Czechia has selected the documentary If Pigeons Turned to Gold (Kdyby se holubi proměnili ve zlato) as its entry for the international feature film category at the 99th Academy Awards. The Czech Film and Television Academy (ČFTA) announced the selection Wednesday, sending director Pepa Lubojacki’s intimate documentary into the race for the 2027 Oscars.
The film, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and won both the Berlinale Documentary Award and the independent Caligari Prize, follows Lubojacki’s brother and two cousins over a period of five years as addiction reshapes their relationships, housing situations and sense of security. It combines diary footage with stylized memories, animated photographs and graphic collage in a formally experimental approach to a deeply personal family story.
If Pigeons Turned to Gold will open in Czech cinemas Sept. 24, following its Czech premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July. Its selection gives the documentary a prominent international platform at the start of its domestic theatrical run.
Berlinale winner becomes Czech Oscar candidate
Lubojacki’s documentary was one of five films that advanced to the final round of this year’s Czech Oscar selection. Ten films were initially submitted by producers and evaluated by a seven-member preliminary committee. The other titles included Chica Checa, Invincibles, What a Way to Go, and Little Thief, alongside Dream Team, Don’t Worry, Breathe, Work Your Magic (Neboj, dýchej, čaruj), Lone Wolf, Dancing With the Bear, and František Skála’s Public Space.
The five finalists were selected by a committee comprising filmmaker Kristina Dufková, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský, producer Jaromír Kallista, producer Jiří Konečný, producer Dagmar Sedláčková, producer Vratislav Šlajer and director Klára Tasovská, who chaired the committee. The finalists were considered following screenings and presentations by their producers.
For the second consecutive year, the ČFTA used a two-stage voting process. Final voting took place from July 27 through Aug. 14 and was open to all academy members who met the eligibility requirements of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ČFTA.
The selection follows a strong international festival run for If Pigeons Turned to Gold. At Berlinale, the film received the Berlinale Documentary Award as well as the Caligari Prize, presented in the festival’s Forum section. It subsequently screened in the Special Presentations section at Karlovy Vary, where it made its Czech festival premiere.
The film was produced by Czech and Slovak partners including CLAW films and Guča films, with Czech Television and FAMU also involved. It received support from the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and Eurimages.
Oscar race begins for Czech documentary
The Academy Awards campaign now moves beyond the national selection, with the Czech entry joining submissions from around the world in the international feature film category. The Academy is scheduled to announce a shortlist of 15 films Dec. 15, while the final Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 21, 2027.
The 99th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 14, 2027.
Czechia’s selection of a documentary continues a recent tradition of sending nonfiction and documentary-driven films into the international Oscar race. Last year, the country selected Klára Tasovská’s I’m Not Everything I Want to Be, while Jiří Mádl’s Waves was selected for the 2025 awards and advanced to the Oscar shortlist.
Czech and Czechoslovak cinema has previously won the Academy Award for International Film (previously Foreign-Language Film) three times. The Shop on Main Street, directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, won in 1966, followed by Jiří Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains in 1968 and Jan Svěrák’s Kolya in 1997.
Six other Czech or Czechoslovak films have received Oscar nominations in the category: Miloš Forman’s Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen’s Ball, Menzel’s My Sweet Little Village, Svěrák’s The Elementary School, Jan Hřebejk’s Divided We Fall, and Ondřej Trojan’s Želary. More recently, Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird reached the shortlist in 2019, followed by Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan in 2021.
For If Pigeons Turned to Gold, the next milestone will come in December, when the Academy reveals its shortlist. The film’s combination of international festival recognition and an unconventional visual approach gives Czechia a distinctive entry as the 2027 Oscar race moves into its next stage.
