Pramen film shortlisted for European Film Awards

The film ‘Pramen’ has been shortlisted as one of forty candidates for the European Film Academy’s feature film award. The drama, which premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is set in the late 1980s and follows a gynecologist and a young Roma medical assistant in a small Czech town.

The film addresses the historical issue of illegal sterilizations of Roma women in former Czechoslovakia. However, it has faced significant criticism from human rights activist Gwendolyn Albert and researcher Miroslav Vodrážka. Critics argue that the film manipulates history by relativizing state-driven eugenic policies and failing to hold state institutions, ministries, and social workers accountable, focusing instead on individual doctors.

Furthermore, critics have expressed concerns regarding the film’s artistic approach, suggesting it places the historical trauma in an apolitical context and employs stereotypical depictions of Roma characters.