The 2026 Czech Film Critics’ Awards have revealed a slate of nominees highlighting both established and emerging voices in Czech cinema. Leading the nominations are the dramas Father and Broken Voices, each receiving six nods, while Zuzana Kirchnerová’s road movie Caravan follows with four. The selections underscore the prominence of women filmmakers and a growing diversity of voices in the local industry.
The awards honor achievements across directing, acting, screenwriting, and technical disciplines, giving local critics a platform to acknowledge innovation and artistic excellence. Alongside the main categories, the nominations also highlight documentaries, short films, and audiovisual achievements, reflecting a broad picture of contemporary Czech filmmaking.
Leading nominees, including Father, Broken Voices, and Caravan, will be screened at Prague’s Edison Filmhub in the days preceding the ceremony from Feb. 4–6, with discussions featuring the creators. The awards ceremony itself is scheduled for Feb. 7 at the cultural space ARCHA+, hosted for the second year by YouTuber Jan Špaček and broadcast live on ČT art.
Key film nominations and performances
The top contenders, Father, directed by Tereza Nvotová, and Broken Voices, directed by Ondřej Provazník, each garnered nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. Father follows a grieving couple, played by Milan Ondrík and Dominika Morávková, as they cope with unimaginable tragedy, while Broken Voices, inspired by a real-life scandal, centers on a choir conductor (Juraj Loj) and his student (Kateřina Falbrová).
Caravan also received multiple nominations, including Best Film and Best Director for Zuzana Kirchnerová, along with acting nods for Aňa Geislerová and David Vodstrčil. The film follows a mother and son traveling through Italy in a camper van, blending personal storytelling with a contemplative, poetic style. These three films dominated the major creative and acting categories, reflecting a critical consensus around their performances and narrative depth.
Other notable nominations include the Vietnamese-Czech drama Summer School, 2001, which earned recognition for Best Screenplay and for director Dužan Duong as the recipient of the Innogy Award for Discovery of the Year. Emerging filmmaker Katarína Gramatová also received a nomination in the same category for her sensitive coming-of-age drama Promise, I’ll Be Fine.
Documentaries, short films, and technical achievements
The Best Documentary category features The Impossibility by Tomáš Hlaváček, which examines the trade in poverty, The Other One by Marie-Magdalena Kochová, focusing on a girl growing up in the shadow of a disabled sister, and Change My Mind, Robin Kvapil’s account of three self-styled deniers traveling to war-torn Ukraine.
In technical categories, cinematography and design received special attention. Father and Promise, I’ll Be Fine were recognized for their cinematography by Adam Suzin and Tomáš Kotas, respectively, while the set design of the stylized crime-comedy Tony’s Plan by Beáta Kuraj earned a nomination for audiovisual achievement.
Short films and animations were also highlighted, with nods for the Czech-Ukrainian documentary diary I Died in Irpin, Julie Černá’s musical Kámen Osudu, and the experimental collage tiny film about rape by Nebe Motýlová. The “Mimo kino” category, which recognizes projects outside traditional cinema distribution, features the crime miniseries Studna, the six-part series Medvěd, and the feminist edutainment program Potížistky from Czech Television.
Overall, the nominations showcase a mix of established auteurs, debut filmmakers, and innovative approaches across genres, offering a snapshot of the current vitality of Czech art cinema.
