Still from David Ondříček's "In the Shadow", photo: Falcon.
Among the five Association of Czech Film Critics awards given to the period drama and Czech Oscar candidate In the Shadow by David Ondříček, the Best Cinematography Award goes to Adam Sikora.
At the third annual Czech Film Critics Awards, for films produced in the Czech Republic in 2012, David Ondříček's In the Shadow receives five awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor for Ivan Trojan, Best Music for Jan P. Muchow and Michal Novinski, and Best Cinematography for the Polish cameraman Adam Sikora.
Set in the dark, Stalinist days of the early 1950s, the film is a Polish, Czech and Slovak co-production directed by a directed considered among the Czech Republic's most talented: David Ondříčk. The plot opens in Prague in 1953 when the communist regime is planning the most devious scam of postwar Europe - the introduction of monetary reforms that aim to rob the society. To divert the attention of public opinion from the controversial new policy, the secret services organise two robberies: one targets a post office, the other a jeweler. Two people die during the events, and the Jewish community is accused of having been behind the attacks. The police organise a show trial, with the investigation led by the best detective in the city, Captain Hakl. The situation gets further complicated when Hakl discovers the inconvenient truth. He is removed from the case, his family life breaks down, and an ex-SS officer called Zenke takes his place. Both try to bring the case to an end - but with two different endings in sight. With life and justice at the stake, their every decision carries enormous consequences.
Adam Sikora, In the Shadow's cinematographer, is a cinematography graduate of the Łódź Film School (1988). He has worked on almost twenty documentaries and twenty feature films and has presented numerous photography exhibitions. His notable accomplishments include camerawork on Lech J. Majewski's films Pokój saren / The Roe's Room (1997), Wojaczek (1999), Angelus (2001), Młyn i krzyż / The Mill and the Cross (2010). He cooperated with Jerzy Skolimowski on his Essential Killing (2010), which received the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, and Four Nights with Anna (2008). For shooting Essential Killing, Sikora was nominated to the European Film Prize in 2011 and received a Gdynia Film Festival Golden Lions Award.
Sources: Polish language article on culture.pl, PISF, PISF, Cineurope, Krakow Film Commission
Editor: Marta Jazowska