‘Broken Voices’ Review: Ondřej Provazník’s Solo Debut Tackles Themes of Sisterhood, the Power of Authority, and Sexual Abuse in Prague Girls' Choir – Karlovy Vary 2025
Broken Voices wins a Special Jury Mention for Kateřina Falbrová’s performance and the Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film at the 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
After gaining attention for his work on several documentaries (awarded in Jihlava) and the fiction feature Old-Times with Martin Dusek in 2019 — a project that earned nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Czech Lions — Ondřej Provazník makes a powerful solo debut with Broken Voices. The film is the only Czech fiction feature in the Crystal Globe Competition, yet it stands out as one of the major successes at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Set within the confines of a prestigious girls' choir in Prague, the film follows Karolina (Kateřina Falbrová), a 13-year-old prodigy in younger class who dreams of advancing to the main upper class, where her older sister Lucie (Maya Kintara) sings. Juraj Loj (Charlatan) plays the charismatic choirmaster Mácha Vitek, a figure of authority in the sister’s class who quietly takes an interest in Karolina. His attention leads to Karolina’s transfer to the upper class, where she becomes part of the choir’s upcoming US tour. But the seemingly harmless progression of her career hides darker undertones of power, manipulation, and a deeply unsettling relationship with authority, as well as with her sister, with whom she competes for Mácha’s attention during intense rehearsals over several weeks at a mountaintop ski resort.
As the son of the institution’s owner and the only male figure in the school, Mácha hold near-absolute power within the choir. In this highly competitive environment, the young girls must vie for his attention, which shifts the dynamics within the institution into a disturbing abuse of power. Through Mácha’s detached and authoritative presence, his personal desires toward these young girls subtly begin to surface. Inspired by the Bambini di Praga sexual abuse scandal, in which the choir director was charged with multiple acts of sexual abuse against his students, Ondřej Provazník doesn’t approach the film with explicit depictions of sexual misconduct or delve into Mácha’s perspective. Instead, he frames it as a coming-of-age story for Karolina, subtly exploring the power dynamics and manipulation at play, and presenting a more nuanced, restrained narrative that allows the film’s darker themes to unfold with quiet intensity.
In her screen debut, real-life girls' choir singer Kateřina Falbrová delivers a performance that, though subtle in its execution, exudes such quiet strength that it's impossible not to recognize her as a brilliant new force in the Czech film industry. Completely numbed by her innocence and emotional shifts, it's a deeply internal, unflashy performance for the most part, but one that still resonates with remarkable impact.
Aesthetically, the film is stunning. Provazník attention to detail, tone, and cinematography is impeccable. Shot on grainy 16mm film by Lukáš Milota, Broken Voices blends scenes that capture both the warmth of sisterhood and the darker currents of rivalry and abuse. The sun-drenched madness, with its 90s vibes, builds over the 104-minute to incendiary heights. It’s a meticulous, artsy, and fastidious take on what is, at its core, a major scandal that sent shockwaves through Czech society.
Broken Voices (original title: Sbormistr, which means Choirmaster) is produced by Jiří Konečný of Prague-based Endorfilm and Ivan Ostrochovský of Slovak outfit Punkchart films, with co-production from Česká televize, Innogy, Barrandov Studio, while MultiVision Creative handled the New York production, where the film is set in the final act. Salaud Morisset is handling the international sales and CinemArt, a.s. is distributing the film regionally.
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