I. A Calendar»
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
7. 4.
Prague’s Oko cinema hosted the ceremonial premiere of the Czech documentary film with feature sequences Cinematherapy (Cinematerapie, 2010) by director Ivan Vojnár.
9. - 10. 4.
NOVA TV (TV NOVA) organized on April 9-10 unique viewing of student films as part of the Night of Film Hopes project (Noc filmových nadějí CET 21 spol. s r. o. – TV NOVA) that has for many years supported the work of students of Czech and Slovak film schools. A mix of 42 films were shown on one night. The best were awarded on the Breakfast with Nova morning programme. Marek Berger, a student of Film School, Ltd. (Vyšší odborná škola filmová Zlín, s. r. o.) received directly from NOVA TV (TV NOVA) CEO Petr Dvořák a glass trophy and cheque for 100,000 CZ to support further film work. His animated film Nocturne (Nokturno, 2009, CR) received the main prize of the professional jury. For other results – see Noc filmových nadějí CET 21 spol. s r. o. – TV NOVA.
9. - 11. 4.
The 19th Festival of Non-professional Films – PAF 2010 (19. festival neprofesionálních filmů PAF 2010), organized by the Centre of Amateur and Independent Film was held at Atlas cinema in Prague. Organizers offered viewers a screening in HD and thus launched the digital age of Czech amateur film. Seventy-three films were entered with sixty-six in the competition. The jury consisted of film theoretician and historian, editor and producer Martin Švoma, script editor, screenplay writer and director Jiří Kunst, editor and filmmaker Michaela Ledvinová, music teacher and amateur actress Marie Ruthová and cinematographer, editor and projectionist Petr Lášek. For the awards – see 19. festival neprofesionálních filmů PAF 2010.
9. - 11. 4.
The Mír 70 cinema in Krnov (Czech Republic) hosted KRRR! 70MM FILM FEST KRNOV – The 5th Screening of 70-mm Films (KRRR! 70MM FILM FEST KRNOV – 5. přehlídka 70mm filmů), organized by the Municipal and Information Centre of Krnov. The screening drew attention to the format of film copy no longer used in Central Europe that used to dazzle audiences with its brilliant display of details and a sound that was unsurpassed in its time. A frame of a current wide-angle 35 mm film contains a 387.66 mm² picture, which is 2.75 x less than the 1068.98 mm² for 70mm copy. Films shot on 70/65mm negative therefore had greater depth of definition and show more detailed images. The Krnov cinema is currently one of the Visegrad Four countries able to screen 70mm format of film copy with the original, up to six-channel magnetic recording of sound. The festival’s title has several meanings. KRRR! is the combination of consonants at the beginning of the town name Krnov that also creates (almost unpronounceable for foreigners) a typical sound of the sound of the film projector. The festival’s programme featured eight feature-length “seventies” and several fragments of 70mm films. Radomír D. Kokeš, Michael Málek and Jakub Václavek introduced the various films. Films screened included Gandhi (dir. Richard Attenborough, 1982, Great Britain – India), Patton (dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970, USA), Capricorn One (dir. Peter Hyams, 1977, USA – Great Britain) and samples from music films.
13. - 18. 4.
The 45th International Festival of Popular-Scientific and Dokumentary Filmy – Academia Film Olomouc [AFO] 2010 (45. mezinárodní festival populárně-vědeckých a dokumentárních filmů – Academia Film Olomouc [AFO] 2010) organized by Palacký University in Olomouc (Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci) /Czech Republic/ was held. The aim of the festival was to comprehensibly and soundly to acquaint viewers with current professional and scientific findings. The main feature of the festival programme was the competition section, in which entered films (shot in 2008 or 2009) competed from the prize of best Czech and best world popular-science documentary. The non-competition part of the festival was as with previous festivals divided into several thematic blocks associated in the Studio section, which gave viewers the chance to not only see progressive films in their professional and aesthetic aspects, but also see their creators, listen to talks on the themes which these films opened and discuss them with experts. One of the main projects of the AFO was the presentation of the anarchism as a way of thinking and acting from the perspective of its historical development and present-day manifestations. Another programme block was devoted to bio-acoustics, an interdisciplinary field of researching sounds and characteristics of live nature. Among the invited guests were director, producer, screenplay writer, cinematographer, script editor and graphic artist Pierre Oscar Lévy, a British physician, scientist, gynaecologist, emeriti professor and television moderator Robert Winston or Czech politologist and director, author of the project Forgotten Transports (Zapomenuté transporty, 2007 – 2009) Lukáš Přibyl. For the awarding of Czech films – see 45. mezinárodní festival populárně-vědeckých a dokumentárních filmů – Academia Film Olomouc [AFO] 2010.
14. 4.
Prague’s CineStar Anděl cinema hosted the ceremonial premiere of the Czech feature film Mamas & Papas (2010) by director Alice Nellis.
14. 4.
The documentary film Eye Over Prague (Oko nad Prahou, dir. Olga Špátová, 2010) had its ceremonial premiere in Prague’s Lucerna cinema.
15. - 29. 4.
The 17th Festival of European Films – The Days of European Film 2010 (17. festival evropských filmů – Dny evropského filmu 2010) was held at Světozor and Lucerna cinemas in Prague 15. – 22. 4. It then moved to Brno where it was held at the Břetislav Bakala cinema 23. – 29. 4. Echoes of the festival took place in several Czech towns and cities till 2. 5. The films were divided into the sections National League – favourites of given countries for Oscar nomination of best foreign-language film, To the point: The fight against poverty and social exclusion – compiled in collaboration with the European Commission and Best of – a selection of the most interesting films of the various countries. The festival was organized by EUROFILMFEST s. r. o. and took place under the auspice of the Czech Ministry of Culture, Representation of the European Commission in the CR, the mayor of the City of Prague and the mayor of the City of Brno. Altogether 38 films from 28 countries were screened. Films in which Czech film production participated included: Broken Promise (Nedodržený slib/Nedodržaný sľub, dir. Jiří Chlumský, 2009, CR – SR), the documentary films Eye Over Prague (Oko nad Prahou, dir. Olga Špátová, 2010) and Osadné Village (Osadné, dir. Marko Škop, 2009, SR – CR). On Wednesday, 21. 4. a panel discussion was held at the European House in Prague on the digitizing of film heritage in Central Europe.
18. - 24. 4.
The 23rd Festival of Czech Films – FINALE 2010 (23. festival českých filmů FINÁLE 2010) took place in Plzeň (Czech Republic). The festival featured 140 films in 15 thematic sections. As part of the accompanying programme, some of the festival also took place at Prague’s Atlas cinema; there was held an author’s reading by Ivan Martin Jirous and Pavel Zajíček, an exhibition of Jiří Sozanský Debris – In Honour of Magor, Drahomíra Vihanová’s memoire Variations was christened and a display of prepared projects was made. The documentary film Czech Peace (Český mír, 2010) by directors Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda had its pre-premiere. For the awards – see Výroční ceny Asociace českých filmových klubů and the 23. festival českých filmů FINÁLE 2010.
19. - 20. 4.
As part of Earth Days there was held in Brno /Czech Republic/ (6. přehlídka filmů s ekologicko-společenskou tematikou EkoBiograf 2010). The festival’s programme continued 26. – 27. 4. The event’s organizer was the Department of Environmental Studies of the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University (Masarykova univerzita) in Brno, the Veronica Foundation and the Hnutí DUHA (Rainbow Movement). The festival featured both Czech and foreign films focused on the relationship between humans and nature. The films screened included Garbage Warrior (dir. Oliver Hodge, 2007, Great Britain – USA – Finland – Denmark) and the Czech film The Hospital at the End of the World (Nemocnice na konci světa, dir. Otakar Štěrba, 2008).
19. - 25. 4.
Marek Najbrt’s Protector (Protektor, CR, 2009) won the main prize of 3th International Independent Film Festival in Poland.
21. 4.
A seminar on the theme The Digitising of Czech Film Works was held in the European House in Prague. The organizers of the festival were the Czech Ministry of Culture (Ministerstvo kultury České republiky), the MEDIA Desk CR (MEDIA Desk) and the 17th festival European Film Days (17. festival evropských filmů – Dny evropského filmu 2010) which included a seminar. The two hundred most important Czech films should go through the digitising process over the next four years. The Ministry of Culture (Ministerstvo kultury České republiky) and the Film Council that associates Czech film professional associations, festivals and institutions, including, have put together a team that has developed a proposal for the digitising concept. Members of this team include, among other Vladimír Opěla, director of the National Film Archive (Národní filmový archiv), art director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (45. mezinárodního filmového festivalu Karlovy Vary 2010) Eva Zaoralová, film historian Jan Lukeš, film critic and producer Tomáš Baldýnský and head of the Association of Producers (Asociace producentů v audiovizi – APA) Pavel Strnad. It was this team that took part in the selection of archive films that are to be digitised.
26. - 29. 4.
A Festival of Contemporary Films from the CIS /Commonwealth of Independent States/ (Přehlídka současných filmů ze zemí SNS) took place at Prague’s Světozor cinema. In contrast to the previous Prague festivals, viewers had the chance to see films not only from Russia, but also from the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The festival, which presented several films with war themes upon the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, opened with the premiere of the film Odna voyna (2009, Russia) by director Vera Glagoleva. Other films screened included Rayskie ptitsy (dir. Roman Balayan, 2008, the Ukraine) and Volchok (dir. Vasili Sigarev, 2009, Russia). The festival concluded with a film from 1959 May Stars (Májové hvězdy/Mayskiye zvyezdi (Czechoslovakia – USSR) by Stanislav Rostockij. The festival was attended by filmmakers Roman Balayan, Ovanes Galstyan, Norwegian actress Siri Helene Müller, who played the lead in Spletyonnie paralleli (dir. Ovanes Galstyan, 2009, Armenia – France – Norway) and the CEO of V/K Sovexportfilm, a.s. Grigory Gevorkyan and a special representative of the president of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation and co-chairman of IFESCCO Mikhail Shvydkoy.
26. - 30. 4.
The 7th International Film Festival on the Ecology and Environment – TUR Ostrava 2010 (7. mezinárodní festival filmů o ekologii a životním prostředí – TUR Ostrava 2010) was held in Ostrava (Czech Republic). The event was organized by Fabex Media s. r. o. together with the City of Ostrava. An accompanying programme was devoted to biological diversity in connection to the International Year of Biodiversity. For awarded Czech films – see 7. mezinárodní festival filmů o ekologii a životním prostředí – TUR Ostrava 2010.
27. 4.
Bratislava (Slovak Republic) hosted the third Slovak national film awards of the Slovak Film and Television Academy Sunshine in the Net 2010 for the period 2008 – 2009. The award for best feature film went to the Slovak-Czech Peace in the Soul (Pokoj v duši, dir. Vladimír Balko, 2009). This film was awarded several more times: Martin Štrba received the award for best camera work in this film, Attila Mokos was awarded for best actor, Helena Krajčiová for best supporting actress and Roman Luknár for best supporting actor. The award for best actress went to Anna Friel for her leading role in the film Bathory (dir. Juraj Jakubisko, 2008, SR – CR – UK – HU). Director Juraj Jakubisko received the award for best creative work and Jaroslava Pecharová for best costumes in the film Bathory. The award for best original film music went to Michal Novinski for the film Broken Promise (Nedodržený slib /Nedodržaný sľub, dir. Jiří Chlumský, 2009, SR – CR). Actor Ladislav Chudík and script editor Albert Marenčin were awarded for life-long contribution to Slovak film. The Award of the Jandl advertising agency for filmmakers up to 35 years of age went to Mira Fornay for the screenplay and direction of the film Foxes (Lištičky/Líštičky, 2009, CR – SR – IE).
28. 4. - 2. 5.
The south Bohemian town of Třeboň held the first annual International Festival of Animated Films – ANIFILM (ANIFILM – 1. mezinárodní festival animovaných filmů Třeboň). Its organizers announced the Czech-Slovak competition that was divided into the categories of student work and television and custom-ordered work and prepared several accompanying film programmes: Kaleidoscope shorts – an international screening of contemporary short animated works, Kaleidoscope – an international screening of contemporary animated feature-length works, a screening of contemporary animated films from around the world (films in Czech distribution), Focus – a presentation of the British animation studio Aardman Animation from Bristol, screenings of French, German and Austrian animated films and the animated films A Town Called Panic (dir. Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, 2009, BE – FR – LU), Alice (Něco z Alenky, dir. Jan Švankmajer, 1988, SZ) and Witch Night (dir. Gene Deitch, 1982, USA), Profiles – a retrospective of Canadian director Jacques Drouin, Views – fateful films that influenced the work of Czech director Maria Procházková and a retrospective of their films, Czech animated films shown on television, etc. The international festival jury awarded prizes in the various categories of the Czech-Slovak competition and the prize of the town of Třeboň for best film – see ANIFILM – 1. mezinárodní festival animovaných filmů Třeboň.
28. 4. - 3. 5.
Český Těšín (Czech Republic) and Cieszyn (Poland) hosted the non-competition 12th festival of Czech, Slovak, Polish and Hungarian Films – Cinema on the Border 2010 (12. přehlídka českých, slovenských, polských a maďarských filmů – Kino na hranici/Kino na granicy 2 010). In addition to retrospectives of the films of Martin Šulík and Adam Sikora, the festival consisted of several blocks including: Literature and film (Josef Škvorecký and Kornel Filipowicz), Central European horror films, Hungarian film spring in Těšín and New Czech, Polish and Slovak films. A festival sidebar was the exhibition The World According to Adolf Born, an action by Piotr Chlipalski & Michał Mrozek: Street Atelier, in which a pair of photographers in a street atelier immortalize, in an in-between project touching upon a happening and documentary photography, passersby, capturing the fleeting moments of their lives, and a collection of 6 posters by Bohdan Heblík. Inspiration for his work was the border between the Czech Republic and Poland, the long riverbank of the Olše River, the key ring and tag (accreditation) that festival participants bring with them.