– the struggle for the prestige and dignity of the cinematographer's profession in post-communist capitalism -

In the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia the situation in the film industry has undergone a radical change since the "velvet revolution" of 1989.

Communist cinematography, which had previously been fully supported by the state, very quickly more or less completely disintegrated. Unfortunately, the desires of commercial producers led to a mistakenly prudent approach and the rapid loss of nearly all cinemas, which in the course of an uncontrolled privatisation process were mostly transformed into billiard halls or night clubs.

The loss of cinema-goers meant that less money was available for making films and the classical approach to producing films disappeared. Feature films continued to be made, but on low budgets or under very odd conditions.

Film and television cinematographers ceased to be regularly employed, had to operate free-lance, and were no longer members of trade unions. They therefore established the Association of Czech Cinematographers (ACK), which however has difficulty in fighting for cinematographers' rights, because there is no strong partner with which to negotiate in the form of a film studio with high-quality and creative ambitions (Panevropean Studio?).

The commercialisation of television channels has swamped this field of cinematography, too. Czech film-makers are currently fighting to have a law on cinematography adopted that would provide for state subsidies for film production. However, the law has not yet gone through the approval procedure in parliament. The Czech film industry is unable to finance itself and today is not supported by the state at all.

In the Czech Republic today you can find dozens of film festivals. There are still many film enthusiasts in the country. The largest film festival is the category A one held in Karlovy Vary. Another important event in the film calendar is the presentation of the Czech Lion prizes awarded by the Czech Film Academy in recognition of achievements by the different film-making professions in Czech films.

Many, many more festivals, large and small, covering documentary and feature films, all of them with a long tradition and a good local reputation, can be seen attempting to promote Czech and foreign films.

The Association of Czech Cinematographers (ACK) entered this arena with something new – the award of a prestigious cinematographers' prize. At first this idea gave rise to amused reactions of the type: "cinematographers are awarding prizes to themselves". Later, however, people inevitably started to compare the winners of the Czech Lions and the ACK Prizes as being the two most obvious places where the work of cinematographers was acknowledged.

People soon stopped mocking. The films that received ACK Prizes were more accepted by both the experts and the lay public. The rival Czech Lion prizes, which were also awarded to the film professions, thus including cinematographers, became more questionable. This is due to the fact that the jury of the Film Academy is not made up of professional experts to the same extent as the ACK Prize juries, and it is also subject to various influences.

The ACK jury is made up of cinematographers, film critics, and directors, in other words professional experts, it works to much stricter criteria, and its decisions always correspond to the views of most professional cinematographers and directors. The Czech Lion for the best cinematographer, which is traditionally awarded a week later, soon became the subject of considerable discussion, because it was possible to compare the films that received prizes, and the results differed. It was thus the other side that now found itself being smiled at.

The idea of the ACK Prizes was the brainchild of the current President of the Association, Josef Hanus, an outstanding Czech cinematographer and the son of the famous Czech cinematographer Vaclav Hanus. His idea that the Association might acquire a higher profile by means of the Prizes and thus increase the respect in which the profession of cinematographer was held has been fully vindicated.

Not only is there an increased interest in this prestigious event on the part of sponsors and journalists, but the Prizes are also something that all film producers have become aware of. They are invited to nominate films as well, and so the Prizes provide them too with a reliable yardstick for measuring the quality of camera work on their own films. And that is the whole point of the exercise – establishing the name of the Association as a guarantor of high-quality cinematography work. Apart from its struggle for the right of cinematographers to be recognised as co-authors of films and for better working conditions, the ACK has thus also acquired this prestigious position. The Association of Czech Cinematographers = the traditional high quality of the Czech school of cinematography. This has been achieved, and Josef Hanus deserves the profound gratitude of all Czech cinematographers, and also all Czech film-makers, because of it.

Looking back over the history of the ACK Prizes we see that this is the eleventh year they have been awarded, once again under the patronage of the Czech Ministry of Culture, and with strong support from partners such as Kodak Entertainment, AFM Lighting, and other sponsors like Vantage, Axius, Barrandov Studios, Panther, ACE, and Moser, and the direct participation of the Czech collective administrator for copyright in audiovisual work, Dilia.

The award ceremony always takes place in the famous Lucerna cinema hall, where it is followed by a screening of the winning student film and the winning feature film. The Prizes are awarded in this order: the Lifetime Achievement Prize awarded to a veteran Czech cinematographer, the Jaroslav Kucera Award for the best "Colour etude" graduation film given to a student of the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague graduating in camera work, the Prize for Outstanding Television Camera Work, the Prize for Outstanding Film Camera Work, and in some years the Citation for some other outstanding cinematographic achievement.

During the years the Prizes have been awarded, they have been won by the following outstanding Czech cinematographers: Jaroslav Brabec, Martin Duba, Vladimir Smutny (4 times), Martin Strba, Stepan Kucera and Jan Malir. This year's ACK Prizes were awarded once again in the Lucerna hall in Prague on 19 February 2006, with the cinematographer VladimIr MalIk winning the lifetime achievement Prize for his outstanding work on dozens of animated puppet films, which have made Czech cinematography famous all over the world (such as Jiri Barta's puppet film Rat-catcher).

The Prize for outstanding film camera work went to the cinematographer Marek Jicha for his daring work with style and form in filming the experimental feature film Skritek by the director Tomas Vorel. The Prize for outstanding television camera work was won by the cinematographer Martin Sec for the television film Snake Dance by the director Petr Slavik.

This year's Jaroslav Kucera Award went to the student film Koridor by a recent graduate from the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Jan Strnad. This Prize is traditionally awarded by the Czech glassmaking company Moser and also sponsored by the Kodak company.

The ACK Prizes have been awarded for more than ten years now, and during that time they have built up a strong position in the world of Czech culture as an important reminder of quality in professional camera work, a reminder that film professions still exist and have the right to be acknowledged and supported not only by producers, but also by the whole cultural scene in Czech society.

This support can be made use of by the Association in its complex negotiations in the struggle for cinematographers' rights, whether relating to the right to be recognised as co-authors of films, or concerning working conditions or technical and technological innovations.

It has certainly proved of benefit to our Association to have introduced these Prizes and we strongly recommend this approach to other professional associations. We are glad that IMAGO, the European Federation of Cinematographers, has launched a similar award, the IMAGO Prize, and we wish both IMAGO and its prize every success in the common effort to bring about films of quality and a cultivated working and copyright environment for European film-makers.

Marek Jicha ACK
reporter and winner ACK Price 2005