Czech Film and Television Academy, registered association
Voting about the candidates of the Czech Republic for the AMPAS award
- The Czech Film and Television Academy, registered association (hereinafter referred to as Academy) is the subject that nominates the candidate of the Czech Republic for the category of the International Feature Film within the framework of the awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the so-called Oscars (hereinafter referred to as Awards and Organizer).
- The films are entered into the voting on the Czech candidate for the Award in the year in question (hereinafter referred to as the Candidate) based on the submission of their producers. The submissions have to be delivered to the Academy by the date stated by the Presidium of the Academy (hereinafter referred to as Presidium).
- The film is included in the voting as long as within the set period the producer provides the Academy with:
a. the film in question with a relevant licence permission so that it can be accessible for the members of the Academy for the sole purpose of taking a vote,
b. the information and data which are needed in order to verify that the film fulfils the conditions for taking part in the voting about the awards specified by the Organiser,
c. the information and data which would have to be rendered to the Organizer within the context of the possible candidacy
d. the information and data related to the film and its distribution strategy which will be rendered to the voting members of the Academy for the sole purpose of making an informed decision within the framework of the voting.
- The Academy will make the submitted films accessible to the voting members of the Academy in a way that allows remote access; the films will be made accessible based on a registration and the access will be protected by a password. The Academy will supply the films with a trademark in the imagery (logo, watermark, etc.)
- Only the films which fulfil the criteria and conditions declared by the Organizer, namely considering the date when they had been released / premiered and the distribution criteria, can be entered into the voting on the Candidate.
- The members of the Academy vote on the in-time and properly submitted films which fulfil the criteria declared by the Organizer. The voting is non-public and two-round with the closing date declared by the Academy. The members of the Academy are eligible but not obliged to vote.
- In the first round the Presidium selects three to four films out of the submitted films while the Presidium can also make recommendations for the members of the Academy regarding the voting in the second round. The voting in the first round is performed by attendance withing the framework of a Presidium meeting convoked for the sole purpose of this voting. During the meeting the Presidium can decide that the voting will take place by written resolution so that the members of the Presidium who are not present can also take part in the vote. Only those members of the Presidium who are citizens of the Czech Republic can take part in the meeting and vote on condition that they are not excluded according to paragraph 10. Every year the Presidium will elect a chairperson out of the present members for the purpose of the negotiations. The Presidium is quorate for the purpose of the vote if overall majority of the Presidium members who are citizens of the Czech Republic and are not excluded from the vote according to paragraph 10 are present at the meeting. The producers of the submitted films can take part in the meeting in order to present the submitted films and their distribution strategy.
- The voting in the first round proceeds in such a way that each voting member of the Presidium votes secretly for three out of the submitted films without prioritizing. Three films that obtain the most votes this way advance to the second round. In case more than three films advance to the second round due to the equality of votes there is a vote about the films that obtained the least number of votes unless the actions are taken according to the following sentence. The Presidium can decide that four instead of three films will advance to the second round in case of equality of votes or in case there is a little difference between the votes obtained for the third and fourth film. The recommendations of the Presidium for the voting in the second round can be attached to the results of the first round provided that it is approved by an overall majority of its voting members. While voting according to this paragraph each voting member of the Presidium has one vote only and no member of the Presidium including the chairperson has got a decisive vote in case of equality of the votes.
- All the members of the Academy who are citizens of the Czech Republic except for those members who are excluded from the vote according to paragraph 11 can vote in the second round. The subject of the vote are those films that advanced to the second round in the vote that took place according to paragraph 8. The voting in the second round takes place via an internet application which is made accessible for the Academy members through a unique link. In the second round each voter can vote for one film only. In case of the equality of votes the number of the votes in the first round determines the Candidate and if it is also equal the decision is made by drawing lots. The results of the voting and the possible drawing are subject to a verification of a notary.
- Those members of the Presidium who personally professionally participated in the production of any of the submitted films as well as those members of the Presidium who have not seen all the submitted films by the start of the meeting of the Presidium according to paragraph 7 in person are excluded from the meeting of the Presidium according to paragraph 7 as well as from the voting in the first round.
- Those members of the Academy who personally professionally participated in the production of any of the films which advanced to the second round as well as any members of the Academy who have not seen in person all the films that advanced to the second round by the time of their voting are excluded from the voting according to paragraph 9.
- It is assumed that a member of the Presidium or the Academy has participated professionally in the production of a film if their name is mentioned in the credits of the film (or in the final credit list if the film has not been finished by the day of the voting) unless it is mentioned in the acknowledgement section of the credits. The verification of the exclusion of the member of the Presidium or the Academy proceeds based on the credits and final credit lists of the submitted films and statutory declarations of the voting persons. In the first round the statutory declaration of each member of the Presidium according to the previous sentence is part of the minutes of the meeting of the Presidium.
- If the reasons according to paragraph 10 or the obstruction of citizenship result in the fact that the number of the voting members of the Presidium who are not excluded is lower than five, the first round does not take place and the Candidate is selected directly by the members of the Academy on the conditions mentioned above for the voting in the second round while it is proceeded as if all the submitted films advanced to the second round. The procedures follow the rules stated in the previous sentence if the Presidium is not quorate for the purpose of the negotiations according to paragraph 7 and the voting in the first round does not take place at least one month before the closing date for the submission of a Candidate set by the Organiser.
- This internal regulation of the Academy was approved by the Presidium of the Academy on 17th June 2025.