Documentarist Jana Ševčíková wins Pavel Koutecký Award

This year’s Pavel Koutecký Award for Best Czech Documentary has gone to Jana Ševčíková for her film Opři žebřík o nebe or Lean a Ladder against Heaven, a portrait of Catholic priest Marián Kuffa, who leads a parish in a small village in the Slovak Tatra Mountains that provides asylum to those released from prison, alcoholics, drug addicts and other people in need. The award giving ceremony took place at Prague’s Archa theatre on Monday evening. Over 100 documentaries were considered for the prize, with the winner eventually selected from a shortlist of 10. Pavel Koutecký was a filmmaker who died in 2006 at the age of 50, halfway through filming Citizen Havel, a portrait of the late president that subsequently became a great success.

Author: Ruth Fraňková