Tatiana Pauhofová in the "Gorejący krzew" movie, directed by Agnieszka Holland, photo. Dušan Martinček/HBO
Gorejący krzew (the Burning Bush) was nominated in 14 out of 16 categories. Aside from being selected as best film, the miniseries gained awards, among others, for screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound and set design. The award for the best composer went to Antoni Komasa-Lazarkiewicz and the best director award to Agnieszka Holland. The film also received the audience award.
Agnieszka Holland was unable to attend the ceremony in person, held in Prague Rudolfinum. Her award was collected by screenwriter Štěpán Hulík on her behalf. The director appeared in a video recording, in which she was thankful for the award.
I am very happy that I could tell this story, it is important not only for the Czechs and Slovaks, but also for me personally. Especially today, having such a dramatic situation in Kiev’s Maidan - she said, referring to the situation in Ukraine.
Produced by the European branch of HBO, the three-part miniseries Gorejący krzew (the Burning Bush) tells the story of the legal struggles of the family Jan Palach - a student who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The main character is Dagmar Buresová (Tatiana Pauhofová), a young female lawyer who becomes part of his legacy by defending Jan's family in a trial against the communist government, a regime which tried to dishonour Palach's sacrifice.
In Gorejący krzew Holland also returns to the years of her youth spent in the Prague Film School – FAMU.
This is another prestigious award for Gorejący krzew in the Czech Republic. In January 2014, the miniseries dominated the Czech film critics awards, winning 7 out of 11 statuettes.
The Czech Lion Award are the most important film awards in the Czech Republic. Since 1993, the best film and TV productions have been awarded by the Czech Film Academy. Last year, Polish cameraman Adam Sikora was awarded for his work on the In the Shadows film directed by David Ondříčka.
Source: PAP, own materials, ed. BS, translated: Katarzyna Maksimiuk, 26.02.2014