ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BEST FAMU DIPLOMA/DISSERTATION THESIS AWARD 2024

Doctoral programme student Lea Petříková has won the Best Qualification Thesis Award for the academic year 2023/24 with her doctoral thesis titled Filmová psychedelika: Pátrání po mimořádných stavech vědomí ve filmech Sandoz (Film psychedelics: A search for the altered states of consciousness in Sandoz films). The panel appreciates the author’s bold choice of the topic as well as immensely careful heuristic research in international archives, which has helped her to chart a vast unknown territory in the field of research into psychedelic cinema and film production of the pharmaceutical company Sandoz. Among other things, the thesis offers a new perspective of the options and form of scientific film, setting a seemingly historical topic in a highly current context by highlighting its immense topicality. The text definitely transcends the national boundaries and is a major contribution for the expert community.

A special mention was bestowed on Lukáš Janičík from the Department of Editing for his master’s diploma thesis Svým vlastním tempem – analýza pomalosti ve vybraných filmech Kelly Reichardt (At her own pace – an analysis of slowness in Kelly Reichardt’s selected films). The author presents a well-structured text that marries quantitative and interpretive methods to deliver an argumentatively clear and enthralling opinion on Kelly Reichardt’s film output. His text opens a new perspective of the filmmaker’s poetics, reflecting on editing as well as other style and narrational elements present in her films. At the same time, the author has successfully integrated this topic into the context of both current and earlier theories concerning the minimalist approach to film narration and style, offering a terminological solution for discourse on and analysis of this direction in cinema.

The panel involving Martin Šrajer (film scholar and critic, a Film a doba and Filmový přehled editor) and Jakub Korda (Vice-Dean of FAMU for Science and Research) would like to congratulate both on their award and the associated scholarships of CZK 15,000 and CZK 5,000, respectively. Both essays are available under the link provided below.

Lea Petříková: Filmová psychedelika - Pátrání po mimořádných stavech vědomí ve filmech Sandoz
Lukáš Janičík: Svým vlastním tempem – analýza pomalosti ve vybraných filmech Kelly Reichardt

The panel would also like to thank the authors of all nominated theses, as they made choosing the winner quite challenging. In general, all the theses provided highly inspiring reading. The nominees included the following theses (in an alphabetical order):

Rozálie Brožková: Srovnání mezinárodní úspěšnosti hraných celovečerních filmů – Česko/Polsko v letech 2014–2018 (Comparison of International Success of Czech and Polish Full-length Feature Films over 2014–2018) (Department of Producing)
Antoinne Dossin: Forging Bridges from Friedrich Nietzsche to László Krasznahorkai & Béla Tarr (Department of Directing)
Asmi Chandola: Influence of Art in Cinema: Emphasis on the Influence of Edvard Munch and Expressionism (Department of Cinematography)
Mike Ma: 08. Bún bò Nam Bộ (Department of Photography)
Hynek Spurný: Current script consultant practice based on František Daniel’s legacy (Department of Producing)