Overcoming Mental Health Challenges, War, AI, and Finding Identity: How This Year’s Documentaries Reflect the World
The 41st edition of the Prix Bohemia Radio festival showcased six audio documentaries that offered a diverse range of approaches, from personal stories and technological experiments, to artistic explorations.
The opening documentary, Racing Thoughts by Ivona Remundová, explored the author's personal journey after being diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood.
The piece took listeners through her first year following the diagnosis, blending personal confession with self-revelation. The jury, consisting of Elisabeth Stratka, Torben Brandt, Lukáš Sapík, Radim Dlesk, and chair Tereza Reková, debated both the content and the form of the piece, noting that the author managed to create a documentary form that mirrors the experience of ADHD itself.
In contrast, The Biota of the City, offered a highly stylized auditory experience, featuring expert commentary on selected urban animals accompanied by artistically manipulated sounds of these creatures. The jury's discussion centred on the artistic representation of animal communication and its impact on the listener.
The afternoon session introduced Should I Be Afraid of You, Aila? by Bronislava Janečková, a timely exploration of artificial intelligence in radio production. Bronislava Janečková discussed her process of communicating with AI and working alongside actress Taťjana Medvecká, who provided the voice for the AI character Aila.
As the first Czech Radio documentary created with AI assistance, the piece sparked a debate on the ethical implications of using AI in public media. Martina Májíček Poliaková, Director of Strategic Development at Czech Radio, assured the audience that while experiments like this are part of the station's future, Czech Radio plans to continue to cooperate primarily with human artists. However, this does not mean that it will not work with artificial intelligence at all. On the contrary, it will try to create a safe environment for these experiments.
The next competition entry also tackled a very topical issue. Pavel Sterec's War Has No Soundtrack evoked strong emotions with the jury highlighting a segment depicting Ukrainian artists creating war sounds with their mouths, which were then transformed into music.
The jury recognized On Display by Jakub Horáček as the purest form of documentary. The piece addressed the ethically contentious display of human remains in the Hrdlička Museum, prompting discussions on the boundaries of museum exhibits throughout history.
The discussion then turned to the question: “What is the purest form of a documentary?” The debate focused on the actress’s staged monologues, where it was often unclear whether she was speaking in her own voice or channelling Gutta, the museum exhibit at the centre of the story.
The documentary category opened with a personal audio confession and concluded in a similarly intimate vein. The final entry, Mom, I’m Trans, marked the debut of young creator Andrew Novák, telling not only his own personal story but also giving voice to those closest to him.
One particularly moving segment features Sebastián and his mother, who attended the Prix Bohemia Radio festival together. It was her heartfelt comment that left an impression on the audience and even left some jury members momentarily speechless.
The author of the original Czech article is a member of the student editorial board of the Prix Bohemia Radio website.
