Charlatan
Tuesday, 13th October, 2020
The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA), which presents the Czech Lion awards, also nominates the Czech Republic’s candidate for the Oscar every year. This year, it is sending the drama Charlatan directed by Agnieszka Holland to fight for the most prestigious film award. Agnieszka Holland’s latest film is inspired by the real life of the healer Jan Mikolášek and the script was written by Marek Epstein. Ivan Trojan and his son Josef Trojan starred in the leading roles. The film was premiered at the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival this year.
The ceremonial gala evening of the 93rd awards of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take place on 25th April 2021 in Los Angeles. The academics were choosing from 10 Czech feature films and documentary features that had been submitted by their producers. The voting took place from 1st to 11th October 2020.
The film Charlatan was created within the framework of a Czech-Irish-Polish-Slovak co-production and it presents a stirring biographical drama of an exceptional man gifted with unique healing powers against the background of historical events. The plot is inspired by real fortunes of the healer Jan Mikolášek who throughout his career answered the pleas of thousands of people from all the social classes and also some of the most prominent figures of the political and cultural milieu. Mikolášek is a person without official medical education who possesses the unique as well as unfathomable talent to diagnose illnesses and heal people by herbs even when the doctors are at a loss. However, his exceptional skills are paid for by the fight with his own demons. His healing practice is his inner redemption and protects him against himself. “I was pleased and at the same time honoured that after shooting the Burning Bush I could again work in the Czech Republic that is so close to my heart,” says the director Agnieszka Holland. Apart from Ivan Trojan and his son Josef she also cast the actors Juraj Loj, Jaroslava Pokorná, Martin Myšička, Miroslav Hanuš, Jiří Černý, Tomáš Jeřábek or Jan Budař. The film has got the thumbprints of the director of photography Martin Štrba and the costume designer Katarína Štrbová-Bieliková.