The key event of the Arab world hosts major Czech titles

Cairo International Film Festival selected Butterfly Vision by Maksym Nakonechnyi for International Competition. Ukrainian-Czech-Croatian-Swedish drama, co-produced on the Czech side by Dagmar Sedláčková of MasterFilm, will celebrate MENA premiere at the festival. The first launch in the Middle East and North Africa region is also set for Victim by Michal Blaško (Czech producer Pavla Janoušková Kubečková of nutprodukce) in Critics’ Week Competition, Il Boemo by Petr Václav (producer Jan Macola of Mimesis Film) in Special Screenings, The Word by Beata Parkanová (Czech producers Vojtěch Frič of love.FRAME and Ondřej Kulhánek of Bontonfilm Studios) and Nightsiren by Tereza Nvotová (Czech producer Miloš Lochman of moloko film). A short film Vinland by FAMU student Martin Kuba (producers Natália Pavlove and Miloš Lochman) will celebrate international premiere in festival's Short Film Competition.

Czech works presented at long-established festivals

Czech minority co-production To the North by Mihai Mincan (Czech co-producer Mikuláš Novotný of Background Films) will fight for the Golden Alexander in International Competition of Thessaloniki IFF. Festival’s Open Horizons selection includes Somewhere over the Chemtrails by Adam Koloman Rybanský (producers Eva Pavlíčková & Pavel Vácha of Bratři), Beautiful Beings by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Czech co-producers Pavel Strnad & Petr Oukropec of Negativ) and world-spanning Victim. Thessaloniki’s lineup is also filled with other festival favourites: Nightsiren (Round Midnight) and Butterfly Vision (Meet the Neighbors: Out of Competition). The last two mentioned works will also be shown at Stockholm IFF and Gijón IFF – along with Il Boemo, and Ordinary Failures by Cristina Grosan (producer Marek Novák of Xova Film) in northern Spain.

Three Czech films and one minority co-production will be screened at Ireland's oldest and most traditional film event Cork IFF. Representing new voices in contemporary cinema, Arved by Vojtěch Mašek will compete for the Spirit of the Festival Award, while Award for Cinematic Documentary selection includes documentary The Visitors by Veronika Lišková. Both films were produced by Kristýna Michálek Květová of Cinémotif Films. Furthermore, the Youth Jury Award Competition includes Beautiful Beings and Nightsiren. In addition, Beautiful Beings has been selected for Les Arcs FF (along with animated short Scale) and Tereza Nvotová’s celebrated feature appears on the menu of Denver FF, accompanied by Somewhere Over the Chemtrails and short At Spiral’s End by FAMU student Eliška Kerbachová.

To upcoming Cottbus Film Festival, Czech films are heading in large numbers. Beata Parkanová’s The Word represents the Czech Republic in Feature Films Competition, Erhart by Jan Březina appears in Youth Film U18 Competition, and Rites by Damián Vondrášek in Short Film Competition. The leading festival of Eastern European films also selected Kryštof by Zdeněk Jiráský and minority co-production The Ballad of Piargy by Ivo Trajkov for Spectrum, which also screens touring titles Nightsiren and Victim. Butterfly Vision and short Anatomy of a Czech Afternoon by Adam Martinec feature in Specials, while Emergency Situation by Jiří Havelka, The Last Race by Tomáš Hodan and TV series The Nineties by Peter Bebjak stand among the Hits. Moreover, Women’s Roles in Socialism and Beyond gives floor to Love, Dad by Diana Cam Van Nguyen and Czechoslovak classic Something Different by Věra Chytilová. The festival also screens animated films Mimi & Lisa – The Garden and The Websters in Children’s Film programme, and minority co-production Miracle in Spotlight Romania.

Czech docs heading west

Besides the Ji.hlava IDFF, which we covered in a separate article, two more important events of the autumn festival season take place these days. Karlovy Vary’s Proxima winner Art Talent Show, directed by Adéla Komrzý and Tomáš Bojar (produced by Jakub Wagner of GPO Platform), is set to celebrate international premiere at IDFA in Luminous. World’s oldest event aimed at both documentary and animated films, DOK Leipzig, already gave floor to 8 Czech short films which have been successfully floating through international waters in recent years. German festival screened Suzie in the Garden by Lucie Sunková and Don’t Blow it Up by Alžbeta Mačáková Mišejková in Kids DOK and Jan Švankmajer's 1969 short A Quiet Week in the House in Soul-Things. In addition, 5x5 Shorts from the East offered: S P A C E S by Nora Štrbová, SH_T Happens by Dávid Štumpf and Michaela Mihályi, Apart by Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Happy End by Jan Saska, A Quiet Week in the House Jan Švankmajer, I Am Trying to Remember by Pegah Ahangarani, and Wild Beasts by Marta Prokopová & Michal Blaško.