The Czech Republic will send the documentary feature If Pigeons Turned to Gold into the fight for an Oscar

Wednesday, 19th August, 2026

The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) has just announced the Czech candidate for an Oscar within the 99th annual awards of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the category of International Feature Film. The CFTA academics chose by voting the documentary feature If Pigeons Turned to Gold by Pepa Ljubojacki to compete in the Oscar jousting. In the intimate and formally original documentary feature the director followed for five years the fortunes of her brother and two cousins whose addictions were slowly destroying their relationships, homes and their feeling of safety. Using the DIY aesthetics the director interlinks diary shots, stylized memories, live photos as well as graphic collages and without any sentiments tries to understand the reasons of their fall and also the impact of it on the whole family. The film had a world premiere in February this year at the Berlinale film festival, where it obtained the award for the best documentary feature as well as the independent prize Caligari. The film will be premiered officially in Czech cinemas at the end of September.The ceremonial presentation of the 99^th annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will take place on 14^th March 2027. The shortlisted selection of 15 international films will be published on 15^th December this year and the nominations will be then announced on 21^st  January 2027.For the second time this year the voting for the candidate was organised in two rounds. In the first round of voting the preselection committee consisting of seven members of the CFTA was assessing 10 films that had fulfilled the AMPAS conditions and had been submitted by their producers: Dream Team, Chica Checa, If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Don’t Be Afraid, Breathe and Spell, Invincibles, Lone Wolf, What a Way to Go, Little Thief, Dancing with the Bear and František Skála’s Public Space. Based on watching the films and the personal presentations of the producers of the films the committee consisting of Kristina Dufková, Petr Jarchovský, Jaromír Kallista, Jiří Konečný, Dagmar Sedláčková, Vratislav Šlajer and Klára Tasovská (the head of the committee) chose in a secret vote the following five films: Chica Checa, If Pigeons Turned to Gold, Invincibles, What a Way to Go and Little Thief. The second round of voting took place from 27^th July to 14^th August and all the members of CFTA who fulfil the AMPAS conditions and the CFTA statutes for the current year (available here) could vote.
Last year it was the movie I’m Not Everything I Want to Be by Klára Tasovská that had been selected as the candidate for the Oscar to represent the Czech Republic. A year earlier the academics sent the film called Waves by Jiří Mádl and it managed to get shortlisted. So far only two Czechoslovak and one Czech film have managed to obtain the iconic golden statuette award of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: The Shop on Main Street (1965) by Ján Kádár and Elmar Klos, two years later the film Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel and Kolya (1996) by Jan Svěrák. Six more films have managed to get among the nominees: The Loves of a Blond (1966) and The Firemen’s Ball (1968) by Miloš Forman, My Sweet Little Village (1986) by Jiří Menzel, The Elementary School (1991) by Jan Svěrák, Divided We Fall (2000) by Jan Hřebejk and the last time Želary (2003) by Ondřej Trojan. Shortlisted for the Oscar was in 2019 the film by Václav Marhoul The Painted Bird and two years later the movie by Agnieszka Holland called Charlatan.