism (Andrea Sedláčková) and Art Talent Show (Adéla Komrzý, Tomáš Bojar) will vie for Best Documentary.
Vojtěch Dyk (Il Boemo), Adam Mišík (BANGER.), Matyáš Řezníček (Borders of Love), Michal Kern (Arvéd) and Martin Finger (Slovo) will vie for Best Actor, while Pavla Tomicová (And Then There Was Love…), Barbara Ronchi (Il Boemo), Vita Smachelyuk (Victim), Natália Germáni (The Nightsiren), and Klára Melíšková (Podezření) compete for Best Actress.
A full list of 2023 Czech Lion nominations can be found below:
Best Picture
- Arvéd
- BANGER.
- Il Boemo
- Victim
- The Nightsiren
Best Documentary
- Brotherhood
- Good Old Czechs
- KaprKód
- Toyen, The Baroness of Surrealism
- Art Talent Show
Best Director
- Arvéd – Vojtěch Mašek
- BANGER. – Adam Sedlák
- Il Boemo – Petr Václav
- Victim – Michal Blaško
- The Nightsiren – Tereza Nvotová
Best Actress
- And then love came… – Pavla Tomicová
- Il Boemo – Barbara Ronchi
- Victim – Vita Smachelyuk
- Podezření – Klára Melíšková
- Světlonoc – Natália Germáni
Best Actor
- Arvéd – Michal Kern
- BANGER. – Adam Mišík
- Borders of Love – Matyáš Řezníček
- Il Boemo – Vojtěch Dyk
- Slovo – Martin Finger
Best Supporting Actress
- Buko – Martha Issová
- Grand Prix – Tatiana Dyková
- Grand Prix – Anna Kameníková
- Il Boemo – Lana Vlady
- Podezření – Denisa Barešová
Best Supporting Actor
- Arvéd – Saša Rashilov
- BANGER. – Marcel Bendig
- Grand Prix – Štěpán Kozub
- Kdyby radši hořelo – Miroslav Krobot
- Poslední závod – Oldřich Kaiser
Best Screenplay
- Arvéd – Jan Poláček, Vojtěch Mašek
- BANGER. – Adam Sedlák
- Il Boemo – Petr Václav
- Victim – Jakub Medvecký
- Podezření – Štěpán Hulík
Best Cinematography
- Arvéd – Dušan Husár
- BANGER. – Dušan Husár
- Il Boemo – Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos
- Poslední závod – Jan Baset Strítežský
- The Nightsiren – Federico Cesca
Best Editing
- Arvéd – Hedvika Hansalová
- BANGER. – Šimon Hájek, Jakub Jelínek
- Good Old Czechs – Šimon Špidla
- KaprKód – Adam Brothánek
- The Nightsiren – Pavel Hrdlička, Thibault Hague
Best Sound
- Arvéd – Jakub Jurásek
- Il Boemo – Daniel Němec, Francesco Liotard
- Jan Žižka – Martin Jílek, Peter Hilčanský, Viktor Prášil
- KaprKód – Richard Müller
- The Nightsiren – Marek Hart, Michaela Patríková, Ivan Horák
Best Music
- Arvéd – Ondřej Mikula (Aid Kid), Jonatán Pjoni Pastirčák
- BANGER. – Oliver Torr
- Král Šumavy: Fantom temného kraje – Beata Hlavenková
- Slovo – Jan P. Muchow
- The Nightsiren – Jonatán Pjoni Pastirčák, Robin Coudert
Best Production Design
- Arvéd – Nina Feriancová
- Běžná selhání – Antonín Šilar
- Devadesátky – Henrich Boráros
- Il Boemo – Irena Hradecká, Luca Servino
- Jan Žižka – Jiří Sternwald
Best Costumes
- Arvéd – Františka Králíková
- Devadesátky – Andrea Králová
- Il Boemo – Andrea Cavalletto
- Jan Žižka – Kateřina Mírová
- Marie Terezie – pátý díl – Ján Kocman
Best Makeup
- Arvéd – Iveta Huptychová
- Grand Prix – Lukáš Král, Jana Bílková
- Il Boemo – Andrea McDonald
- Jan Žižka – Ivo Strangmüller, René Stejskal, Jamie Kelman
- Marie Therese – fifth volume – Ivo Strangmüller, René Stejskal, David Šesták
Best TV Movie or Miniseries
- Král Šumavy: Fantom temného kraje
- Podezření
- Pozadí událostí
Best TV Series
- Devadesátky
- Pět let – main producer Matěj Stehlík – main creator Damián Vondrášek
- Stíny v mlze
Best Animated Film
- Carp Xmass
- Tmání
- Zuza v zahradách
Best Short Fillm
- Barcarole – directed by Igor Chmela
- Rituály – directed by Damián Vondrášek
- Vinland – directed by Martin Kuba
Magnesium Award for Best Student Film (non-statuary)
- Asterión – directed by Francesco Montagner
- Atestace – directed by Jan Hecht
- Ostrov svobody – directed by Petr Januschka
- Rituály – directed by Damián Vondrášek
- Vinland – directed by Martin Kuba
More information about the Czech Lion Awards can be found at the official website.