Kolya
- Zdeněk Svěrák: Louka
- Andrei Chalimon: Kolya
- Stella Zázvorková: František's mother
- Libuse Šafránková: Klara
- Ondřej Vetchý: Mr. Broz
- Ladislav Smoljak: Mr. Houdek
Kolya is a Czech film made in 1996. Directed by Jan Svěrák. The screenplay was written by his father Zdeněk Svěrák, who also played the lead role. In the role of Klára Libuse plays Šafránková which lead actress in the movie was previously Three Nuts for Cinderella.
Action
Louka, a former cellist in the Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague, plays for political reasons at the time of the Iron Curtain only at funerals. Longing to own a Trabant and to settle his debt to the suffering from chronic need of money 55 -year-old bachelor can be persuaded to enter into a sham marriage with a Russian woman paid, so that they receive a Czech passport.
When his newlywed who is working as a journalist, shortly after not returning from a official trip from West Germany to Prague and her five year old son Kolya leaves with her mother, Louka comes into view of the state. Shortly thereafter, Kolya's grandmother is hospitalized with a heart attack in a hospital and Kolya moves temporarily in a Louka. By the death of the grandmother Loukas life gets out of sync, as it must henceforth take care of the boy. The fact that even the State Security is aware of his strange marriage then complicates his situation only marginally. Louka who befriends more and more with the boy escapes with Kolya to a village when it is additionally added the Youth Office.
The film ends with the Velvet Revolution and the reunification of mother and son.
Background
The film, which was shot in Prague, premiered in May 1996 at the Film Festival of Cannes. On May 15, 1996, he ran in the Czech cinema, where he held a number of visitors reached 1,345,442 by 1997 and thus became a huge commercial success in its country of production. The film held 45 weeks after its release still among the top three revenue- strongest films in the Czech box office. Due to this success and the Oscar - profit in March 1997 was followed by theatrical release in many other countries. In the U.S., where the film on 26 Jan 1997 started off, Kolya grossed over $ 5.7 million dollars. While the film in German-speaking Switzerland on 4 April 1997 and launched on 17 July 1997 in Germany, followed by an Austrian theatrical release until 12 December 1997. With visitor numbers of 624 373 or 273 070 the movie was mainly in Germany and Italy also successful. The film was released by Miramax with a G -12 released on DVD. The film was the first DVD production, which was provided with the region code of the Region 2 for Western and Central Europe.
The role of Kolya, played by Andrei Chalimon was occupied only three weeks before filming.
Reception
" A 50 year old Prague cellist must take over by his sham marriage, the responsibility for a 5 year old Russian boy. Only gradually succumbs to the disappointed by life man the charm of the child and learn to understand and love. A gentle and warm-hearted film staged. "
" Kolya grabs the big emotions in a lot of small attention of observed scenes and tries where identical U.S. productions to conquer with great emotional power to sneak into the hearts of the audience. And not without success. "
Awards
Critics took the film to almost entirely positive. In particular, the emotionality of the film was often praised.
The film won numerous awards, including the 1997 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In the same category he won the 1997 Golden Globe. As Best Film Kolya was nominated in 1996 for the European Film Awards, but Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves had to concede defeat. For the Satellite Awards, the film was nominated in 1997 as Best Foreign Language Film. Andrei Chalimon was in a foreign language film, and the film itself won Best Actor in 1997 for Best Foreign Language film Family with the Young Artist Award.
At the ceremony of the Czech Film Awards Bohemian lion, the film won the 1997 at 13 nominations in six categories, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Andrei Chalimon for Best Supporting Actor and Libuse Šafránková for Best Actress. In addition, the film won the Czech critics' prize.
At the Tokyo International Film Festival 1996, the film won the Grand Prize and the award for best screenplay. In the Film Festival in Venice in 1996 he received an honorable mention.