Lea is a Czech

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

. It was released in 1997.

Plot

Lea witnesses her mother's rape and murder by her father as a child and because of it speaks very little and writes poems to her mother. Lea then grows up with foster parents in a different part of Slovakia. Strehlow buys Lea, now aged 21, from her foster father and imprisons her in a castle in Germany, using the same tools Lea's father used to control Lea as a child and to kill Lea's mother. As Strehlow learns more of Lea's past, he permits her to continue writing to her mother. Lea dies of a stroke within a year of living with Strehlow.

Cast

• Lenka Vlasakova
  Lenka Vlasáková
  Lenka Vlasáková is a Czech actress. She played the title role in Lea, released in 1997; Lucie in Kawasaki's Rose, released in 2010; and U Me Dobry, released in 2008.-References:...
  
  .... as Lea
• Christian Redl.... as Strehlow
• Hanna Schygulla
  Hanna Schygulla
  Hanna Schygulla is a German actress and chanson singer. She is generally considered the most prominent German actress of the New German Cinema.-Life and career:Schygulla was born in Königshütte, Upper Silesia,...
  
  .... as Wanda
• Miroslav Donutil
  Miroslav Donutil
  Miroslav Donutil is a Czech theatrical, film and television actor, born in Třebíč. Since 1978 when he appeared as Hloch in Čistá řeka, Donutil has three decades of film and TV appearances. He dubbed the voice of Kevin Costner and Gérard Depardieu - Career :Donutil grew up in Brno...
  
  .... as Gregor Palty
• Udo Kier
  Udo Kier
  Udo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
  
  .... as Block
• Gerd Lohmeyer.... as Postmaster
• Tereza Vetrovska.... as Young Lea

Awards

1997 Angers European First Film Festival

• Won Audience Award for Feature Film (tied with Some Mother's Son
  Some Mother's Son
  Some Mother's Son is a 1996 film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, co-written by Jim Sheridan, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, in Northern Ireland...
  
  )
• Won C.I.C.A.E award
• Won Telcipro award (tied with Pretty Village, Pretty Flame
  Pretty Village, Pretty Flame
  Pretty Village, Pretty Flame is a 1996 Yugoslavian film directed by Srđan Dragojević that gave uniquely bleak yet darkly humorous account of the Bosnian War.It is considered a modern classic of Serbian cinema...
  
  )

1997 Brussels International Film Festival

• Won Audience Award
• Won Crystal Star Award for Best European Feature

Cinequest San Jose Film Festival

• Won Best Feature Award
• Nominated for Maverick Spirit Award

1998 Czech Lions

• Won Best Actress Award going to Lenka Vlasakova
  Lenka Vlasáková
  Lenka Vlasáková is a Czech actress. She played the title role in Lea, released in 1997; Lucie in Kawasaki's Rose, released in 2010; and U Me Dobry, released in 2008.-References:...
  
  
• Won Best Cinematography going to Vladimir Smutny
• Nominated for Best Design Achievement going to Petr Kunc and Ludvik Siroky
• Nominated for Best Director going to Ivan Fila
  Ivan Fíla
  Ivan Fíla, alternate name Ivan Fila, is a Czech film director, screenwriter and producer.- Life and work :Fíla was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He moved to Germany in 1977 where he received a directing and scriptwriting degree at the Film Department of the University in Cologne. Fíla shot...
  
  
• Nominated for Best Editing going to Ivana Davidova
• Nominated for Best Film
• Nominated for Best Screenplay going to Ivan Fila
  Ivan Fíla
  Ivan Fíla, alternate name Ivan Fila, is a Czech film director, screenwriter and producer.- Life and work :Fíla was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He moved to Germany in 1977 where he received a directing and scriptwriting degree at the Film Department of the University in Cologne. Fíla shot...
  
  
• Nominated for Best Sound going to Marcel Spisak and Max Rammier-Rogall

1996 European Film Awards

• Nominated European Film Award for Best Young Film

1997 German Film Awards

• Nominated Gold Film Award for Outstanding Feature Film

1998 USA Golden Globe

• Nominated Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film

1997 London Film Festival

• Won Satyajit Ray Award

1997 Max Ophuls

Max Ophüls

Maximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...

 Festival

• Won Audience Award

1997 Sochi International Film Festival

• Won FIPRESCI Prize

1997 Stockholm Film Festival

• Nominated Bronze Horse Award

1997 Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

• Won OCIC Award in Honorable Mention