<Document Oko nad Prahou won at the festival in Warsaw>

Warsaw - A film about architect Jan Kaplický and his project for the Prague National Library titled Eye Over Prague won in the documentary section at the 26th Warsaw International Film Festival. The festival jury announced this tonight.
    The jury praised the documentary by director Olga Špátová for "capturing the emotional state of a person who was ahead of his time." In Eye Over Prague, they stated, she empathetically presented the life of the artist as a journey to his final work. Director Špátová will receive a cash prize of 3,000 euros (73,530 crowns).
    The film about the last two years of the architect's life begins on March 2, 2007, when Kaplický and the studio Future Systems were announced as the winners of the competition for the construction of a new building for the National Library in Prague's Letná district. The film chronologically presents the development of events surrounding the project, including how drastically opinions about it changed among some involved, especially Prague Mayor Pavel Bém. The author captured moments when Kaplický, although the unanimous winner of the international competition, had to defend his "octopus" project alone before officials and politicians after the proposal was publicly condemned by President Václav Klaus.
    "I am incredibly glad that Polish audiences understood what the film is about - that it is about current Czech politics, about how people treat each other,” said Olga Špátová to ČTK, for whom the victory at the Warsaw festival is her first major international success. "Interestingly, Eye Over Prague won the award on the very day of local elections in the Czech Republic - the library became a victim of political games,” noted the 26-year-old director.
    The National Library, which previously announced the architectural competition, currently does not plan to build a new building.
    The Czech Republic had two entries in the competitive section of the Warsaw International Film Festival. In the main competition, the Czech cinematography was represented by the film Bonds by director Radim Špaček. In the non-competitive section of the film showcase, Polish audiences were also introduced to the adventurous family story Kuky Returns by Jan Svěrák.
    The Warsaw Film Festival was included last year in the group of prestigious film showcases, previously classified by the International Federation of Film Producers (FIAPF) as category "A". This group includes festivals in Karlovy Vary, Cannes, Venice, and Berlin.