The International Film Festival (IFF) Art Film announces the next laureate of its honorary Actor’s Mission Award. The award, recognising outstanding contribution to acting and audiovisual creation, will be presented during the 32nd edition of the festival – which takes place from 19 to 25 June 2026 in Košice – to Slovak actress Anna Šišková, one of the most distinctive acting personalities of her generation, a Czech Lion winner and a two-time recipient of the Slovak DOSKY theatre award.
“Anna Šišková is one of those acting personalities who have brought to Slovak and Czech cinema an exceptional combination of fragility and inner truth. Both her film and theatre work are characterised by a quiet, unsentimental approach to the character – an acting style that has not given itself over to effect, but to authentic experience and the small details of humanity. Whether in the iconic role of Mária in Divided We Fall, for which she won the Czech Lion and which was nominated for an Academy Award, or in dozens of roles at the Astorka Korzo ’90 Theatre and in the films of Juraj Nvota and Martin Šulík, Anna Šišková proves that great acting does not need grand gestures. By presenting the Actor’s Mission Award, IFF Art Film honours not only her specific roles, but above all the attitude with which she approaches the acting profession – as a calling that connects generations of audiences on both sides of the border,” said the festival’s artistic director, Martin Palúch.
Anna (Anka) Šišková was born on 30 June 1960 in Žilina and grew up in the Vrátna Valley near Terchová, where her parents ran a hotel. After secondary school, she studied at the Faculty of Education of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Prešov (1979–1982), during which she also became a member of the drama company at the Jonáš Záborský Theatre. She subsequently took up acting professionally – first at the Theatre for Children and Youth in Trnava (today the Ján Palárik Theatre), and from the 1990s as a permanent member of the ensemble at Bratislava’s Astorka Korzo ’90 Theatre, where she performs to this day.
She gained significant international recognition for the role of Mária in the Czech-Slovak film Divided We Fall (2000) directed by Jan Hřebejk. For this performance she won the Czech Lion for Best Leading Actress in 2001, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. A year later (2002), she received another Czech Lion nomination for a supporting role in the film Cruel Joys (directed by Juraj Nvota). Her other film credits include Landscape (2000, directed by Martin Šulík), The City of the Sun (2005, directed by Martin Šulík) and many other Slovak and Czech projects.
Alongside her film work, Anna Šišková has long been one of the leading actresses at the Astorka Korzo ’90 Theatre. For her exceptional performances at this theatre she has received two DOSKY Awards – the Slovak theatre prize of the season: in 2001 for the role of the Young Woman in Neil LaBute’s play Bash, and in 2003 for the role of Celia in T. S. Eliot’s play The Cocktail Party. Her long and consistent stage work places her among the most highly regarded theatre actresses of her generation.
Anna Šišková is the mother of actress Dorota Nvotová and director and actress Tereza Nvotová, who has gained international acclaim for the films Nightsiren (Golden Leopard in the Cineasti del presente section, Locarno IFF 2022) and Father (Bronze Horse for Best Film at the Stockholm IFF 2025, with last year’s Actor’s Mission laureate Milan Ondrík in the lead role). The family thus represents one of the most distinctive creative lineages in contemporary Slovak cinema.
The prestigious Actor’s Mission Award has previously been received by Slovak actresses Antónia Lišková (2024), Zdena Studenková (2023), Zuzana Mauréry (2018), Magda Vášáryová (2017), Barbora Bobulova (2013), Zuzana Kronerová (2011), Božidara Turzonovová (2002) and Emília Vášáryová (2001).
The International Film Festival Art Film is among the most important film events in Slovakia. Its 32nd edition will take place from 19 to 25 June 2026 in Košice and will present competition sections for feature-length and short films, a separate competition for films from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as accompanying sections, the Actor’s Mission Award ceremony and a rich supporting programme.
Photo credit © archív AŠ, Peter Žákovič
The 32nd IFF ART FILM is made possible with the support of:
Main organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.;
Co-organizers: Mesto Košice, K13 – Košické kultúrne centrá, Visit Košice, ART FILM FEST, n.o.;
The project was co-financed by the Košice Self-Governing Region from the Terra Incognita programme;
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia;
Sponsors: U. S. Steel Košice, ANTIK Telecom, Kino Úsmev;
Technological partners: NOV, ZEBRA, DELTA OnLine, ARICOMA;
Official suppliers: DKC Veritas, DOMOS SLOVAKIA, Julius Meinl;
Media partners: JOJ play, JOJ 24, Film Europe Media Company, Rádio KOŠICE, Aktuality.sk, Forbes, Startitup.sk, Korzár, Slovenka, SITA, TASR, Mediaboard, See & Go, Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze – ČSFD, BigMedia, AHOJ TV, Kino Sterio, Košice City Guide, Košice V Skratke, MOJAkultura.sk, film.sk, diva.sk, koktejl.sk, zenskyweb.sk;
Partners: JOJ Cinema, Jojko, ECO Technologies, Letisko Košice, Kvety Garomi.
