OUR STUDENTS ARE SUCCESSFUL AT HOME AND ABROAD

Film and TV School (FAMU)

• Love, Dad, an animated autobiographical documentary filmed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen from the Department of Animated Film, made it to the finals of the European Film Awards. The film has been shown at almost 130 festivals all over the world, winning 44 awards in total. Five of those awards qualify it to run for the 2023 Oscars. The film won the Czech Film Critics’ Award for the best short film, a Czech Lion Award, and the Magnesia Award for the best student film.
   
• Somewhere Over the Chemtrails, Adam Koloman Rybanský’s graduation film from the Department of Directing, premiered at the Berlinale international film festival, one of the world’s top film events, in the Panorama section. Somewhere Over the Chemtrails is the only Czech film that the festival featured this year. The Miloš Forman-esque satirical comedy has also been screened in Norway, Germany, Ireland, UK, Estonia, Greece, Turkey, China, United States and, last but not least, Ukraine.
   
• The Maják animated short by Filip Kraus from the Department of Animated Film made it to the semi-finals of the prestigious Student Academy Award, also known as the Student Oscars.
   
• FAMU’s films succeeded in all three categories in the CILECT competition for film schools across the world – such achievement is unheard of in the school’s recent history. The award-winning films are The Glory of Terrible Eliz by Eliška Kováříková and Adam Struhala; the Love, Dad anidoc by Diana Cam Van Nguyen that came first in the Documentary Film category as well as winning the highest point score of all the films across all categories and a diversity award, and Anna Podskalská’s Red Shoes.
   
• Asterión, a lyrical experiment by Francesco Montagner from the Department of Documentary Film had its global premiere at the prestigious Locarno International Film Festival in the section Pardi di domani: Concorso Corti d’autore. Asterión also won the best international short film award at the IFF in Riga, Latvia. The jury has voted the film to run for European Film Awards 2023.
   
• Directed by FAMU International student Chihyu Lin, Trust Game was selected to compete as part of the prominent Camerimage cinematography festival. The film’s cinematographer is Asmi Chandola, a student of the CINKK international master’s programme at the Department of Cinematography.

Theatre faculty (DAMU)

• Associate Professor Marek Bečka, a teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre and the Vice-Dean of DAMU for International Relations, won the Czech Theatre DNA 2022 award along with the Buchty a loutky (Puppets and Cake) company for the outstanding achievement, development and support of new theatre.
   
• Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre student Antonie Formanová won the Czech Lion Award for the best female acting performance in a supporting role in the film Okupace.
   
• Scenographer and Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre teacher Jan Bažant won the Vladimír Boudník Award for Graphic Art of 2021.
   
• Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy student Barbora Šupová won the Josef Hlávka Award intended for talented university students who demonstrate exceptional abilities and creative thinking in their field. As part of her doctoral studies at the Department, Barbora Šupová conducts research into socially aware theatre involving homeless people.
   
• Drama theatre directing student Kateřina Volánková along with a team of Department of Drama Theatre students won the Special Award for Extraordinary Performance at the Janus international student festival in Pécs, Hungary for Worm in Human Heart.
   
• Drama theatre acting student Karolína Knězů won the Deputy Marshal’s Award at the Dream Factory Ostrava Festival for the best female acting performance in Tancovaczka.
   
• Scenographer Kateřina Štefková and costume designer Katarína Hollá (both are also Department of Scenography teachers) were nominated for a Czech Lion award – K. Štefková for the film Zátopek and K. Hollá for The Man with Hare Ears.
   
• Costume designer and Department of Scenography teacher Katarína Hollá also won the Sun in a Net Award for the Best Costumes in the film Služebníci.

Music and Dance faculty (HAMU)

• Clarinet player Kateřina Škardová is the overall Grand Prix winner of the Zachodniopomorski festival klarnetowy in Szczecin, Poland and has progressed to the second round of the Prague Spring International Music Competition.
   
• Trumpet player Martin Pavluš won the 1st prize in Category III of the International Interpretative Competition for Wind Instruments Brno.
   
• Conductor Alena Jelínková and flute player Klára Jasenčáková won the Dean’s Awards.
   
• Pianist Matyáš Novák is the only Czech to make it to the finals of the Santander piano competition, which experts rank among the most prestigious events of its type.
   
• Pianist Vojtěch Trubač achieved a great success at the Darmstadt International Chopin Competition, winning the 2nd Prize ex aequo along with Mateusz Tomica from Poland and becoming the laureates (the first prize was not bestowed).
   
• The overall winners of the competition titled Karel Ditters von Dittersdorf and Classicism in Music are Trio Mare (Martina Bártová – violin, Kateřina Škardová – clarinet, Nikola Valentová – piano).
   
• Vocalist Radek Martinec won the Junior and the Song categories of the International Antonín Dvořák Singing Competition in Karlovy Vary.
   
• Vocalist Jakub Trnečka won Category 7.B of the Olomouc International Singing Competition.
   
• Marimba player Ladislav Bilan played an individual concert as part of the Prague Spring festival.
   
• Violinist Jan Mráček guested with the Berliner Philharmoniker as a concertmaster in May 2022.
   
• Violinist Daniel Matejča won the First Prize in the Eurovision Young Musicians competition in Montpellier, France.
   
• HAMU students achieved the following successes in the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation Competition in the category for violin/chamber ensembles with piano: Violin: 1st prize – Kristian Mráček; 2nd prize – Natálie Toperczerová; 3rd prize – Kristýna Jungová; honourable mention: Terézia Hledíková; Chamber ensemble with piano: 1st prize – Trio Gaudium (Gabriela Barillová, Adam Klánský, Anna Knoulichová); 2nd prize – Trio OctOpus (Markéta Dominikusová, Matyáš Keller, Markéta Sinkulová); 2nd prize – Trio Mráček (Kristian Mráček, Dominik Velek, Veronika Jaklová), 3rd prize – Trio Vyšehrad (Natálie Toperczerová, David Pěruška, Pavol Praženica)

Music and dance faculty (HAMU)

• HAMU students have won awards in the Competition of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. The 26th edition of the Interpretation Competition was open in the Cello and Singing categories. Sopranist Kristýna Kůstková and tenorist Petr Dvořák won second prizes in the Singing category. Dora Hájková won third prize in the Cello category. Cello player Jakub William Gráf won the Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Růžičková Endowment Fund Award for the best interpretation of a piece by Viktor Kalabis in the Cello category.
   
• Pianist and HAMU doctoral student Marek Kozák is one of the laureates of the prestigious Concours Géza Anda international piano competition and came third. He is the first ever Czech contestant to make it to this exceptionally difficult four-round competition.
   
• Piano student Matouš Zukal has made it to the finals of the Prague Spring Competition, winning second place and the Gideon Klein Foundation Award for the most successful Czech contestant in the competition. Šimon Truszka with the Kukal Quartet won the third prize in the String Quartet category.
   
• Jan Mráček, violin student and the concert master of the Czech Philharmonic, has won the Jiří Bělohlávek Award intended for artists of up to thirty years of age.
   
• HAMU graduate and teacher, pianist Ivo Kahánek was nominated for the ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) for his recording – a CD set titled Dvořák - The Complete Piano Works (Supraphon).
   
• Ráchel Skleničková, a fresh piano graduate, won the Josef Hlávka Award 2021 for exceptionally talented artists.
   
• HAMU graduate and teacher, pianist Jan Bartoš along with conductor Jakub Hrůša (another HAMU graduate) and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra won the Czech Academy of Popular Music - Anděl Coca-Cola 2020 Award in the Classical Music category. They won the statuette for an album featuring Vítězslav Novák’s Piano Concerto and the Toman a lesní panna symphonic poem.  
   
• Jakub Hrůša, conductor and HAMU graduate, won two nominations for ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) for the recordings of symphonies by Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner made in cooperation with the Bamberg Symphony.

Theatre Faculty (DAMU)

• Jiří Havelka, actor, director, and a teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, won the Rudolf Medek Award for his staged documentary film, Eyewitness. The National Library of the Czech Republic bestows the award on researchers, writers, filmmakers, journalists, and other science and culture experts who focus on Czech-Russian (Czech-Soviet) relationships in the 20th century.
   
• Student of the Department of Dramatic Theatre Margaryta Lebedzeva won second place in the One-Minute Play Contest organised by the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana her one-minute radio play, The Clock.
   
• Students from the Department of Dramatic Theatre won the Evald Schorm Award. Tomáš Ráliš won the first prize with his original play, Sorex, and Monika Hliněnská won third prize for her treatment of Stefan Zweig’s novel, Impatience of the Heart, along with Josef Doležal who won appreciations for his original play, The Harlequin is Dead.
   
• Scenographer, puppeteer, graphic artist, and a teacher at the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre Jan Bažant won the Theatre Critics Award 2020 in the Scenography of the Year category for his set design Kabinet zázraků neboli Orbis pictus.
   
• Student of the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy Vít Zeman’s short theatre play, Jednostranná/The Only Page won third place in The International One-Minute Play Contest for Students 2021 organised under the auspices of The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television – University of Ljubljana.
   
• Director, theatre theoretician, and a teacher at the Department of Theory and Criticism Radovan Lipus won the Honorary Prize for Architecture in the Exceptional Feat category for directing the Šumná města and Šumné stopy documentary series. The series also won the Třinec Municipal Award for presenting the town of Třinec and as recognition for an extraordinary cultural contribution in the field of directing theatre, TV, and radio programmes.
   
• The play ZAHRADNÍČEK / Vše mé je tvé directed by teacher at the Department of Dramatic Tehatre Jan Nebeský won the Theatre Critics Award in the Best Staging of 2020 category.
   
• Dramaturge, director, theatre theoretician, and teacher Jaroslav Vostrý won the Thalia Award 2020 for his lifelong contribution to Czech theatre.
   
• Department of Theory and Criticism graduate Hana Dolejší Lehečková won the Jiří Orten Award for her novel, Svatá hlava (Holy Head).

Film and TV School (FAMU)

• The animated documentary Love, Dad directed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, a graduate from FAMU’s Department of Animated Film, won the Best Animated Film award in the Experimental Competition category at the Festival du nouveau cinéma – FNC in Canada. The same film won the Short Film Award at the BFI London Film Festival. It received an honourable mention of the jury in the IMDbPro Short Cuts Share her Journey Award competition category at the Toronto International Film Festival in the. The film also premiered at the prestigious film festival in Locarno.
   
• The short animated film Rudé boty (Red Shoes, 2021) made by Anna Podskalská, a student of FAMU’s Department of Animated Film,  represented the Czech Republic at the Cannes International Film Festival, the most prestigious film event where it will premiere globally. The film was chosen for the prestigious Cinéfondation student competition.
   
• Films Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon by Adam Martinec from the Department of Directing and Love Is Just a Death Away by Bára Anna Stejskalová from the Department of Animated Film won a competition of film schools from all over the world, organized by the International Association of Film and Television Schools CILECT (Center international de liaison des écoles cinema and television). In the fiction category, the film Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon won the most points of all the films and thus placed first. The film Love Is Just a Death Away placed in a third place in the animation category. This year, 116 film schools took part in the competition.
   
• The 'BROTHERHOOD' by our graduate from the Department of Documentary Film Francesco Montagner won Pardo d´oro at Locarno Film Festival, the main prize for the best film of the Concorso Cineasti del presente competition, which focuses on the first and second films of promising filmmakers.
   
• Adam Martinec's film Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon won the Czech Lion for Best Short Film and the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film.
   
• The Zippy Frames magazine focusing on animated film has ranked film director and FAMU student Daria Kashcheeva among the 21 most talented animated film directors for the year 2021. Along with Michaela Pavlátová, Head of the Department of Animated Film, Daria has also made it to the top list of the best film directors of the last quarter-century.
   
• Mezery/Spaces by Nora Štrbová won the Animánička Award in the MAXI CZ/SK category at the Animénie festival.
   
• Greta Stocklassa won The Sparrow Award – Diorama Discovery Award in the International Documentary Film category of the Diorama International Film FEestival with her documentary Kiruna – překrásný nový svět / Kiruna – A Brand New World.
   
• The film SH_T Happens by Michaela Mihályiová and David Štumpf won the Slnko v sieti (Sun in Net) award, Slovakia’s highest award, for the Best Animated Film of the Year 2021. Their film also made it among Oscar nominees and won the Magnesia Award for the Best Student Film back in 2019.
   
• FAMU International graduate Apoorva Satish and Vojtěch Zavadil won the Best Sound Design Award for their film Kanya in the international competition at Interfilm Berlin.
   
• FAMU student Verica Kordić won the Best Student Film award at the International Animation Film Festival in Kuandu, Taiwan.
   
• Jsme si o smrt blíž / Love is Just a Death Away by Bára Anna Stejskalová from FAMU’s Department of Animated Film premiered at Sweden’s REX festival of animated film and won the Viewers’ Award.

Theatre Faculty (DAMU)

• Dramaturge, co-founder of the legendary Činoherní klub Theatre and a long-time DAMU teacher, Professor Jaroslav Vostrý won an award from the Czech Academy of Theatre Makers for his lifelong contribution to theatre. AMU also bestowed the Professor Emeritus title on him.
   
• Vlastníci/Owners filmed by teacher, actor and former Head of the Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre Jiří Havelka won the Czech Lion Award in the Best Screenplay, Best Actress in Leading Role (Tereza Ramba) and Best Supporting Actress (DAMU graduate Klára Melíšková) categories.
   
• Actor and in-house teacher of DAMU’s Department of Drama Theatre Ladislav Mrkvička won the Best Actor in Leading Role in Staříci/Old-Timers (2019). In 2019, he won the Thálie Award for his lifelong mastery in the field of drama theatre.

Film and TV School (FAMU)

• FAMU students succeeded at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. Nová šichta /A New Shift, the bachelor graduation project by Jindřich Andrš from the Department of Documentary Film, won the Best Czech Documentary of 2020 in the Czech Joy festival section. The film also won the Silver Eye Award for the Best Full-length Film of 2020 from the Institute of Documentary Film. Krásně sviť a krásně hleď, z uší roste krasohled, made by Tereza Chudáčková from FAMU’s Centre for Audiovisual Studies and Klára Ondračková from FAMU’s Department of Sound Design, and Zůstane to mezi náma, řekl made by Ester Grohová from CAS won a special mention in the Fascinace: Exprmntl.cz festival section.
   
• Egyptian film director and a FAMU International graduate Sameh Alaa won the Gold Palm of the Cannes Festival for his I am afraid to forget your face. The short film has become the first ever Egyptian film to win the award in the festival’s history.
   
• Lun Sevnik from the Department of Directing won the Vesna Award for the Best Student Film at the Festival Slovenskega Filma in Slovenia for his Hra/Play.
   
• Mezery/Spaces by Nora Štrbová won the Doc’Anim Award 2020 at the Animatou Genève Festival.
   
• Proč se cítím jako kluk?/Why Do I Fell Like A Boy? by Kateřina Turečková, a student of FAMU’s Department of Documentary Film, won the Best Film Award at Queer Lisboa in the European Schools Short Film Competition category.
   
• Terézia Halamová from the Department of Directing won a special mention in the Papaya Young Directors competition for his Move Honey videoclip made for Smolik/Kev Fox.
   
• Jakub Jirásek from FAMU’s Department of Directing won the Jury’s Special Award for Nebát se ničeho/Don’t Be a Pussy at the 22nd edition of the Equinoxio Festival.
   
• Graduate of the Department of Animated Film Martin Smatana won Slovakia’s supreme film award, Slnko v sieti (Sun in Net) for the best animated film of 2020 with his Pouštět draka/The Kite.
   
• Czech sound designer and FAMU graduate Juraj Mravec was nominated for the Emmy Award in the Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series category for the third season of The Crown.
   
• Lea Petříková, FAMU student and teacher, is the first female laureate of the Jacques Derrida Prize, bestowed by the French Embassy in Prague as part of the 26th edition of awards for young scholars.
   
• FAMU teacher and cameraman Josef Špelda won the Thálie Award for promoting the art of theatre on television.
   
• FAMU student Daria Kashcheeva and her Dcera/Daughter are the absolute winners of the CILECT film school competition. The short animated film also won the Still Voices Short Festival Grand Prix. In effect, the year 2020 added prestigious awards to the young director’s collection of some 70 awards including the Annecy Cristal from the Festival international du film d’animation d’Annecy and the Student Oscar for the best international animated film. In all, Daughter was selected for almost 200 film competitions and festivals.
   
• Film producer, FAMU graduate and a long-time teacher of FAMU’s Department of Production Jaromír Kallista won the Czech Lion for his outstanding contributions to Czech cinema.
   
• Department of Documentary Film teacher Martin Mareček won the documentary section of the Czech Lion Awards for 2019 with Dálava/Over the Hills.
   
• SH_T Happens, a short directed by Michaela Mihályiová and David Štumpf (FAMU’s Department of Animated Film) premiered at the 76th edition of the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

Music and Dance Faculty (HAMU)

• Pianist and HAMU teacher Ivo Kahánek along with conductor Jakub Hrůša won the Angel Award for their recording of Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Concertos in 2019 in the Classical Music category. BBC Music Magazine rated the album the Recording of the Year in 2020.
   
• HAMU in cooperation with CESNET won the 2020 EUROPA NOSTRA/European Heritage Award. The Cross-Border Cooperation for European Classical Music Project of HAMU’s Musical Acoustics Research Centre (MARC), CESNET and renowned artists from among HAMU teachers won the major European award for using network transmission for international collaboration in live culture.
   
• HAMU students and graduates ruled the prestigious Classic Prague Awards. Pianist Marek Kozák, a student of Professor Ivan Klánský, became the Talent of the Year, and violinist Jan Mráček, also a HAMU student, won a solo performance award. Belfiato Quintet, a chamber ensemble of HAMU graduates, won the Chamber Performance Award.

• Films made by the students of FAMU’s Department of Animated Film were nominated for the largest animated film festival in Annecy, France. Student Daria Kashcheeva’s Dcera/Daughter won the main Annecy Cristal prize, and Pouštět draka/The Kite by Martin Smatana won the Children’s Jury Prize.
   
• Trio Incendio made of HAMU students won the 20th edition of the Kiejstut Bacewicz International Competition of chamber ensembles in Lodz, Poland.
   
• Petr Erbes and Boris Jedinák, graduates of DAMU’s Department of Alternative and Puppet Theatre, and the entire class of acting students won the Director’s Prize at the Setkání/ Encounter International Category for their direction of Bartered Bride in DISK Theatre.
   
• Documentary filmmaker and teacher of FAMU’s Department of Documentary Film Helena Třeštíková became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and will take part in the voting regarding the Academy Awards in the years to come.
   
• Kiruna-překrásný nový svět/Kiruna – Brave New World made by FAMU (Centre for Audiovisual Studies) student Greta Stocklassa had its global premiere in the main competition section of the Visions Du Reel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland.
   
• Petr Salaba, student of FAMU’s Department of Documentary Film, won the Spotlight Award for young and hopeful documentary makers at the Academia Film Olomouc festival for his film with an unusual title – llllllIIII.
   
• FAMU students win Czech Lion Awards: Všechno bude by Department of Directing graduate Olmo Omerzu won six awards including for the best director, and the Magnesia Award for the best student film went to Ondřej Erban (Department of Scriptwriting) and his Sto dvacet osm tisíc/One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Thousand.
   
• Violinist Milan Al-Ashhab (HAMU) won the Classic Prague Awards Talent of the Year prize.
   
• The animated Plody mraků/Fruits of Clouds by Kateřina Karhánková, a student of FAMU’s Department of Animated Film, was voted the best short film for children at Berlinale 2018.

• Šmelhaus, a comic book resulting from a successful collaboration between the Illustration and Graphics Studio of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and scriptwriting students of FAMU, won the Magnesia Award for the Best Student Comics of 2018.
   
• Diana Cam Van Nguyen, a student of FAMU’s Department of Animated Film, won the Best Czech Experimental Film Award with Spolu sami/Apart at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in 2018. The film had its international premiere at a film festival in Rotterdam, then it was shown at IFF Berlinale and made it to the finals of the BAFTA Student Film Awards.
   
• Films by the students from FAMU’s Department of Animated Film and Department of Documentary Film, Malá/The Little One (dir. Diana Cam Van Nguyen) and Komplex epopeje/Slav Epic Complex (dir. Jan Strejcovský) won awards at the 11th edition of the Night of Film Hopefuls festival in the categories of Best Animated Film and Best Documentary Film, respectively.
   
• Violinist and HAMU student Milan Al-Ashhab was the absolute winner of the IX. INTERNATIONALER VIOLINWETTBEWERB WIEN 2018 global violin competition.
   
• Cukr a sůl/Sugar and Salt directed by Adam Martinec (FAMU’s Department of Directing) was selected for the competition section of the Nest International Film Students Award of the prestigious film festival in San Sebastian, Spain.
   
• Films from FAMU ruled the Czech Lion Awards: The Magnesia Prize for the Best Student Film went to Michal Blaško (Department of Directing) for his Atlantida, 2003; Bába z ledu/Ice Mother directed by Bohdan Sláma (Department of Directing) won six awards including the Best Film; Laika by Aurel Klimt (Department of Animated Film) won the Best Film Set award; Křižáček/Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnk (Department of Directing) won the Best Soundtrack Award and Špína/Filth by Tereza Nvotová won the Best Editing Award.
   
• The Mečiar documentary directed by FAMU student Tereza Nvotová won the TRILOBIT MAIN PRIZE 2018.

• The debut road movie of FAMU graduate, scriptwriter and director György Kristóf was selected for the prestigious “Un Certain Regard” competition section at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was originally a FAMU graduate project.
   
• Natálie Schwamová won the YAMAHA piano competition.
   
• Happy End, a black comedy about death with a happy ending by FAMU’s Jan Saska, is among a narrower selection of ten films competing for a student Oscar for the best short animated film.

• The acted film Furiant by director and scriptwriter Ondřej Hudeček won the special jury award for short film directing at the Sundance Film Festival. It also received an award at the Palm Springs International ShortFest in the category for student acted films under fifteen minutes, and was nominated for a student Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
   
• The sound composition Princess with an Iron Mask by composition student Martin Klusák celebrated a success at the prestigious Phonurgia Nova competition in Paris. In the Pierre Schaeffer Discovery category, it placed together with four other compositions by authors under 30 years of age.
   
• Excellent horn player Kateřina Javůrková, a fresh HAMU graduate, took second place in the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich (first place was not awarded).
   
• Marek Kozák, a student of Prof. Ivan Klánský, earned a fantastic second place in the Prague Spring competition.

• A production of The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas at Prague’s DISK Theatre directed by Adam Svozil won the Mark Ravenhill Award for the best Czech theatre production of a new play in 2015.

Dechové trio TRIFOGLIO (Jana Kopicová – hoboj, Jana Černohouzová – klarinet, Denisa Propilková – fagot) získalo 3. cenu v kategorii komorních souborů na soutěži Chieri International Competition 2013. Dále trio získalo 1. místo, titul laureáta a absolutního vítěze na Mezinárodní soutěži Karla Ditterse z Dittersdorfu.

Krátký animovaný film GraffiTiger Libora Pixy z katedry animované tvorby na FAMU získal kromě mnoha dalších ocenění i cenu Magnesia Český lev 2010 a o rok později nominaci za nejlepší zahraniční studentský film na prestižním předávání cen Americké Akademie filmového umění a věd (Oscar).

Posluchačka katedry režie FAMU Zuzana Kirschnerová-Špidlová zvítězila s filmem Bába v kategorii Cinéfondation na mezinárodním filmovém festivalu v Cannes.