Slovak director Tereza Nvotová started shooting the film Father on January 12, 2024, and it premiered on September 11, 2025. The film is based on a real event in Slovakia, when a father left his two-year-old daughter in a hot car in July 2015. For a terrible mistake, the father bears the consequences in his relationship with his wife, with the environment and at work, and also in his relationship with himself.
The daughter of actress Anna Šišková won the Czech Film Critics Award for her work. Critics were mainly drawn into the plot by emotions, which, according to them, have a very strong effect. When accepting the award, Nvotová sharply criticized the current political situation in Slovakia in her acceptance speech. “Thank you very much and I want to use this time to say something that is very important to me. I know you’re going to make fun of me in a moment, but I’ll say it,” she let herself be heard right at the beginning.
Subsequently, she launched a harsh load on our government. “Slovak film and Slovak culture today is not only in danger, it is in the stage of really systematic destruction. And this from the government of Robert Fico, who is taking revenge on artists through the Minister of Culture for the fact that since the murder of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová and the revelation of really deep corruption, we stood and still stand in the squares.” she said to the address of the Slovak Prime Minister.
He is worried about the future of Slovak art. “And the films that premiered this year, including ours, were still supported by the Free Audiovisual Fund. But today I don’t know if we would get such support. And this movie probably wouldn’t even exist“, Nvotová thinks.
He does not see rosy here, even in the case of his Czech colleagues. “Because when free art and free media are banned, it is also a step towards the end of a free society. And I think that here in the Czech Republic you are already beginning to guess what I am talking about. It is such a dangerous virus that is spreading all over the world, unfortunately. And I think the only cure is not to be afraid and not to be silent. Thank you very much,” added the director. You can watch the VIDEO of her thank-you speech at the end of the article.
