Documentary Category at prix Bohemia Radio 2016
This year twenty-eight radio documentaries took part in the competition, representing all of the important documentary journalistic series of the individual Czech Radio stations. A refreshing element was the participation of the programmes of Radio Proglas, whose status of a community radio creates good conditions for future extension of the competition by students‘ or Internet radios.
This year’s selection of programmes managed to cover a wide range of social and cultural topics but journalistic approaches to documentary work prevailed. The jury of experts agrees that this year’s competition – especially the public presentation of the documentaries and the discussions about them – is an excellent opportunity to encourage both documentarists and broadcast editors to experiment with the form and rely on the informative value of situations that are captured well in terms of sound.
Jan Hanák – Diptych
A story, or testimony, of death, its inevitability, the fear of it and the acceptance of it, which is totally different from resignation.
Dominik Mačas – Explorer of Lost Beauty
Tony the Scruff during the day, an artist at night. A Hrabalesque portrayal of a labourer, poet and artist, Pavel Štýbr. Pavel Štýbr leads a double life. During the day he works hard as a removal worker, prunes trees or mows lawns. In his free time he pursues fine art and poetry. He perceives all the beauty of the ordinary around himself very sensitively and he can discover it even in such places where others only see dirt and rubbish.
Dan Moravec – Czechia to the Czechs
Hate Free is an initiative of those who seek a life without violence and hatred, working under the auspices of the Office of the Czech Government and of the Social Integration Agency. Hate Free is a target of hateful attacks basically every day – on the Internet. In fact, the Hate Free people laugh at the incessant deluge of hatred although they admit that it influences their personal lives. They are a magnet for a lot of frustrations, fears and tampered information and they feel this is their mission.
Tereza Reková – Hooked on Film
Vítězslav Tichý has a slightly bizarre hobby. At home, he has a collection of all the films that have ever been created in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. Now he has more than 11,000 of them, plus complete film literature, posters, photos from films, etc. How could his collection (mainly on VHS cassettes) be preserved? And what do his family say?
Radim Nejedlý – 7200
Fan clubs are a specific phenomenon. The supporters of an ice-hockey club invest a lot of time and money in their passion. Their favourite club usually has high priority in their lives. Because I go to see ice-hockey matches myself, I have been able to realize how captivating this sport is. However, the world of the fans was quite unknown to me and fascinating at the same time. I decided to make a documentary called 7200. The crowd is an abstract concept, so I decided to find out what the people are like who regularly fill the hockey stadium. The documentary 7200 describes the world of ice-hockey fans in Brno, or it would be better to say “worlds.” Each fan is different – from the radicals to university teachers and artists.
Pavel Polák, Lubomír Smatana – 365 Dead, Like the Number of Days in a Year
Rovensko pod Troskami is a small village in the very heart of Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj). On 10 May 1945, 365 dead people – soldiers, civilians, women and children – were left lying in front of the local school. The revenge for the years of humiliation under the Protectorate was bloody. The inhabitants of Rovensko had kept this open secret to themselves for decades. The silence was broken by Pavel Matys, who moved into the village.
