Editors' Note»

In 1992, work was commenced on the bilingual Czech-English Film Yearbook 1992, and this year it's celebrating its 20th anniversary. The reason for the project's inception was the need to track the production of Czech films and the events in the Czech cinematography during the transition period of the early 1990s (following privatisation). Inspiration for this was, among other things, filmographic works published by the National Film Archive (formerly the Czechoslovak Film Institute), whose tradition the Film Yearbook followed up on. Thus an updated source of information on Czech cinematography changed through the years into a historical source that provides a cross-section perspective of the twenty-year history of not only Czech film works by professional and students, but also of other areas of Czech cinematography.

The yearbook has since its inception retained its basic structure, significantly increased in size and changed its form – from book to electronic – and since 2007 has been released on CD-ROM. Its staff and equipment have seen changes too. The editorial staff began with 1 employee, one computer and a T602 program. The staff gradually grew to 2 employees and its number stabilised at 3 in that editors utilise external colleagues as necessary, including a translator. Over the years the editors’ technical equipment, including software, has improved. The FARIS database is continuously being built and has gone through several changes with the aim to streamline the processing of acquired data, provide greater comfort to users and to enable distribution of data in electronic form. The FARIS information system is an application with client-server architecture. The server part consists of the Oracle database; the client part is developed via Developer 6i. The current reference system is user-friendly for searching information. The XML/XSL principle is applied in generating the yearbook to HTML. This technology has greater possibilities for formatting the resulting text and is more flexible, which is why it was also used in presenting other NFA publications – the Czech Feature Films catalogue on NFA's website.

Over 17,700 film records, 6,174 companies and ca. 38,668 film personalities are stored in the Film Yearbook database. Since 2007, the first year the yearbook was released in electronic form, calendar information has also been stored in the database. Over the five-year period this information has included some 1,927 records and festivals, whose number has reached 1,111, counting their individual years.

The film yearbook is a collective work that the editors and their colleagues take part in, but which would not be possible without the help of production and distribution companies, schools, individuals involved in film, institutions and state bodies providing information on film works and on other areas of Czech cinematography. They therefore deserve our gratitude.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped compile and publish the Film Yearbook and FARIS database over the years, especially: Boca Abrhámová, Eva Bainová, Tomáš Bartošek, Milan Bretyš, Táňa Bretyšová, Ivan Exner, Erik Fejlek, Miloš Fikejz, Ivana Huberová, Camille Hunt, Věra Chase, Pavla Janásková, Victoria Jones, Tomáš Kaprálek, Bohuslava Kolářová, Klára Koubová, Eva Kučerová, Zdeněk Leinveber, Valerie Mason, Jarmila Michnová, Daniel Morgan, Vladimír Opěla, Jitka Panznerová, Eva Pavlíková, Alena Prokopová, Alexandra Prosnicová, Iva Příbramská, Zdeňka Srbová, Václav Strachota, Eva Strusková, Eva Suderová, Giles Shephard, Alena Tejnická, Pavel Trávníček, Miloš Veselý, Vladimír Vimr, Karolina Vočadlo Hughes, Marie Vohralíková and Tomáš Vršecký.

On behalf of the editors

Ivana Tibitanzlová

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The 2011 Film Yearbook is comprised of nine chapters: A calendar of film events, which records in chronological order the significant events in Czech cinema for the given year, Czech film and video production (feature, documentary, animated, and to some degree advertising), Financial grants and contributions awarded for Czech film projects, Czech film distribution, Films exported from the Czech Republic, Award-winning Czech films, film personalities and companies, Film publications and periodicals issued in 2011, Principal institutions and organizations in the Czech film industry including lists of Czech festivals, screenings and events, and In Memoriam. The yearbook’s structure includes eight indices: an Index of Czech film and video production, an Index of Czech titles of foreign films, an Index of Czech films exported from the Czech Republic, an Index of the English titles of Czech film and video production, an Index of the original titles of foreign films, an Index of the English titles of exported Czech films, an Index of principal institutions and organizations in the Czech film industry and an Index of personalities.

The chapter on Czech film and video production is divided into four sections and encompasses feature, documentary, and animated work, including co-productions and student films from film schools, and partly even film work for advertising. The list of films also includes titles which were produced by film companies expressly for Czech Television. If a film received awards in 2011, there is additional information about the awards. Within these four groups, film titles are listed alphabetically and left in the form in which they were sent by individual companies (they are not modified to suit Czech grammar). English translations are taken from the production companies; in the event that a company has not listed one, we use our own translation.

The Financial grants and contributions chapter consists of a text overview provided to us by the various organizations, with only part Films associated with the State Fund of the CR for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography containing possible references to films already made.

The films listed in the chapter of Czech film distribution retain their original distribution slogans, which we have translated only for Czech films. No translations are given for foreign films. The source materials for the overview of distribution data and the ranking of the most successful 200 films (compiled based on number of viewers) were provided to the National Film Archive by the Union of Film Distributors.

In the chapter on Award-winning Czech films, film personalities and companies, we list the award which was given to Czech films, its creators and actors, and possibly even the company at domestic or international festivals and at other events in 2011. Awards may also be found in other chapters on celebrities, films, and possibly companies.

Film publications and periodicals issued in 2011 are arranged by content into individual groups based upon the classification of the National Film Archive library, and are further arranged alphabetically by name of author, name of work or corporation.

The list of principal institutions, organizations and companies of Czech cinematography is updated each year and broken down into separate groups by field; within the groups they are listed alphabetically. This chapter also includes a directory of Czech film periodicals and list of major Czech film festivals, showings and events, which is arranged alphabetically according to event location. Users get, in the form of a list connected to the festival, an overview of which prizes were awarded at the various festivals. Previous lists of prizes are also supplemented enabling information to be searched for by film personality, film and company.

In Memoriam contains an alphabetical list of celebrities, along with their profession and basic biographical information.

Certain abbreviations are given explanations and arranged alphabetically. The list of countries is presented in the same way, while taking into account the abbreviations used by the International Federation of Film Archive (FIAF).

The user-control system uses a standard approach. The introductory page briefly presents the titles of individual chapters (which are given in depth in a cursor bubble). By clicking, the user enters into individual sections. Active links allow for transitions from films to personalities and companies, through the filmography of a personality back to the particular film. If the shortened entry for a film produced before 2011 is displayed, this is a title which was exported or distributed in 2011 and therefore belongs in the 2011 Yearbook. Another innovation of the FARIS database is even more user-friendly. This feature enables switching from companies, festivals, personalities and films to the various part of the calendar. Content also includes text files (chapter III, Financial grants with the exception of the State Fund – Films, as well as chapters IV, Distribution – part of distribution data, and VIII, Publications and periodicals), where reference links are not used. Navigation bars in these sections tell the user where he/she is. Arrows allow for movement forward and back. A name index also contains links to alternative of names for people and, like all other indexes, allows the user to click to access various information, including filmography and awards.