Agnieska Holland’s feature centres on a student in Prague who set himself on fire in the name of freedom.

Agnieska Holland’s Burning Bush has been chosen as the official entry of the Czech Republic for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The Czech Film and Television Academy have selected the film for submission, which was produced by HBO Europe and directed by Holland from a script by Stepan Hulik.

Burning Bush is the story of Jan Palach, a young student at Charles University in Prague, who set fire to himself in the Czech capital’s Wenceslas Square in January 1969, the year following the Prague Spring, making thesacrifice in the name of freedom; and the legal fight by his family to clear his name in the face of the oppressive communist propaganda machine.

The film, also produced as a three-part TV series, tells of the events following his death four days later, the efforts by the communist authorities to discredit his name and the legal fight by the lawyer appointed by his family to clear his name and uncover the truth.

Holland’s previous film, In Darkness, was Poland’s Oscar nomination last year and made it to the penultimate shortlist of nine.

The nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards will be announced on Jan 16, 2014. The 86th Oscar Ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014.

Topics