The Pavla Koutecký Award was won by Bára Kopecká for the documentary DK

Prague - The holder of the prestigious Pavel Koutecký Award for the most original documentary piece is director Bára Kopecká for her film about the controversial and respected architect David Kopecký titled DK. She received the award this evening at the Archa Theater in Prague. According to the jury, the film is a deeply personal testimony from the filmmaker, who filmed her late husband.
Director and educator Kopecká received a hundred thousand crowns reward in addition to an object by glass artist Petr Šetlík. She also works as a dramaturgist, screenwriter, editor, journalist, and educator at the FAMU International Department. Since the early 90s, she has collaborated with several Czech as well as foreign film productions and television.
A builder who prefers to demolish, a shy eccentric, a cold-blooded panicker, an ascetic hedonist, a life inventor - such was the complicated personality of Kopecký, who passed away prematurely in 2009 from a brain tumor, according to the film's author. The film is narrated in the first person, and the architect's image is composed of a mosaic of narratives from the author, colleagues, friends, and family. These alternate with visually elaborate footage from home videos filmed by Kopecký himself. According to the jury, the film stands out for its editing composition, which is clean, precise, and aesthetic - just like Kopecký's architecture.
The film DK was presented in the documentary competition of the Karlovy Vary festival last year and at the international documentary film showcase in Jihlava. Now, according to the creators, it could also travel to festivals focused on architecture and urbanism worldwide.



Six other titles made it to the nominations of the eighth edition of these awards. David Čálek and Jakub Zahradníček's ‘Pirate Networks’ about the phenomenon of piracy in the seas off the coast of Somalia, Bohdan Bláhovec's ‘Show!’ about the dark side of fame of the girl group 5Angels, Petr Hátle's ‘Great Night’ capturing the atmosphere of night Prague, Saša Dlouhý's ‘Liebe Indigo’ about the life journey of Halka Třešňáková, Martin Dušek's ‘The Analog Gang’ about television screen veterans, and Vladislava Plančíková's ‘Felvidék - Horná zem’.
The organizer of the Pavel Koutecký Award, Jarmila Poláková from the Film & Sociology Foundation, praised the nominated films for not only focusing on themes concerning the "Czech basin," but for being thematically diverse and reflecting issues occurring elsewhere as well. "Their directors are patient observers of the closest and personal world, but they also bring testimony about seemingly distant themes," she stated.
Pavel Koutecký (1956-2006) was one of the most prominent personalities in Czech documentary film; he did not live to see the premiere of his most famous film, ‘Citizen Havel’. The award associated with his name has been given to his successors since 2007. In previous years, it has been awarded to Jan Šikl, Filip Remunda with Richard Komárek, Tomáš Škrdlant, Martin Ryšavý, Linda Jablonská, Klára Řezníčková, Pavel Abrahám, and Tomáš Bojar.