What actually is the Czech Lion?

It is an annual prize delivered since 1993, initiated by the necessity to award creative acts of inland film production and film distribution. Festive delivery of Czech Lions takes place on the turn of every February/March of the following year in the Prague concert hall Lucerna. Nominating three makers in each category precede this event. In main categories all Czech and co-production full-length film which were introduced into Czech cinemas in the course of one calendar year. One award also goes to the best foreign film distributed in Czech Republic in the same mentioned period.

In the first two years 100 members of a professional jury representing filmmakers, film critics, publicists and producers rated the films. Since 1995 the jury consists of members of the Czech Film and Television Academy (ČFTA). The filmgoers according to the attendance rate decide one of the prizes: Spectarors´ prize for the most successful film. The official trophy connected with all annual prizes is crystal statuette the Czech Lion.

Spiritual father of the entire project of the Czech Lion is the film director and producer Petr Vachler, owner and director of the company VAC who at present is also executive director of ČFTA and member of the board.

More about past events, ČFTA,VAC and similar you may find on pages www.vac.cz which also was the source of the above information.

And how is the Czech Lion born?

Before the glass statuettes brighten up in the floodlight on the stage of Prague Lucerna, before the delegated person reads the name of the winner and before the lion reaches the happy hands of its future owner, these moments are preceded by some time considerably longer and logically not so pleasant.

The castings of the lions are produced in a newly built glass factory SLAVIA in Nový Bor( www.sklarna-slavia.cz). The glass melt is gathered by a blowpipe and poured into a five-part cast iron mould (see picture 1) and afterwards pressed in it by a press (see picture 2) where it cools down. The pressed statuette is then taken out of the mould and brought to an annealing kiln (see picture 3). In this kiln the temperature is gradually reduced which prevents stress. This takes one or two days and then the statuettes are checked and irreparable pieces sorted out. The statuette are then moved from the glass works to our work shop in Nový Bydžov and a further phase - fine working of the cast body - begins.

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At first we have to grind off excessive material at the bottom of the stand, make it perfectly even and polish it. Afterwards minor defects on the surface have to be repaired and smoothed. Following this is a precise grinding and polishing of the front rounded part of the stand. The statuette is a combination of lustrous and frosted glass, which is excellent on good illumination or in floodlight and therefore some parts to be sandblasted. At the sides and at the back of the lion often the glass is folded and it is necessary to remove the wrinkles. Due to the requirement that the statuette is lighter and smaller its author the artist Jakub Švéda had to considerably alter the design. He succeeded in reducing the weight to 2,5 kg and size by 4 cm. This brought forward considerable changes in the form, which made the statuette even more interesting. For us it became more requiring, there were further places with new elements as claws, mane, eyes, the shape of the lion much more broken which made us introduce further technological methods. Very demanding is the head, especially the nozzle which comes from the mould very often rounded and not sufficiently pressed and it is necessary to conform to the artist's imagination by additional grinding to the true form. These are the main principles of our work on the casting - there are more but I do not want to go into details. One of the final operations is sandblasting and gilding of the inscription Czech Lion and respective year on the front rounded part of the stand. The sides are provided with inscriptions J.Švéda and VAC. Back at the stand is the serial number. The front inclined facet is destined for a brass plate with engraved name of the awarded artist, category and film title. Now the statuette of the Czech Lion is ready to shine in floodlight in Prague Lucerna.