KVIFF 2025: Broken Voices

A young singer is groomed by her charismatic choirmaster in this gut-wrenching tale of abuse based on a real-life scandal at a Czech children's choir

Film Review by Jamie Dunn | 14 Jul 2025
  • Broken Voices
Film title: Broken Voices
Director: Ondřej Provazník
Starring: Kateřina Falbrová, Juraj Loj, Maya Kintera, Zuzana Šulajová, Marek Cisovský, Ivana Wojtylová, Anna Michalcová, Anežka Novotná, Markéta Kühnová

Broken Voices, the new film from Ondřej Provazník, fictionalises a real-life scandal that rocked the Czech Republic in 2004. Respected choirmaster Bohumil Kulínský, the head of the celebrated girls’ choir Bambini di Praga, was arrested and then later convicted for committing numerous acts of sexual abuse on members of the ensemble. No knowledge of that case is required to recognise the craft and force of Provazník’s filmmaking, though. With slow, delicate, agonising precision, he unravels the story of Karolína (Kateřina Falbrová), a 13-year-old member of the choir’s B team who hopes to one day join her 15-year-old sister, Lucie (Maya Kintera), in the main lineup. To have any chance of being promoted, though, she needs to catch the eye of Mácha Vitek (Juraj Loj), the choir’s charismatic and exacting leader.

Provazník makes great use of close-ups and Falbrová’s expressive face to tell this gut-wrenching story of power and coercion. Her character lives in the shadow of her talented older sister, so when Vitek singles Karolína out for praise early in the film, the pride and excitement she feels for his crumb of attention radiates from her. It’s not just we, the audience, who notice Vitek’s intense glances at the young singer. A pair of older girls’ are keeping tally of who Vitek looks at during rehearsals, hoping that will give them a clue as to who he’ll pick to attend an upcoming US tour, while those who feel less secure of their place in the choir’s hierarchy are incensed that Karolína is taking their spotlight. Lucie also registers that her little sister has captured Vitek’s interest, and her reaction is harder to read. Is she jealous of Karolína's success? Or worried, as she knows exactly what Vitek wants from her?

While it’s never said out loud, it’s heavily implied that several members of this tight-knit group know that Vitek is a predator. Even Vitek’s mother, who’s also a singing coach and the only other supervising adult on screen, appears to notice something is off. And how could she not? During a training camp at a ski lodge, Vitek spends his downtime serenading his captive teen audience with an acoustic guitar or encouraging them to join him in the sauna. He’s the definition of hiding in plain sight.

Set in the early 90s and shot on 16mm with an earthy colour palette, Broken Voices’ visuals call to mind a faded Polaroid, but the distance in time evoked in the aesthetic doesn’t dampen the film’s power. A feeling of unease is present throughout, and builds to a devastating sexual encounter in a New York hotel that’s framed in such a way that the rape is off-screen but captured on a TV’s reflection, while the only faces we see in frame are people milling about in an neighbouring building, oblivious to the crime. It's a powerful visual metaphor for the real-life abuse that took place over decades and was obscured from view or simply ignored.

Broken Voices doesn’t offer any comfort or triumph. Like the real-life choirmaster he’s based on, Vitek won’t face retribution for years to come. Provazník does find a moving grace note, though; a simple but potent act of resistance that brings Karolína’s ordeal to a close. Her voice may be broken, but there are ways to show resilience in the silence.


Broken Voices had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival