Czech movie Charlatan selected to compete for Academy Award nomination

Prague, Oct 13 (CTK) - The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) has submitted the film Charlatan to represent the Czech Republic among potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, CFTA spokeswoman Silvie Markova told journalists today.

Under Academy regulations, each country may only submit one film to be considered for the Best International Film (previously Best Foreign Language Film) Oscar.

The CFTA selected the film, made by by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, from ten eligible Czech feature and documentary films.

The Oscar ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on April 25, 2021.

Holland shot the film, inspired by the life of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek, from a screenplay by Mark Epstein.

Ivan Trojan stars in the lead role, with real-life son Josef Trojan portraying a young Mikolášek.

The film premiered at the 70th Berlinale earlier this year within the section Berlinale Special Gala.

The first reactions by the world media were positive. IndieWire selected it among the ten best films of this year's festival out of all 340 films.

In Czech cinemas, Charlatan has been seen by over 252,000 viewers, grossing over 38.2 million crowns at the box office in its first two months of release.

Last month, Charlatan won an award for best director at the European Film Festival held in the Serbian town Palić.

Along with Vaclav Marhoul's Painted Bird, Charlatan is among the candidates for the annual European Film Awards.

"There is such an existential question, asking what is our force, what is our weakness, and whether a gift is a real gift or burden," Holland has said about the film.

The first Czech (then-Czechoslovak) film to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar was The Shop on Main Street by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos in 1965. Czech director Jiří Menzel's Closely Watched Trains film was awarded an Oscar two years later.

Read our review of Charlatan here.