March 7th, 2020
Rudolfinum, Praha
Statutes of the Czech Lion Awards
I. PREAMBLE
Every year the Czech film and television academy, registered company (“CFTA“) presents the annual awards called “Czech Lion” (“awards”) related to the Czech audio-visual and namely cinematographic art in the following categories:
1) best film
2) best director
3) best screenplay
4) best cinematography
5) best music
6) best film editing
7) best sound
8) best stage design
9) best costume design
10) best makeup and hairstyling
11) best actress in a leading role
12) best actor in a leading role
13) best actress in a supporting role
14) best actor in a supporting role
15) best documentary feature
16) best television film or miniseries
17) best television drama series
18) unique contribution to Czech film
19) exceptional feat in the area of audio-visual arts
II. FEATURE FILMS
1. An actors’ or animated work of cinematographic art which fulfils all the following conditions (“feature film”) can be presented the awards in the categories 1 to 14:
a) if it is at least of 60-minute footage,
b) if at least 20% of its cost was financed by a Czech producer or co-producers which are based in the Czech Republic,
c) if it has Czech representatives (according to the citizenship) in the category of director or at least in three of the following categories No. 1 (decisive is the person of the main producer) and No. 3 to 12, and
d) if it was premiered and distributed in commercial cinemas (with paid admission fees) in the Czech Republic in the relevant year. The day of the premiere is considered to be the day when the film was officially distributed in commercial cinemas in the Czech Republic and the date is officially registered by the Union of Film Distributors (“UFD”), unless the producer proves that a different date is correct.
e) if, from the beginning of the distribution according to letter d) to the day when the voting in the first round was finished according to article V, it was screened in the Czech Republic (i) in one commercial cinema for seven successive days or for two weeks with interruptions, or (ii) at least in 28 commercial cinemas.
f) if, before the distribution according to letter d), it had not been released to the public in any other form, with the exception of a potential presentation of the film at a festival or a show.
2. Feature films are included in the voting about the awards based on the data provided by the producers of the film by the 20th November of the relevant year, or alternatively based on the publicly accessible data. All the feature films which fulfil the above mentioned conditions and which are known to the CFTA in time, based on the information from the producers or on the publicly accessible data, will be included in the voting.
III. DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
1. A documentary audio-visual work of art which fulfils all the following conditions (“documentary feature“) can be presented the awards in the category 15 and in the creative categories 4 to 7:
a) if it is a solitary (independent) audio-visual work of art and if its footage is at least 60 minutes,
b) if at least 20% of its cost was financed by a producer or co-producers based in the area of the Czech Republic,
c) if it has Czech representatives (according to the citizenship) in the category of director or at least in three of the following categories No. 1 (decisive is the person of the main producer) and No. 4 to 7, and
d) if it was released to the public for the first time in the Czech Republic in the relevant year either by screening it in commercial cinemas (with paid admission fees), while the premiere of such a documentary feature is considered to be the date when the documentary feature was distributed in commercial cinemas in the Czech Republic and the date is officially registered by the UFD, unless the producer proves that a different date is correct, or by terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting within a programme of a television broadcasting operator (by law or licenced) based in the area of the Czech Republic, without being released to the public previously, with the exception of a potential presentation of the documentary feature at a festival or a show.
2. Documentary features are included in the voting about the awards based on the data provided by the producers or television broadcasting operators by the 20th November of the relevant year, or alternatively based on the publicly accessible data. All the documentary features which fulfil the above mentioned conditions and which are known to the CFTA in time, based on the information from the producers or on the publicly accessible data, will be included in the voting.
IV. TELEVISION WORKS OF ART
1. An actors’ or animated audio-visual work of art or a miniseries / a series of more such audio-visual works of art which fulfils all the following conditions (“television work of art”) can be presented the awards in the categories 16 and 17:
a) if it is produced in the original Czech language version, i.e. most of the dialogues are in Czech language,
b) if it is not released to the public in cinemas (with the exception of possible festivals or non-commercial events),
c) in case of the category 16 if it has the character of a solitary work of art which lasts at least 60 minutes or if it is a miniseries of two to four audio-visual works of art, where each lasts at least 50 minutes and which are related by a continually presented plot,
d) in case of the category 17 if it is a series of more than four audio-visual works of art, where each lasts at least 25 minutes and the plot is presented continually or episodically (if there are more premieres of the so-called seasons or series of the relevant television series in one year, the series can be nominated once and as one unit only),
e) if it was for the first time released to the public in the area of the Czech Republic by terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcasting within a programme of a television broadcasting operator (by law or licenced) based in the area of the Czech Republic (“operator”) in the course of the relevant calendar year. However, any possible isolated presentation at a festival or a show before the television premiere is not considered a hindrance. In case of a miniseries (category 16) all the episodes have to be premiered on television within the relevant calendar year and in case of a series (category 17) at least five episodes have to be premiered on television within the relevant calendar year. For the purpose of presenting the awards, a premiered series is also considered the first release of a complex of more episodes of a series (called a season or series) related by its content and/or title to an older series premiered previously.
2. Television works of art are included in the voting about the awards based on the voluntary entries by the operators. However, the operators have to deliver their entries to the CFTA by the end of October of the relevant calendar year and at the same time they have to deliver the CFTA a recording of the entered work of art in a required format so that the work of art could be accessed by the CFTA members (if it is a series the operator will choose four episodes at most for this purpose). In each of the categories one operator can nominate no more than three works of art (or series); however, if the CFTA obtains less than five nominations in any of the categories, the presidium of the CFTA (“presidium”) can offer the operators who have already delivered an entry in that category the opportunity to add more entries.
V. VOTING IN THE FILM CATEGORIES
1. Members of the CFTA vote about the categories 1 to 15. The voting is not public and takes place in two rounds. The deadline for the voting is announced by the CFTA.
2. In the categories 6 to 10 and in the first round, only members of the CFTA working in the professions specified by the presidium can vote, or the presidium can constitute committees of experts for the above mentioned categories in the first round.
3. In the first round all the feature films and documentary features which have fulfilled the conditions of these statutes will be included, with the exception according to the following sentence. In case of feature films, the fulfilment of the conditions according to article II, paragraph 1, letter e) has to be proved by the day when the voting in the first round is finished and a feature film which does not fulfil this condition will be excluded from the voting and will not advance to the second round. In the first round the voting members will choose the first five best works of art in each category and they will determine their order from the first to the fifth placing. A candidate will get five points for any first placing and for any other placing one point less.
4. The first five candidates with the highest score of points will get to the second round. In case of an equal score of points the following criteria in the given order will determine the placing of the nominees:
a) higher number of the obtained first placings,
b) higher number of the obtained second placings,
c) higher number of the obtained third placings,
d) higher number of the first placings from the voting members of the presidium,
e) higher number of the second placings from the voting members of the presidium,
f) higher number of the third placings from the voting members of the presidium.
Even if this procedure does not determine the five candidates proceeding to the second round, the number of the candidates will be enlarged so that the first five candidates with the highest scores proceed to the second round as well as those candidates that have the same score as the first of the first five candidates with the lowest score. The candidates proceeding to the second round are considered to be nominated for the Czech Lion awards.
5. In the second round the voting members will choose the first three in each category in the order from the first to the third placing. The winner in the relevant category is the nominee with the highest number of the first placings, in case of equal numbers of the first placings the number of the second placings is determinative and in case of equal numbers of the second placings the higher number of the third placings is determinative. And even if this procedure does not determine the holder of the award, the award will be presented ex aequo.
6. A member of the CFTA who is a candidate for the award in any category cannot vote for himself in this category. A member of the CFTA who is a producer of a feature film cannot vote for this film in the category Best Film and a member of the CFTA who is a producer of a documentary feature cannot vote for this film in the category Best Documentary Feature.
VI. VOTING IN THE TELEVISION CAATEGORIES
1. The members of the CFTA vote about the awards in categories 16 and 17. The voting is not public and takes place in one round. The deadline for the voting is announced by the CFTA.
2. The television works of art entered by the operators will be included in the voting.
3. The voting members will determine the order from the first to the third placing in each category. For each voted first placing the candidate will get three points and for any other placing it will be one point less. In each category the first three candidates with the highest number of obtained points will be considered as nominees for the Czech Lion Award. In case the numbers of points equal the criteria mentioned in article V. section 4 letters a) to f) will be applied progressively. Even if this procedure does not determine the three nominees with the highest scores, the number of the nominees will be enlarged so that the first three candidates with the highest scores get nominated as well as any other candidates who have the same score as the first one from the first three which has got the lowest score.
4. The holder of the award in each category becomes the television work of art with the highest score of obtained points. In case of equal number of points the procedure described in section 3, clause 2 will be applied. And even if this procedure does not determine the holder of the award, the award will be presented ex aequo.
5. A member of the CFTA who is the producer or director of a television work of art cannot vote for this work of art in the relevant category.
VII. VOTING IN SPECIAL CATEGORIES
1. The presidium votes about the holder in the category Unique Contribution to Czech Film and the award is presented to personalities who have contributed significantly to the development of Czech film.
2. The presidium votes about the holder in the category Exceptional Feat in the Area of Audio-visual Arts and the award is presented to audio-visual projects or individual creative or artistic feats which cannot be awarded in any of the other categories. The presidium can decide that this award will not be presented in the relevant calendar year.
3. Members of the CFTA can address the presidium with their suggestions for awards in both these categories.
VIII. COMMON PROVISIONS
1. In the categories 2 to 14 the relevant author (or co-authors) or performing artist whose work of art or performance is the object of the award is/are the nominee(s) and holder(s) of the award. In the category Best Film the nominee and holder of the award is the main producer, in the category Best Documentary Feature the nominees and holders of the award are the main producer and director together, in categories 16 and 17 the nominees and holders of the award are the main director, main producer and main screenwriter together.
2. With the exception of the actors’ categories, if the conditions for a nomination related to one work of art are fulfilled by more people than three as a creative and/or production team, the presidium has the right to ask the producer (or the operator, if the relevant work of art has been included in the voting based on the operator’s entry) to choose three or more members of such a team for the purpose of the awards at the request of the CFTA. If the producer does not do so within the period set by the CFTA, the choice will be made by the presidium. At the CFTA’s request the producer of a feature film determines which actor’s performance will be evaluated in the category best actor/actress in a leading role and best actor/actress in a supporting role, however, the presidium reserves the right to change such a placement to the categories based on the character of the roles. If the producer does not determine this, the presidium will do it based on the character of the roles. Regardless of the determination of the actors/actresses in the categories, the voting members of the CFTA can vote for any actors’ performances included in the relevant feature film in the first round.
3. If in any of the categories in the relevant calendar year, there are less than 6 candidates which would fulfil the conditions for being included in the voting, the presidium can decide that the award in this category will not be presented.
4. For the purpose of presenting the awards, any restored, reconstructed, coloured or newly edited audio-visual work of art is not considered to be a new work of art.
5. In matters at issue the presidium makes the decision about including the work of art in the voting about the awards.
6. The details of all the voting are confidential and can be made public based on the decision of the presidium only.
7. The CFTA members have the right to vote, however, they are not obliged to do so. At the same time each member of the CFTA has the right to vote in some of the categories only or in one of the rounds of voting only (if there are two rounds). The voting of the CFTA members takes place via an Internet application operated by the CFTA or it can be done by post to the CFTA address with a signature certified by a notary. The results will be certified by a notary.
8. If the CFTA obtains the necessary authorisation, it releases the works of art tendering for the awards to the CFTA members via an on-line platform, the access to this platform is secured by a username and a password and the number of replays is limited. With the work of art entered by an operator, such an authorisation has to be provided and it is the condition for being included in the voting.
9. The CFTA can award non-statutory awards beyond the categories mentioned in these statutes based on the decision of the presidium.